USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 2 > Part 31
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times. In the fall of 1850 he was chosen prosecuting attorney of Hamilton County, to which office he was reelected in 1852 and served until 1855, making one of the finest records of any incumbent in that office. In 1854, the Know Nothing party carried Cincinnati by a majority of over 5,000 votes, when the Democratic party had small chance of success. Rightly judging that the name of Mr. Pruden would add strength to their ticket, leading Democrats prevailed upon him to accept the nomination for the office of Police judge with J. J. Faran for mayor. This ticket was elected by a handsome majority. His impartial treatment and judicial fairness se-
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cured his reelection in 1857 and he completed his labors on the bench in 1859. From that date to November, 1860, he was prominently identified with the construction of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad and upon ยท its completion he resumed his private practice.
On August 19, 1841, Judge Pruden was married to Mary A. Powell and the one surviving child of this union is Thomas Pruden, a prominent real estate dealer of Cincinnati. On April 7, 1894, Judge Pruden was again married, to Mrs. Laura E. Carter, of Cincinnati. For years he was a lead- ing member of the Presbyterian Church. In politics he was a strong Demo- crat but he never permitted his political sentiment to sway his judicial opinion. During his service in the City Council he was instrumental in se- curing the change from the soft limestone to the boulder system of grading of the city streets, and he was one of the promoters of the building of the House of Refuge, the Hamilton County Infirmary and numerous other public works.
Judge Pruden is recalled by his fellow jurists as a man of great learn- ing and judicial ability; by his fellow citizens as one of the most progres- sive and useful men of his day; and by his family and friends as an example of upright living and as an object of the tenderest memories.
ALBERT GALLATIN CORRE.
ALBERT GALLATIN CORRE, president of The A. G. Corre Hotel Com- pany, operating the Grand Hotel and Gibson House, died in Cincinnati on June 1, 1902, after 42 years residence in this city, during which period he became one of the best known hotel men in this section of the United States. He was born at Mount Healthy, Hamilton County, Ohio, February 25, 1841.
Mr. Corre was educated in the common schools of Hamilton County, and in early youth became acquainted with the methods of successful hotel keeping, through acting as his father's clerk in the business at Mount Healthy. He began his active business career in Cincinnati in 1860, when he entered the old Broadway Hotel at Broadway and Second streets, where he continued until 1867, when he formed a partnership with Mr. Sinks, under the firm style of Sinks, Corre & Company, proprietors of the Gibson
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House. In 1873 he sold his interest to J. B. Gibson and became chief clerk at the Burnet House, but in September, 1874, accepted the same position in the then newly opened Grand Hotel. There he continued until 1877, when he bought an interest in the Burnet House, becoming a partner of J. W. Dunklee, and there for a time he acted as manager, but later became one of the proprietors of the Gibson House, disposing of his interest in the Burnet House. In 1890 he sold his stock in the Gibson House to Horace B. Dunbar.
Ever since the opening of the Grand- Hotel, Mr. Corre had regarded it a very desirable property, and in 1892 he obtained a lease of it from Captain Rivers, and immediately organized The A. G. Corre Hotel Com- pany, with a capital stock of $200,000, becoming its president and remaining so until his death. Mr. Corre remodeled this property, making the entrance on Third street, refurnishing the rooms and introducing electricity, and with the late Day Clifton Shears, who became vice-president and general manager, made it one of the finest hotels in the city and a good, paying investment. On April 20, 1900, Mr. Corre succeeded in purchasing the leasehold interest and personal property of the Gibson House, an individual transaction, although it was done with the intention that The A. G. Corre Hotel Company should have the benefit of it. In the following July he transferred and conveyed to the company all his rights in it, which increased the company's capital stock to $300,000. While this transaction was un- necessary on his part, it was conceded to be but a specimen of his honorable way of looking at business. This property he also vastly improved. His reputation as a hotel man extended beyond the city, and other hostelries were anxious to profit through his able management. He refused many tempting offers, one of these being the management of the Imperial Hotel, in New York City, for he had centered his interests in Cincinnati, and here his busy life was spent.
