USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 2 > Part 39
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In 1832, while living in Frederick, Maryland, Mr. Kessler was mar- ried to Priscilla Boswell, who was a daughter of one of the oldest Maryland families of the Western Shore. Nine children were born to them, all of whom died young, with the exception of three daughters and one son. This son was a worthy successor of his father, became the latter's partner in business, but died at the age of 26 years. The daughters were: Mrs. Amor Smith, Jr., who died at Baltimore, Maryland, on Thanksgiving Day, 1873; Mrs. Luke A. Staley; and Mrs. D. W. C. Shockley. Mrs. Kessler died in January, 1878.
Mr. Kessler was a man of genial personality, whose friendships were strong and sincere, whose domestic life was of the happiest and whose pub-
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lic career reflected honor upon himself and his city and party. Fraternally he was a 32nd degree Mason.
The marriages contracted by the daughters of Mr. Kessler connected the family with others of sterling worth and prominence, all three of his sons-in-law being prominently identified with the business interests of Cin- cinnati. The death of D. W. C. Shockley occurred October 13, 1871, and he is survived by his widow and three children, one son being the attorney, Albert D. Shockley, who is located in the Wiggins Building, Cincinnati. Amor Smith, Jr., is a member of the well- known manufacturing firm of Amor Smith & Company, and is one of the city's most prominent men, having served two terms, from 1885 to 1889, as mayor of Cincinnati. Luke A. Staley has long been one of the leading real estate men of the city and his offices at Nos. 548-550 Main street are familiar to the business world. Sketches of Mr. Smith and Mr. Staley will be found elsewhere in this work.
ROBERT BONNER BOWLER.
ROBERT BONNER BOWLER, deceased, a son of Robert Bonner Bowler and Susan L. Pendleton, was born July 17, 1856, on Mount Storm in the village of Clifton, Hamilton County, Ohio. He received his early educa- tion in the public schools and afterwards studied under private tutors and traveled abroad. He for a time followed a mercantile life being assistant general bookkeeper of the firm of George W. McAlpin & Company. Sub- sequently he was purchasing agent of the Kentucky Central Railroad. He entered the Cincinnati Law School in the summer of 1884 from which he graduated in the following year at the head of his class. He immediately entered upon the practice of the law and from the outset took a high stand among his fellows of the bar. In 1890 he was elected mayor of his native village of Clifton. In 1892 he was the nominee of the Democratic party for member of Congress from the First Congressional District of Ohio, and although defeated he had the satisfaction of lowering the majority to the lowest point it had reached for many years.
After the election of Grover Cleveland to. the presidency in 1892, Mr. Bowler was considered for a number of positions in the former's official household, including those of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and
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Treasurer of the United States, but finally as a result of his desire to hold a position more in the line of his profession he accepted the position of Comptroller of the Treasury, which he held throughout Mr. Cleveland's term. This position he administered in such a way as to gain the confi- dence and esteem of all who had any relations with him. During his term of office he published several volumes of his reports of opinions which have done much to give the comptroller's reports an authoritative position beyond any they had previously attained.
At the expiration of his term of office in -1897, Mr. Bowler returned to Cincinnati and, associated with Harlan Cleveland, continued in the active practice of his profession until his death in the house of his birth on Sep- tember 16, 1902. Mr. Bowler was a public spirited citizen and a man of affairs. He was a member of many organizations of a literary and business character and a director of a number of business corporations. For a num- ber of years he was treasurer, and at the time of his death president, of the Cincinnati Musical Festival Association. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church and an active participant in its conventions.
Mr. Bowler was married in 1877, at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London, to Alice Barnard Wilkinson, who with a son and two daughters survives him.
MAJOR HARLAN PAGE LLOYD, LL. D.
