USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 2 > Part 24
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DANIEL M. SECHLER.
DANIEL M. SECHLER, known as the "Father of the Carriage Industry of Cincinnati," was during the latter years of his life president of the D. M. Sechler Carriage Company of Moline, Illinois, although he con- tinued to reside in Cincinnati. His death, which occurred at his beautiful home, No. 2260 Park avenue, Walnut Hills, on May 27, 1903. removed from the city one of the pioneers in the carriage business and one whose suc- cess made him one of the city's foremost capitalists.
Mr. Sechler was born in Danville, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1818, and was a son of Rudolph and Susan (Doughty) Sechler. On his father's
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side he was of Dutch descent. an ancestor having come from Holland to the Pennsylvania Colony in 1685. One of his mother's ancestors, Cooper, was an English Puritan, having come to Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, in 1628. Both his grandfathers were soldiers in the War for Independence, serving in the Continental Army.
Mr. Sechler received his educational training in the public schools and in the academy at Danville. He began to learn the carriage maker's trade at Port Deposit, Maryland, and served an apprenticeship from 1835 to 1839, a part of this time at Newark, New Jersey. From 1839 to 1844 he built carriages at Milton, Pennsylvania. In 1845 he came to Ohio, locating first at Wooster, Wayne County, afterwards settling in Adams County, and in 1852 removing to Ironton, where in 1854 he with his associates built the Star Nail Mill, afterward known as the Belfont Nail Works, and became financial head of the company after it began operations. In 1858 he re- moved to Cincinnati, which place he called home for the remainder of his life. He opened a wholesale and retail iron store, acting as agent for a rolling mill at Pomeroy, Ohio. He then turned his attention to the iron industry and became a partner in the ownership of Swift's Iron & Steel Works at Newport, Kentucky, but retained his residence in Cincinnati. In 1872 he engaged in the roller mill and steamboat business, and later became interested in the manufacture of pig iron in Montgomery County, Tennessee. The panic of 1873 ruined him financially, but he proved superior to adversity and it was one of the proud days of his life when he finished paying his obligations, dollar for dollar. In 1877 Mr. Sechler re- sumed the manufacture of carriages and vehicles under the firm name of Sechler & Company, with factory at Walnut and Liberty streets. This establishment burned in the fall of the same year, and Mr. Sechler with his usual energy soon resumed business, forming a stock company which located a new factory on George street and carried on the business under the old firm name of Sechler & Company. He continued with this business for some 10 years, then retired in 1887 and with his wife visited Europe. But he was too active to lead a retired life and in 1888 built a factory at Moline, Illi- nois, organizing the D. M. Sechler Carriage Company, of which he was head until his death. Vehicles alone were manufactured by the company until 1897, when it added the additional line of corn planters and still con- tinues manufacturing both lines.
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On January 19, 1841, Mr. Sechler was married at Milton, Pennsyl- vania, to Pamela Mackey, who with their only son, Thomas M. Sechler, survives. Thomas M. Sechler is president of the D. M. Sechler Carriage Company of Moline, Illinois.
Daniel M. Sechler was an honorary member of the Carriage Makers' Club and had long been connected with the Masonic fraternity. He was one of the oldest as well as one of the most honorable business men of Cincinnati. He was a gentleman of pure character, and of courtly and dis- tinguished manners. His portrait accompanies this sketch, being presented on a foregoing page. -
ALBERT JAMES REDWAY.
ALBERT JAMES REDWAY, a prominent manufacturer, successful business man and universally esteemed citizen of Cincinnati, died at the home of his son, in Avondale, November 13, 1903. Mr. Redway was born in 1835, in Adams, Jefferson County, New York, and was a son of David and Angeline Redway. The founder of the Redway family in America landed in Massa- chusetts in 1643.