Mr. Corre gathered about him men like himself, men of sagacity, good business ability and of personal integrity. Among these were the late Day Clifton Shears, whose death preceded that of the subject of this sketch by but a short interval; Cornelius A. Burkhardt, his son-in-law, now president and general manager of the company; Allen W. Granger, another son-in- law, who is secretary and one of the directors of the company, and other like responsible men. Among the many testimonials of regret and sorrow
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prepared at the time of his death was that issued by the company of which he was so long president, and we are permitted to copy from this document the following eulogium: "Most men have some specialty in which they excel and truly can it be said that Mr. Corre excelled as a hotel manager. His reputation as such was national. As has been well said of him-'This country has seen few greater hotel men than Mr. Corre, if any; certainly he had no acknowledged rival in the West as a master not only of the details of the business, but as a man of affairs.'
"Strong in his personality, quick in action, urbane and genial in his intercourse, he impressed himself upon all with whom he came in contact. He was never more happy than when he was contributing to the pleasure of others, and many can attest his open-hearted generosity at some time when substantial aid and kindly counsel were invaluable to them. Untiring as he was in his work for the success of the company, he nevertheless found time to do more than his share towards the advancement of the city, and few indeed were the movements for the promotion of its welfare in which he was not interested. To none outside his own immediate family will his presence be missed or his loss more keenly felt than by us, but although he has gone from us, yet will there remain the memory of those lovable traits of character which endeared him to us all."
We are also permitted the use of the extract following, taken from the minutes of the Cincinnati League, of which Mr. Corre had been a valued member :
"In the death of Mr. A. G. Corre, the city of Cincinnati sustains the loss of a citizen whose entire life and activity has been spent in his native city, and in active contribution to her prosperity and development. In every public enterprise, Mr. Corre brought the strength of a clear judgment, a broad, patriotic citizenship and those personal qualifications which endeared him to all with whom he canie in contact, and contributed to the success of every undertaking with which he was identified. From its earliest or- ganization, the Cincinnati League has enjoyed the benefit of Mr. Corre's able support and counsel.
"Its board of directors hereby records its deep sense of loss in being deprived of the presence, counsel and active cooperation of Mr. Corre, and its sincere sympathy with his family.
"It is ordered that this expression be spread upon the minutes of the
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Cincinnati League and that a copy thereof be forwarded to the family of the deceased."
This document bears the signatures of W. T. Perkins, W. J. Breed and E. P. Wilson, committee; O. W. Woernike, president; and E. R. Wil- son, secretary and manager.
Mr. Corre was one of the directors of the Fall Festival; was a member of the Queen City Club; the Avondale Athletic Club; the Business Men's Club and the Hotel Association. He was a man of most pleasing personality, of great charity, and was admired and beloved by a large circle.
Mr. Corre married Alice Glenn, a daughter of Lewis Glenn, well known in the insurance world. Mrs. Corre died on November 1, 1899. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Corre are: Mrs. Cornelius A. Burkhardt ; Mrs. Allen W. Granger; Mrs. Edward W. Goetz; Louise, a student at college; and Glenn W.
Mr. Corre was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and the follow- ing resolutions were placed on record by that body :
"Resolved : That in the death of Albert Gallatin Corre, this Chamber mourns with deepest regret the loss of one of its most highly respected members, and deeply sympathizes with his family in their bereavement.
"Resolved: That this memorial be spread upon the records, and a copy be sent to the family of the deceased."
S. ANNIE YATES, M. D.
S. ANNIE YATES, M. D., founder of the Cincinnati Metaphysical Col- lege, occupies a commanding position, which has not been gained through social favor or the open seasame of gold, but has been won through the deepest waters of affliction, through a strong mentality, an invincible courage and a sweet, womanly sympathy which has sought to embrace all suffering humanity and bring to it benefits of mind and body.