MAJOR HARLAN PAGE LLOYD, LI .. D., distinguished as soldier and lawyer, is one of the best known citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he has been located since the close of the Civil War. He was born at Angelica, Allegany County, New York, and is descended from an illustrious Welsh family, whose estate was at Dolobran in Wales. The head of this family was a lineal descendant of King Edward I, of England. One branch of the Lloyds went to England and took part in the war for constitutional liberty under Oliver Cromwell. The descendants of this branch emigrated to America and located on Long Island, several of them being soldiers in the War of the American Revolution.
Hon. Ransom Lloyd, father of Major Lloyd, was a resident of An- gelica, Allegany County, New York, and was for many years judge of
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the Court of Common Pleas of Allegany County. He was the personal and political friend of W. L. Marcy, Horatio Seymour, and other promi- nent statesmen of New York. He was joined in marriage with Julia M. Starr of Danbury, Connecticut, a descendant of one of the Puritan fore- fathers, who joined the Plymouth Colony in 1634. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were officers in the War of the Revolution, the former being killed when the British assailed his native city. Judge Lloyd's grand- father was killed in the battle of Bennington, and his father served in the War of 1812. From both his parents young Lloyd inherited patriotic ardor and military instincts. He enjoys the singular distinction in genealogy that from 1634, when his remote ancestor in this country served in the wars against the Pequod Indians in Massachusetts, until his own service in the War of the Rebellion, every generation furnished a military officer in the service of the Colonies and of the United States.
Major Lloyd had a thorough academic training, and entered the sopho- more class of Hamilton College in 1856. He graduated in 1859, being one of the youngest of his class, winning second honors in general scholarship and first prize in rhetoric and oratory. Three years later he received the degree of Master of Arts. For a year he was classical instructor in a col- legiate institute at Bloomfield, New Jersey, and at the same time pursued the study of the law. Later he placed himself under the preceptorship of Hon. Martin Grover, judge of the New York Court of Appeals, and was thus peacefully engaged when the firing upon Fort Sumter called the nation to arms. He assisted in raising and equipping the first company of soldiers that left his native village; and, after the memorable disaster at Bull Run, gave his entire time for several months to the work of recruiting volunteers. He visited nearly every school district in his native county, and at numerous meetings in churches and schools appealed to the people to take up arms in the Union's defense. A full company of the 6th Reg., New York Vol. Cav., of which he was Ist lieutenant, enlisted under him and marched to Camp Scott on Staten Island. There his regiment was consolidated with another, and he was involuntarily mustered out of service. He went to Albany, where he was admitted to the bar in December, 1861, afterward taking a thorough course of study in the law school of the University of Albany. Early in June, 1862, he enlisted in a battery, and his promotion rapidly followed. After faithful service . at Newbern and Roanoke Island
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under General Burnside, he was commissioned captain in the 22nd Reg., New York Vol. Cav., which regiment was ordered to join the Army of the Potomac. He took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor, the siege of Petersburg, Jerusalem Plank Road, and in all the battles of the Wilson raid. Then he marched to the defense of Washington against General Early, and thence to the Shenandoah Val- ley, taking part in every battle of that brilliant campaign. While leading a charge at the head of his regiment, near Winchester, August 21, 1864, he was shot directly through the body, receiving four wounds, and was con- sidered mortally wounded. He was sent to the hospital, thence to his home in New York as soon as he could be removed. He partially recovered and with an open wound took the stump for Abraham Lincoln in the fall of 1864, making campaign speeches until the very day of election. He then rejoined his regiment in the field, was commissioned as major and served on a general court martial during the winter of 1864-65.
In the spring of 1865 he marched up the valley of the Shenandoah with General Sheridan and General Custer, and his regiment led the attack at Waynesboro, the battle that resulted in the capture of the entire army of Gen. Jubal A. Early, one of the most brilliant of General Sheridan's series of victories in the valley. The column pushed on to Charlottesville and Gordonsville, destroying the Virginia Central Railroad and General Lee's source of supplies, until it reached a point only eight miles from Richmond on the west. Then wheeling to the left, General Sheridan crossed the York River to White House Landing and joined General Grant's army in front of Petersburg. During this rapid march, Major Lloyd served as aid-de- camp on the staff of General Wells of Vermont and won the highest com- mendation for his soldierly qualities. He took part with the Army of the Potomac in the daily and nightly battles which resulted in the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Court House.