The subject of this sketch grew to young manhood on his father's farm · in Jefferson County, but the restrictions of rural life and the limited oppor- tunities for the development of what lie felt was conscious business ability, led him to seek a wider field in Cincinnati, where he arrived in search of his fortune in 1855. To the fact that he possessed an engaging manner and displayed the effects of the careful rearing of a good mother, may be attributed his immediate employment by the firm of W. C. Childs & Com- pany, then located on Fifth street. Accustomed to hard work, he devoted every energy to the pleasing of his employers and the learning of the stove business, this resulting later in the formation of a partnership with Stephen R. Burton and the founding of the well known firm of Redway & Burton. This business association continued for 42 years and a friendship existed between the two partners which was broken only by the death of Mr. Red- way.
In addition to being a business man of exceptional ability, Mr. Redway possessed a liking for the study of mechanics which led him into invention
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and into the manufacture of stoves of different patterns from any on the mar- ket. That his ideas were entirely practical was proved by their acceptance at the Patent Office at Washington, D. C., and by the issuance of rights of patent which brought immense fortunes to the firm. Several of his inven- tions were brought out during the Civil War and on account of their very good practical points were introduced for the use of the soldiers, particu- larly on gun-boats and in hospital camps.
In the conduct of his business, Mr. Redway was shrewd, skillful and judicious and so conservative withal, that it was too solidly grounded to be affected by the crisis that embarrassed many other houses at various points in their careers. He was interested in other enterprises and was president of the Mitchell Store Building Company.
Mr. Redway was married in 1864 to Emma Mitchell, who is a daughter of the late Robert Mitchell, of whom a sketch will be found in this work. Mrs. Redway and one son, Albert J., survive.
The family residence in Avondale was but one of the beautiful homes that Mr. Redway owned in that delightful and altogether aristocratic suburb. He was one of the founders of Grace Episcopal Church in which he served as vestryman for 20 years. He was a man of true public spirit and his fellow citizens ever found him ready to cooperate in movements looking to- ward permanent improvements. He was a man of generous impulses and a wide dispenser of charity, and lived a life which, at its close, left a clean and manly record, one that is an encouragement and an inspiration in these times when, through civic and political corruption, the youth of the land are in danger of being led sadly astray.
AMOR SMITH, JR.
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AMOR SMITH, JR., manufacturer, 21st mayor of Cincinnati, was born at Dayton, Ohio, October 22, 1840, and is the son of Amor and Sarah (Spencer) Smith. His mother was the daughter of Jeremiah and Anna ( Hobson) Spencer, who came from Hull, England, in 1816. The first paternal ancestor in America was John Smith.
Amor Smith, Jr., received his early education in Cincinnati, where his parents located when he was seven years old. After attending the com-
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mon schools and Herron's private school, he entered the Swedenborgian University, Urbana, Ohio, in 1857.
In 1865, Mr. Smith became a partner with his father in the manufacture of candles, soap and fertilizer. This business was founded in 1840 at Dayton, Ohio, by his father, who invented a wheel for reducing cracklings, a press plate for extracting lard and tallow from cracklings and a perforated dryer for the manufacture of ammoniacal matter. It was later carried on at Cini- cinnati, Ohio, under the name of Amor Smith, until 1866, and thereafter as Amor Smith & Company. In 1868, a branch was established in Baltimore, Maryland, under the name of Amor Smith & Sons, the other partners being his father and his brother, Leander Smith. This they sold to Gilpin & Moores of that city in 1894.
In 1870, Mr. Smith was elected a member of the Board of Aldermen of Cincinnati and chairman of the street committee, and by virtue of that office became a member of the Board of City Commissioners. In 1876 he served as chairman of the campaign committee of the $6,000,000 bond issue voted to build the Cincinnati Southern Railway, the greatest railroad enterprise ever projected by a single city, and in 1878 had charge of a second loan of $2,000,000. Always an active partisan, his ability as an organizer was recognized by his election as chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Executive Committee in 1875. That year he carried the county for the whole Republican ticket in the face of the Democratic supremacy of the five previous years. President Hayes appointed him collector of the Internal Revenue District of Ohio on June 8, 1878, and he served three and a half years, handling $12,000,000 per annum without discrepancy. Re- lieved of his official duties, Mr. Smith resumed his position as an active inember of his father's two firms, enjoying the respect and confidence of the business community. In 1880, he served on the committee which negoti- ated the purchase of the old government building in Cincinnati for the uses of the Chamber of Commerce, the association paying the government $100,000. In 1882, he was nominated for Congress and in 1884 was chosen a delegate to the National Republican Convention.