In years, Dr. Yates is in the prime of a useful life, but in experience she has put generations behind her. From a childhood characterized by a sensitiveness to all suffering, she developed into a graciousness of young womanhood, perfected during an eight-years residence with her parents in England. At 26 she was left a widow with no protecting arm to assist her
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in shielding her two children, and then it was that she began to show that determined individuality which has never left her. Were it possible in the lim- its of the present article, to trace the brave career of this remarkable woman, as teacher, newspaper worker, temperance lecturer and philanthropist, depths of self denial could be shown which would shame many of the stronger sex. She then entered upon the serious study of medicine, following her early bent, but it became to her, serious indeed. All her investigations went to show the inadequacy of drugs and existing medical methods to reach the seats of many diseases. In addition to being a metaphysician and giving in all cases a metaphysical diagnosis, she is a legal medical practitioner of the Eclectic school. She regards the physical body as a congeries of ele- ments and administers only such elements in medicine as the system requires to establish equilibrium. In hospitals and jails she had been brought into close touch with many suffering ones, who, in recognizing her great sympa- thy and mental power over their conditions, were immediately helped. This brought her comfort and it also opened before her the possibility of a higher and different method of healing than any she could learn from text-books or clinics. Three years spent on a Dakota ranch, among lonely and primi- tive surroundings, enabled Dr. Yates to concentrate her impressions and evolve a system of healing which is in active operation to-day. Upon her return to the East, she took advantage of one of the colleges already estab- lished in the line of her own discoveries, and was properly graduated, dedi- cating her remaining years to the practice of metaphysical healing.
When Dr. Yates came to Cincinnati, her work was among those who were suffering, with no hope of cure, apparently abandoned by the medical profession. Her cures were nothing less than miraculous, and her fame soon spread, so that in 1888 a college 'organization was formed and a State charter was procured for the Cincinnati Metaphysical. College, to which students from all parts of the world flocked. Its early growth was phenomenal, and the institution was always self-supporting, but it was dis- continued several years ago from the fact that Dr. Yates found the per- centage too small, of students possessing the peculiar gift required in that particular practice. Dr. Yates may well be proud of what she has accom- plished.
Dr. Yates' son, Dr. Fred Yates, is a practicing physician at Newport, Kentucky. He was graduated in medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, and at
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the outbreak of the Spanish-American War enlisted in the United States Army as a hospital steward. He served in the hospital service in Puerto. Rico and the Philippines, reenlisting when his first term expired. Upon his return to the United States, he brought with him from Puerto Rico a handsome Spanish bride. The Doctor and his wife stand high socially. Dr. S. Annie Yates makes her home with her son in Newport. Her offices in Cincinnati are at No. 208 West Eighth street, where patients find a woman of gentle dignity, with many warm friends and grateful admirers.
HON. JOHN BORDEN MOSBY.
HON. JOHN BORDEN MOSBY, ex-mayor of Cincinnati and one of the city's distinguished citizens, was born in the Queen City, December 4, 1845. He is a son of N. B. and Ann (Borden) Mosby. His father was born at Petersburg, Virginia, and came in 1835 to Cincinnati, where he engaged in the wholesale grocery business.' His mother was born in Pennsylvania and accompanied her parents to Cincinnati in 1828.
John Borden Mosby was the youngest of a family of five children. His education was secured in the public schools, and an indication of his business capacity was shown even then, when during vacations he secured employment and spent no time in idleness. After leaving school, he filled positions with several city firms in different lines, but later decided to follow in his father's footsteps. With this idea in view he entered the grocery house of A. Ludington with whom he remained II years. During the Civil War he served 100 days with the State troops. On August I, 1872, he entered into a partnership with A. J. Hodsan in the wholesale grocery business, under the firm name of Mosby & Hodsan, with location at No. 106 Pearl street. An extensive business was built up and no change was made until 1885 when larger quarters were secured at Nos. 17-19 West Second street. The death of Mr. Hodsan in 1889 caused a reorganization of the firm, Mr. Mosby admitting to partnership two faith- ful employees, the firm style becoming Mosby, Raum & Gogreve. By pro- gressiveness, integrity and close watch of the public needs and tastes, an immense business was carried on which has steadily increased until it is now one of the largest wholesale grocery concerns in Cincinnati.
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In the spring of 1889 our subject was first honored by being elected mayor of Cincinnati, and his administration of municipal affairs was so eminently satisfactory that on March 21,. 1891, 'he was renominated by his Republican admirers and reelected to the position in the following April. He is a very active member of the Blaine and Lincoln clubs, the leading Republican organizations of this city. Other organizations with which he is connected include the Knights of Pythias, being a charter member of Cin- cinnati Lodge, No. 2. He is a member of Palmetto Lodge, No. 175, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and of Fred C. Jones Post, No. 401, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and a noble of the Mystic Shrine, and holds membership in N. C. Harmony Lodge, No. 2, F. & A. M., and Cincinnati Commandery, No. 3, K. T.