He was next appointed commissary of musters by the Secretary of War, and was assigned to duty on the staff of Major-General Torbert, com- manding the Army of the Shenandoah. He mustered out and sent home all the men of this army, and was himself honorably discharged at Rochester, New York, in August, 1865. Thus closed his brilliant military carcer. His soldierly conduct and qualities had frequently attracted the notice of his superior officers, and at the close of the war General Custer tendered him
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a position in his own regiment in the regular army, but Major Lloyd declined the honor.
In casting about for a field in which to engage in the practice of the legal profession, Major Lloyd determined upon Cincinnati. Although a stranger in the city and possessed of no means, he opened a law office in this city. Business came slowly at first, but devotion to the interests of his clients and the deep learning he evidenced in his early cases attracted at- tention and brought him a practice which established him among the fore- most practitioners at the Cincinnati bar. Of the most important causes in which Major Lloyd has been engaged, probably the most interesting, came in his early practice. Some emancipated slaves sought to recover an estate which they claimed by inheritance from a runaway slave from Ken- tucky, who had accumulated property in Cincinnati. Major Lloyd was retained to prosecute their claim. Suit was instituted in 1869. The defense of the occupying claimants. rested on three grounds: That the plaintiffs were illegitimate, as a slave marriage had no legal validity; that the plaintiffs were chattels and had no legal status at the time the descent was cast; and that if any property descended it vested in the master and not in the slave. Major Lloyd took the broad ground that the validity of the slave marriage should be recognized in the interest of justice and morality, as it certainly had been under the law in many of the Slave States. His argument was an exhaustive review of the history of the marriage institution among the slaves in this country, and of the legal authorities which recognized its validity. The Superior Court of Cincinnati, in general term, unanimously sustained the Major's position and gave judgment accordingly. The case was the first of the kind in this country and attracted much attention.
Major Lloyd gave the bankrupt law and the decisions under it the closest study, and was engaged in cases which afterwards became leading cases in its construction. One case worthy of mention was where the ques- tion was raised as to whether the State court had the power to set aside a discharge in bankruptcy granted by a Federal court under the law of 1867. This was the first case on the subject in Ohio. Major Lloyd took the negative, argued the case three times at Mansfield and finally won it. The law in Ohio and other States has since been settled, affirming the theory of Major Lloyd in that case.
Another important case, considered from a legal standpoint, was a.
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copyright case in the United States Supreme Court. The case had been de- cided adversely to Major Lloyd's client hy Judge Emmons, of the United States Circuit Court, and by Judge Swing, of the United States District Court, before he was retained. He argued the question at length, and both in his brief and his oral argument presented an elaborate review of the American and English decisions. The court unanimously sustained his position in an opinion which makes this a leading case.
He has been constantly retained in important cases in the Supreme Court of Ohio, in the Supreme Court of the United States and in the courts of many of the States. In 1884 he was employed to contest the will of a wealthy decedent at St. Louis, and won a great victory for his Cincinnati clients. He was retained in more than 30 cases growing out of the famous failure of the Fidelity Bank in 1887. Some of these cases involved hundreds of thousands of dollars, and one case involved nearly three million dol- lars. He was selected to represent the McMicken heirs in the contest for the removal of the University of Cincinnati. His argument in the Supreme Court of Ohio was very able, and was never answered, and no opinion was rendered in that court.
Major Lloyd has been associated in practice with C. S. Bates, who afterward became a clergyman in Cleveland, Ohio; with Governor Edward F. Noyes, afterward United States Minister to France; with Hon. Al- phonso Taft, Attorney General of the United States and United States Minister to Vienna and St. Petersburg; and with Hon. William H. Taft, late Governor of the Philippine Islands, and now Secretary of War in President Roosevelt's cabinet. Major Lloyd's scholarly habits, his close application to business and business-like methods, his strict integrity, his quickness of perception and clearness of thought, accompanied as they are by great facility of speech and perspicuity of expression, have given him a very high rank in his profession and the fullest confidence of his clients.