Mr. Smith was elected mayor of Cincinnati in 1885, and reelected in 1887, having established himself as a safe leader through his wise counsel and unerring judgment. The elements that have made him successful in his business career were exactly calculated to fit him for the many positions he
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has held in city, county, State and Federal affairs. His sincerity cannot be questioned for lie has been absolutely fair with all interests committed to his keeping. He came into office when the municipal affairs were in a state of confusion, which in some departments was the least of the shortcomings. Under his management the city became a model municipality, the result of his common sense methods and straightforward execution of his duties. In the year 1886, as chairman of the Board of Revision, the "rottenness" of the City Infirmary was brought to light and the guilty parties prosecuted. During his administration he served as chairman of the advisory committee on specifications, an adjunct to the Board of Public Works in the matter of expending $4,000,000 in improving the streets of Cincinnati. When the Board of Public Works was superseded by the Board of Public Affairs, the advisory committee ceased to exist ; its work was practically done as the streets of the city bear eloquent testimony to-day to the care and thought- fulness with which this committee served wholly without pay.
In the spring of 1886 occurred one of those crises which come to every large American city now and then. Labor troubles broke out in Cincinnati as they did in St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago and elsewhere. That the scenes of those cities were not duplicated, was due to the cool head and indomitable will of its mayor. Just two years previous, Cincinnati had marveled at the phenomenon of a mob in her streets, the memory of which had been made perpetual by the loss of more than a million dollars to the tax payers, with the consequent incalculable damages through the burning of her Court House. Therefore, conservative citizens of that time may be pardoned for fearing that Cincinnati might furnish a companion picture to the scenes in the Hay- market of Chicago. The freight handlers of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railway, numbering 300. "struck" for increased wages. They marched in a body from the western part of the city to the Miami Railroad in the eastern part of the city, intending to force the men of that road to join them. However, they were intercepted by Col. Arthur Moore and 60 police officers who forced the strikers to retire. The strikers then drove the men who were laying the new streets from their work and the contractors were compelled to call upon the mayor for protection. The mayor then issued a proclamation assuring protection to all who would resume work. This was followed by a visit from two delegates sent by the strikers to pro- test against this action, assuring him if he persisted that "bloodshed" would
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follow, He replied : "If you start it, I will end it for I am ready." Mayor Smith and Colonel Sutton (in charge of the United States Sub-Treasury) then sent a joint dispatch to the Secretary of War, asking for military pro- tection. Colonel Aufley of the United States Army with 250 men were ordered from Columbus to Cincinnati. Governor Foraker ordered Adjutant- General Axline with five regiments to also report to this city. There were then 30,000 men on a strike and the factories were empty. Everything was apparently quiet, but it was felt that the situation was worthy of the gravest consideration. The troops were not called to put down a mob, quell a riot, but as a preventive. This action was denounced by the more turbulent element. The mayor thien called a meeting through the press of all the repre- sentatives of the various labor organizations engaged in the strike. This meeting was duly held, Mayor Smith presiding and James M. Morely of the strikers acting as secretary. The situation was fully and amicably discussed. Mayor Smith took the ground that the differences between the strikers and their employers were matters to be settled between themselves, but a breach of the peace was a matter in which it became the duty of the authorities to interpose in the interest of law and order. That, he promised emphatically, would be donc and there was no mistaking the firmness of his intention. There was no occasion, however, in which to test his power and disposition. That an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure was readily conceded with a glance at the then rebuilding Court House. In March, 1886, the bill creating the non-partisan police force for Cincinnati passed the General As- sembly of Ohio. It placed the mayor at the head of the Department of Police and it fell upon him to nominate the superintendent as well as appli- cants to the force subject to confirmation by the Board of Police Commis- sioners. In the winter of the following year, the Governor by act of Legisla- ture appointed a Board of Water Works Commissioners, authorized in statute in 1888 (see Ohio Laws, Vol. 85, Page 53), to examine into the complaints regarding the water supply of the city and the confessedly great difficulty to remedy the matter. Of this commission, Mayor Smith was chosen president. In 1898-99, he was a member of the Board of City Affairs, and from 1889 10 1894 was surveyor of customs at the port of Cincinnati, to which office he was reappointed March 16, 1903, for a term of four years.