On October 19, 1879, Mr. Mosby was united in marriage with Mary F. Ludington, daughter of his early employer, and the four children of this marriage now living are: Stella M., John F., Gertrude and Genevieve. A daughter, Grace, died when four years old. The beautiful family home at No. 1010 Chapel street, Walnut Hills, is one of refinement and of hearty hospitality. Mr. Mosby both in business and public life has attached to him scores of personal friends. His name is as highly regarded as an in- corruptible official as it is respected in financial circles.
ERNEST AUGUST RENNER.
There are few men whose careers abound in such stirring incidents as characterized the life of the late Ernest August Renner. He served in wars at different times under three flags, had the high distinction of being one of the pall-bearers of Napoleon when his body was moved from St. Helena to Paris, and at the time of his death was an honored citizen of Cincinnati.
Mr. Renner was born April 2, 1822, in Hanover, Germany, and was a son of T. H. and Anna M. (Dresing) Renner. His parents both spent their entire lives in Germany, the father dying August 11, 1830, and the mother in April, 1848. When 14 years of age, our subject journeyed to London to enlist in the navy, but on account of his youth was rejected. He appealed to the Princess of Kent, who was soon to be crowned Queen,
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but Her Highness could do nothing for him. Robbed of his money and dis- couraged to the point of desperation, he slipped on board a vessel bound for Holland, hiding under a tarpaulin until the vessel was well out at sea. When he was discovered he won the sympathy of the captain and was taken on to Rotterdam. There fresh trouble confronted him as the port had a rule against the landing of paupers. The cook on the vessel gave Renner a basket and an apron, so the authorities would not think he intended staying ashore. Having evaded the officers, he experienced no further troubles. He enlisted in the Dutch Navy and the commodore on the vessel to which he was assigned made him cabin boy. At Batavia, Java, he enlisted in the Dutch Marine Corps, and for gallantry in the assault upon Achin, in Sumatra, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. In 1840, while out of service at Batavia, he enlisted as sergeant of marines on the "La Belle Poule," a 121-gun frigate belonging to the French Navy. There he met the Prince De Join- ville, who was in nominal command of the vessel, and being almost of the same age they were much together. When "La Belle Poule" went to St. Helena to take Napoleon's body back to France, the Prince De Joinville selected Mr. Renner as one of the coffin bearers. In speaking of this inci- dent at one time, Mr. Renner said: "It was in the summer of 1840. There were 12 of us who carried the body, I being the only one who was not a Frenchman. The Emperor was buried in three coffins, a wooden one sur- rounded by a lead one, and that by an iron one. We carried the wooden one on our shoulders, with the French flag draped over it. When the vessel arrived at Havre de Grace there was a tremendous demonstration. We went up the river Seine to Paris, and then in a grand procession through the streets of the city we took the body to its last resting place, in La Maison des Invalides."
Mr. Renner next enlisted in the French Legion of Strangers and went to Algiers. In one engagement the company was about to be overwhelmed by a body of Algerian soldiers, and the captain became frightened. Mr. Renner, a sergeant at the time, assumed command, and although the Al- gerians were repulsed he was court martialed. When asked why he usurped authority, he replied : "For the honor of France and for victory." He was acquitted, and instead of the expected punishment was made lieutenant. After leaving the army, he taught a missionary school in Barmen, Prussia. On September 1, 1847, he arrived in New York and tried to enlist for the
FRANCIS BACON JAMES.
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Mexican War but was too late. After this he collected money for the erec- tion of a church in Brooklyn, being assisted by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, who introduced him around and assisted him in every way. When the church was completed he secured employment in a plane factory in Con- necticut, where he succeeded in saving some money. With what funds he could command, he purchased a farm in Iowa, shortly afterward selling it at a handsome profit. He then moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he taught school and preached, in addition to following farming. When the Civil War broke out, he went to the front with an Iowa regiment, bearing rank as sergeant, serving under General Grant. In the battle of Gettysburg, the colonel of the regiment having been killed, Mr. Renner was made acting colonel. Afterward he was provost marshal in charge of the whole Lower Mississippi.