Major Lloyd's power of speech, his creative imagination and literary education, make him a successful lecturer and public speaker. He delivered the baccalaureate address before the University of Cincinnati in 1882. Fre- quent calls have been made on him for lectures on historical subjects, the delivery of which gave the greatest satisfaction to his audiences.
As a Republican the subject of this sketch has been an enthusiastic advocate of party principles, although he has never held nor been a candi-
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date for political office. A large number of lawyers throughout the district recommended him for appointment as judge of the United States District Court, after Judge Swing's death, but this honor he declined, preferring to remain in practice.
Major Lloyd has always been active in the cause of Christianity, and therefore he has always been actively interested in the Sabbath-schools of Cincinnati, in the Young Men's Bible Society, and in the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he at one time was president. He was also president of the State convention of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion at Toledo in 1874.
He is deeply interested in the Grand Army of the Republic, having devoted much of his time to the welfare of the order. In 1884 he was elected commander of the Department of Ohio, and served with great ability. The membership rapidly increased under his leadership and the usefulness of the organization was greatly enlarged. He is a prominent member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and has fre- quently delivered addresses before its members. He was appointed by the Governor as trustee of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home and served in that capacity for a long time, doing much to reorganize the graded school system and to increase the efficiency of this branch of the institution.
Major Lloyd is also a member of various clubs,-literary, social and political,-and was elected president of the Literary Club of Cincinnati in 1892. He is an active member of the Union League Club in the city of New York and of other New York and Philadelphia clubs. Major Lloyd has also been president and director of many large corporations.
In 1877, Major Lloyd went to Europe, spending several months in travel and study, visiting England, Scotland, Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland. He went again in 1883, spending some time in Bavaria and Austria, and has subsequently made six other European trips.
A few years after he commenced practice in Cincinnati, he was unani- mously elected as professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres in Hamilton Col- lege to succeed that eminent scholar, Dr. A. J. Upson. Still later he was asked by many friends to take the presidency of the University of Cincin- nati. Both positions were declined. He has also been invited to deliver courses of lectures on constitutional and municipal law at several of the colleges.
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In June, 1869, Major Lloyd was married at Poughkeepsie, New York, to Harriet G. Raymond, a daughter of John H. Raymond, LL. D., who was president of Vassar College. Two children were born to them, namely: Raymond and Marguerite. Mrs. Lloyd died in April, 1890. Major Lloyd has recently received the degree of LL. D. from his alma mater.
ALBERT MCCULLOUGH .*
ALBERT MCCULLOUGH, head of the well known seed house of J. M. Mccullough's Sons, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 3, 1851, and is a son of James M. and Melissa (Parvin) Mccullough. His great-grand- father removed from Ireland to Pennsylvania as early as 1760, and his grandfather came from that State to Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1794, his wife being, it is said, the first white girl that ever set foot in Cincinnati.
James M. Mccullough was born at Blue Ash, Hamilton County, Ohio, December 17, 1811, and in 1838 established the seed business which was destined to grow famous under the firm name of J. M. Mccullough's Sons. His wife, Melissa Parvin, was a daughter of Dr. Holmes Parvin, who died in 1842. Dr. Parvin was an electrical genius and bankrupted himself in the development of various electrical devices, when electricity was considered a scientific man's plaything, impracticable and simply a fad. Early in the 19th century he developed electrical instruments so that communication could be held between one room and another, and it was with the development of his ideas that Professor Morse attained everlasting fame.
Albert Mccullough was educated in the private schools of Cincinnati and under private tutors, and in Chickering Institute. He then went into busi- ness with his father, whose name had already become familiar throughout the Ohio Valley and the South, wherever seeds and bulbs and allied products were in demand. Our subject is now actively engaged in managing this business, and under his direction the firm has become known not only in this country but in foreign lands as well. When it was first established, the business was located on Main street, below Fourth, but its growth made new and enlarged quarters imperative. It was moved to the corner of Main and Fifth streets, and still later to its present location at No. 316-318 Walnut street, where it has been located for more than 30 years. The firm of J. M.