Mr. Smith is a Scottish Rite 32nd degree Mason; a member of Syrian Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Young Men's Blaine Club, Stamina
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Republican League, Itan-Nic-Nics, and is exalted ruler of Cincinnati Lodge, No. 5, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Smith was married May 27, 1863, to Mary Jane Kessler, daughter of Henry Kessler of Cincinnati. She died in Baltimore, Maryland, Thanks- giving Day, 1873, Mr. Smith having moved to that place for a short time. On August 3, 1887, he was married to Ida Sennett, daughter of Abner H. and Amelia (Truesdale) Sennett and, on her mother's side, a descendant of Peter Brown of the "Mayflower." Mr. Smith has two sons and a daughter by his first wife.
WILLIAM SEBASTIAN SOHN.
WILLIAM SEBASTIAN SOHN, deceased, was one of the prominent and substantial business men of the city of Cincinnati, being president of the brewing company which bore his name. His death occurred February 26, 1902, and was sadly mourned by his many friends and business associates, who always held him in the highest esteem.
Mr. Sohn was born in Cincinnati, February 4, 1852, and was a son of John George and Barbara (Raber) Sohn. His father established a brewery in the year 1846 and conducted it until his death in 1876. Upon the death of the father, the three sons-the late John George Sohn, Jr., William S. Sohn and J. Edward Sohn-took charge of the plant. After the death of John George Sohn, Jr., the two remaining brothers carried on the business until recent years, when our subject purchased the interest of J. Edward Sohn, since which time the business has been conducted under the name of The William S. Sohn Brewing Company. After his death, Mrs. Sohn was elected presi- dent of the company. Two weeks prior to his demise, he was taken ill and compelled to take to his bed. His condition gave no alarm of the danger which lay ahead. Suddenly on Wednesday evening, February 26, 1902, the summons came and after a short struggle, surrounded by his loved ones, he breathed his last.
The funeral services were conducted under the auspices of Hanselmann Lodge, No. 208, F. & A. M., and honorary pall-bearers represented Hum- boldt Lodge, No. 274, I. O. O. F .; Knights of Honor; Herman Lodge, No. 15, A. O. U. W. and the Brewers' Exchange, to which bodies he belonged.
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His illness prevented his receiving the degrees of the Scottish Rite, to which body he had just been elected.
In March, 1877, Mr. Sohn was joined in marriage with Lena Jung, a daughter of Philip and Magdalena (Oeh) Jung, and four children were born to them, as follows: Alma; Walter P .; Elsie and Edna. Mr. Sohn was identified with St. John's Church. He was a great lover of music. The family reside in a beautiful home, located on West McMicken avenue, adjoin- ing the brewery plant.
CAPT. GEORGE NELSON STONE.
The death of the late Capt. George N. Stone at his home in Vernon- ville, on March 8, 1901, after a brief illness, was regarded in the light of a public calamity in the city of Cincinnati, where his wide business interests made him so prominent, and his sterling traits of character made him so universally esteemed and beloved.
Captain Stone was born in the village of Stark, New Hampshire, July 17, 1840. His early life was spent amidst the granite hills of his native State, where he grew up endowed with that strength, individuality and in- dependence that has ever marked the citizens of New England; under the influence of which he early began the battle of life and slowly overcame the obstacles that are found in the pathway of friendless youth, soon attain- ing an enviable position in the commercial world by his indomitable energy and devotion to assigned duties. With his entrance into manhood came the Civil War. On the 4th of September, 1862, he entered the service of his country as 2nd lieutenant in the 7th Reg., Rhode Island Vol. Inf., and after three years of arduous and meritorious service retired with the rank of captain, to cast his fortunes with the adventurous men who gave to the West its subsequent career of unexampled prosperity. Selecting Cincinnati as his abiding place, he gradually arose from an humble position to one of prominence, becoming interested in a number of the city's public service corporations. He became an active member of the Chamber of Commerce and Merchants' Exchange December 19, 1877.