In 1870, Mr. Renner removed to Cincinnati where he spent the re- mainder of his years. He became a teacher in the Sixth Street Intermediate School, which he finally left, after many years of faithful service, to become principal of the school on Bond street. In 1894, he retired from active duty and with his wife lived in peace and comfort at their pleasant home in Corryville until he was called to his final rest, on October 8, 1902.
Mr. Renner was first married May 17, 1849, to Mary P. Parmalee, who died November 13, 1856, having given birth to five children. He was again married June 6, 1857, to Augusta Arans, a daughter of Knopp Arans, who was born and died in Germany. To this union were born three children. Of the eight children of whom Mr. Renner was father, one son survives. Mrs. Renner still resides in her home at Corryville, and is surrounded by many friends of long years standing.
FRANCIS BACON JAMES.
FRANCIS BACON JAMES, who occupies a high position among the mem- bers of the Cincinnati bar, was born in Cincinnati, June 10, 1864, and spent a part of his youth with relatives in Natchez, Mississippi. He graduated from Woodward High School in 1882, and from the Law School of Cin- cinnati College in 1886, taking first prize for the examination with an aver- age of 96.6 per cent, outranking the second man 4.5 per cent. For the first
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three years after his admission to the bar, he practiced alone, for the next three years he was senior member of the firm of James & Cook, and since 1892 he has been a member of the firm of Jones & James, of which Rankin D. Jones is the senior member.
Mr. James is a member of the International Law Association, American, Ohio State and Cincinnati bar associations, and is a member of the committee of the American Bar Association on uniform laws. In 1889 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for corporation counsel of the city, and for four years served as a member of the Union Board of Cincinnati High Schools, during the last year of his term being president of the board. The gymnasiums and the department of domestic science in the high schools of the city are the fruits of his special labor. The Cincinnati College of Dental Surgery claims him as the president of its board of trustees and he was an instructor in the Law School of Cincinnati College, and is now an instructor in the Law Department of the University of Cincinnati and has been since its consolidation with the former school, his work as a lecturer covering a period of 11 years. The "Ohio Law of Opinion Evidence" and "A Collection of Cases on the Construction of Statutes" constitute his legal literary work, and his published public addresses cover: "Manual Training High Schools," "Torrens System of Land Titles," "Municipal Government," "Ohio Municipal Code," "Merit System," "Negotiable Instrument Code," "Codification of Branches of Commercial Law" and "Uniform Laws Gov- erning Warehouse Receipts."
In politics he was a Democrat until the nomination of W. J. Bryan for the presidency, since which time he has been a Republican and in full accord with the policies of the Republican party, especially those of President Roosevelt. Since his alliance with the Republican party, he has been re- garded as an independent in politics and presided over the Independent Re- publican Convention of Hamilton County, Ohio, in the fall of 1899, which movement was successful, and is a member of the executive committee of the Citizens' Municipal party.
Mr. James' practice of the law covers the widest possible range of sub- jects. He won his spurs and a national reputation as a lawyer in the case of Kraus vs. Peebles (1893) 58 Federal Rep., 585, which involved the well known Pepper trade-mark and label for distillery bottling of whiskey. Mr. James has practiced in almost every kind of court in the United States,
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including the Supreme Court, and in the diamond smuggling case of Keck vs. United States, 172 U. S. 434, he had the unique experience of present- ing it to that court on five different occasions, three times on oral argument, once on brief without oral agrument, and once upon a petition for a rehear- ing, finally winning out by a vote of five to four. This protracted litigation was finally ended after a contest of nearly six years by securing the quashing of a new indictment charging his client with importing contrary to law. Hon. James M. Beck, as Assistant Attorney General of the United States and one of the most brilliant lawyers of Philadelphia, represented the gov- ernment throughout this remarkable case which had more hearings before the Supreme Court than any other case in the history of that great tribunal. Governor Nash recently made Mr. James a member of the Ohio State Board on Uniform State Laws and that body has selected him as secretary. A portrait of Mr. James accompanies this sketch, being presented on a fore- going page.
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