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Mccullough's Sons is one of the most enterprising and successful of those that are engaged in the business of propagating and supplying seeds. As an instance of the successful methods they employ, several years ago the firm imported from Germany a special quality of garden seeds, their germina- tion being about 70 per cent. the first year, 20 per cent. the second year, and after that being worthless. Believing that better results could be obtained from this special kind of seeds if grown under more favorable circumstances, Mr. Mccullough made a trial in California where the season is much longer than in Germany. The result is that the firm is now furnishing the same variety of seeds, with a germination the first year of from 98 to 100 per cent., and the vitality is such that the seeds last for years. The firm sells in every State in the Union, and exports largely to foreign ports, and there have been several instances where the J. M. Mccullough's Sons' seeds, exported to Europe, have been shipped back to New York importers. There is no firm in the country enjoying the confidence of the trade to a higher degree, its name being a synonym of the best quality, and that only.
Albert Mccullough was married May 28, 1872, to Josephine Mason, a daughter of Robert Mason of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. They have three children, as follows: Harrie B., who is in business with his father; Ella M .; and Josephine. The family reside at Mccullough's, a station a few miles out of the city, on the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern Railway.
THOMAS A. GARRIGAN .*
THOMAS A. GARRIGAN, who, for almost a decade has been the efficient Southeastern passenger agent of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, died at his handsome residence, No. 3223 Woodburn Avenue, Cincinnati, on April 3, 1903. Mr. Garrigan was born in 1859 in Cincin- nati and was reared and educated here. His parents were John and Bridget (Delehanty) Garrigan, both natives of Ireland.
Mr. Garrigan was a trained railroad man, beginning his career about 1880 with the old Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, passing then to the Dayton & Michigan Railroad, where he remained a number of years, filling the positions of city passenger agent and traveling passenger agent. After the Ohio & Mississippi road was absorbed by the Baltimore. & Ohio South-
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western Company, he took service with the latter company as traveling passenger agent, continuing with that road until some nine years ago, when he went with the "Big Four" as Southeastern passenger agent, a position he was most capably filling until stricken with his fatal illness. As a so- liciting passenger agent, he was regarded as the peer of any man in the service, his perseverance and energy commanding the highest esteem from his employers.
Mr. Garrigan was twice married. On February 22, 1880, he was married to Kathrine McKernen; a son and three daughters of this mar- riage survive. Mr. Garrigan is survived by his widow, who was a sister of his first wife, and to whom he was married September 30, 1891. Mr. Gar- rigan's funeral services were conducted at the Church of the Assumption, on Gilbert avenue, the family all being devoted Catholics. Mr. Garrigan left a wide circle of attached personal. friends. He was popular with his associates and two years ago was honored by an election to the presidency of the Traveling Passenger Agents' Association.
CAPT. W. A. WATKINS .*
CAPT. W. A. WATKINS, who for a period of 30 years was a well known citizen in the East End, Cincinnati, and a pioneer in undertaking, died sud- denly in this city, January 4, 1903. His business interests had been centered in Cincinnati, where he has also been prominent in political life. He was a member of the old Board of Aldermen and was active in promoting and assisting in the public improvements which were the foundation of the city's development and present beauty.
Captain Watkins was born in New Richmond, Ohio, June 3, 1837, and was one of five children born to his parents, of which number three survive. The father was a pork packer and dry goods merchant, and our subject worked with him until the outbreak of the Civil War. He promptly entered the service, was commissioned captain of Company G, 59th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., and served with distinction until the close of the war. He then em- barked in tobacco manufacturing, at which he continued for three years, and then engaged in the coal business for a similar period of time. He next engaged in the undertaking business which he followed the remainder
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