Captain Stone was so marked a personality that there were few success- ful business enterprises of magnitude in Cincinnati that did not feel his
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influence. His wonderful ability as president and manager of The City & Suburban Telegraph Association, and his prominence as a director in the Cincinnati Street Railway Company, and The Cincinnati Gas Light & Coke Company, brought about the great success of these organizations, and placed them on their present sound basis.
During his residence in Cincinnati, Captain Stone owned three homes, the first being a modest little structure in Columbia, now leased; the second was a very fine residence on Mount Lookout which the family occupied until the completion of the magnificent stone mansion on the hill, in Vernon- ville, where passed away this public benefactor, this generous friend, this kind hearted man whose last expressed wish was to spend his remaining years of life in making other people happy.
Captain Stone was very proud of Cincinnati and this feeling was fully reciprocated. Among other business enterprises, it was one of his cherished plans to erect a hotel and a block of high buildings which would give the city what he regarded desirable so that it could take its place with any other city in this regard. Among other projected enterprises was the erection of a country club for the city. He was greatly interested in the "Zoo" and when its affairs became complicated, he was the one who afforded relief and placed it upon its present sound basis. When the matter of parks was being agitated, Captain Stone guaranteed the expenses of legislation for the passage of a bill allowing Cincinnati to issue bonds for the establishment of those additions to the city.
The prominence of Captain Stone in the trotting world, not only because he owned "Maud S.," but because he probably was the best judge of horse- flesh in the country, is well known and his status as the best starting judge of the Grand Circuit was unquestioned. It was said of him that after com- ing to Cincinnati, he was never known to fail, and he made the Chester Park the most famous and best paying half-mile track that the country had ever known. His long connection with the famous trotter, "Maud S.," is a matter of history.
It is generally accepted that the entire revolution in the management of the street railroads which gave the city the electric system, was brought about by the determined stand of Captain Stone, for he it was who planned the whole movement, and if all of his ideas had been carried out, the com- pany would have been the model one of the world. Many of his ideas were re-
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garded as too advanced but his suggestions as to the big windows and broad cars, the push buttons and other improvements which make Cincinnati's cars the admiration of home and visiting travel, originated with the Captain. He it was who gave this city its first series of private cars for public use, and he it was who fought valiantly for the putting of wires underground, and his telephone company was the first body to carry out that idea. No adequate idea of George N. Stone can be formed without including his great generosity, his constant liberality and his unexampled charity. Innumerable . are the instances which every one in his employ can recall, and more have never been recorded except upon the memories of the recipients of this benefactor's largesses. This generosity was known all over the city and in every rank. In the meetings of the directors of the different organizations with which he was connected, this liberality was shown, and his employees profited in a substantial way because he believed in generous rewards and good pay. This man of generous impulses, like other public men, was not averse to newspaper notoriety, if just, but he was interested in so many things, and active in so many directions that it was difficult to avoid promi- nent personal mention. Honest and straightforward, he loved the same qualities in others, loved a joke and appreciated a good story. During his later years, although as thoroughly in earnest as before, he had placed his business affairs in a shape which promised a little relaxation, and it was upon the eve of a long needed rest that the summons came which called away this most prominent citizen of Cincinnati, this friend of all who needed friends, this loved husband and adored father. He will long be remem- bered not only through his vast business enterprises, but through those per- son?' attributes which made him so lovable a character.
On October 20, 1888, Captain Stone was married to Mrs. John Har- rington, formerly of Boston, Massachusetts, who is one of a family of four children born to her parents. Her father, Stephen H. Stone, was a very prominent capitalist of his day. Mrs. Stone is a woman of marked intelli- gence and refinement. The beautiful Stone mansion in Vernonville, on the corner of Burnet and Oak streets, which is one of the handsomest homes in the Queen City, is still the home of the family. By a former marriage Captain Stone had three children, two of whom are now living: Mary Kil- gour and Eleanor.
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