USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. II, Pt. 2 > Part 40
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of his life. His establishment was located on Eastern avenue, and in all its appointments excelled the other establishments of its kind in the East End. The business is now being successfully carried on by his three sons. He was a man of superior business qualifications, and arose to a position high in the esteem of his fellow men. For some time prior to his death he had been under the care of a physician, and it was during a drive to his home that he became so violently ill that he was hurriedly taken to the Gibson House, where his life terminated.
Captain Watkins' first wife, Cornelia D. Watkins, died in 1862, leaving two children,-Fanny and William C. He formed a second union with Louise Corbly, by whom he had three children, namely: Frank, Nellie and Lewis.
Captain Watkins was a valued member of Yeatman Lodge, No. 162, F. & A. M .; and Commodore Foote Post, No. 200, Grand Army of the Re- public, and representatives of these organizations, with a large concourse of friends and neighbors, attended his funeral at Mount Washington Cemetery.
ALBERT H. GEROLD .*
ALBERT H. GEROLD, who was prominently identified with many im- portant business concerns and a member of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, was called to his final rest just as he was entering the prime of life. Beginning his business career at the age of 16 years, with but limited advantages, his natural ability asserted itself, and at the time of his death, when but 28 years of age, he enjoyed a prestige among the business men of Cincinnati.
Mr. Gerold was born in Cincinnati, April 29, 1868, and was one of four children born to his parents. His father, Prof. H. Gerold, who sur- vives him, is well and favorably known among the musical fraternity. Our subject attended public schools until 16 years of age, then became clerk for Hoffman & Ahlers, coppersmiths. He became familiar with every detail of the business, and in 1890 was well qualified to enter a business partner- ship with Peter Buchert, Jr., under the name of the American Copper & Brass Works. This business prospered and he later branched out into other lines, holding large interests in the G. W. Taylor Distilling Company, ,of
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Poindexter, Kentucky, and the Cereal Distilling Company of Lawrence- burg, Indiana, serving as president of the last named corporation. Although a young man, he was in no small degree identified with the business inter- ests of the city, being honorable, capable and eminently successful, gen- erous to all, and universally respected among his business associates. His death occurred August 22, 1896, after a protracted illness, and his remains were interred in Spring Grove Cemetery on August 25th.
On June 12, 1895, Mr. Gerold was joined in marriage with Johanna Nielen, a daughter of Patrick Nielen, who was born in Ireland but came to America at an early day, locating in Cincinnati. Mr. Gerold was reared and died in the Catholic faith.
HON. EDWARD SCHWAB .*
HON. EDWARD SCHWAB, ex-judge of the Police Court of Cincinnati and one of the best known men of Hamilton County, Ohio, died July 17, 1901. He successfully engaged in the practice of the law for many years in Cincinnati, and stood high in the profession. He was one of six children and was born January 1, 1856, being a son of Mathias Schwab, who was a native of Switzerland.
Edward Schwab received a good education and was prepared for his profession at the Cincinnati Law School, after which he engaged in prac- tice. From the very first he was successful and he soon attained prominence. In 1896, he was placed on the Fusion ticket as candidate for the office of judge of the Police Court of Cincinnati, and his election followed, this in itself being a high testimonial of his, popularity. He established a record for kindness, clemency and, above all, justice. His judgment was keen and his power to study human nature was quite extraordinary. He could separate the chaff from the wheat in a kindly but stern way that appealed to those who knew him and admired in him the true qualities of a gentle- man. Thieves, wife beaters and those who were unkind to dumb animals received no mercy at his hands. For those arraigned for minor offenses he always had a lecture. After the expiration of his term of office, he became associated with Shay & Cogan in the practice of the law, and his experience on the bench proved a valuable help to him in the prosecution or defense
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of criminals. The cause of his death was acute spinal meningitis, which was greatly aggravated by the heat. He received the best of medical at- tention, but all to no avail, his death occurring in College Hill Sanitarium.
Judge Schwab was united in marriage, June 29, 1892, to Ethel Alden, a daughter of Leonard B. Alden, who died in the early "seventies." He is survived by his widow. The family home until his death was on Mad Anthony street, Cumminsville. Fraternally, Judge Schwab was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. With his wife he was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and in political affiliation he was a Republican.
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LOUIS HART .*
Among the prominent citizens of Cincinnati, who are missed from the walks of business and the gatherings of family and social life, is the late Louis Hart, who died July 10, 1901, in the city of New York, where he had gone for treatment.
Mr. Hart was born July 10, 1855, one of three children born to his parents. With his father, Isaac Hart, he engaged in the wholesale clothing business under the style and title of Isaac Hart & Company, one of the most reliable and best known houses of the city of Cincinnati. He was well qualified for business life, having received a most careful education in the schools of Cincinnati and in college, from which he was graduated. He was broad minded and liberal and in him the city found a stalwart friend, who was in support of every public measure and enterprise calculated to benefit the community. He represented the highest type of manhood, and made friends of all with whom he came in contact, either socially or in a business way. He was called to the unknown world in the prime of life, when he had every reason to believe that years of success and happiness in this world were before him.
Mr. Hart was joined in marriage with Blanche Newberger of Cincin- nati, a daughter of the well known and highly respected Leopold New- berger, senior member of the firm of Leopold Newberger & Brother, ex- tensive cigar dealers of Cincinnati. Our subject lived with his wife and daughter, Helen, in a beautiful home in Avondale. Here the last sad rites
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over Mr. Hart's remains were performed by Rabbi Marcusson, of Georgia. He was known for his generosity and liberality toward all charitable enter- prises. For many years he was a prominent Mason. In politics he was a stanch Democrat, but took little interest except in national affairs.
ROBERT CORBIN WINTERMUTE, M. D .*
ROBERT CORBIN WINTERMUTE, M. D., one of the prominent members of the medical profession of Cincinnati, comes of an old New Jersey family, which was founded by his ancestor John G. Wintermute or Wintermuth to give it the German spelling. This grandfather came from Germany in 1776 and settled in Sussex County, New Jersey, his descendants later re- moving to Ohio.
Dr. Wintermute was born at Norton, Delaware County, Ohio, June 27, 1861, and is a son of J. P. and Etta A. (Buckmaster) Wintermute, and a grandson of George Wintermute. J. P. Wintermute grew to the age of 16 years on his father's farm in Muskingum County, Ohio, where he was born in 1832, and then engaged in several different lines of business, being for seven years in the daguerreotype business at Zanesville and in a mercantile busines at Norton at the time of our subject's birth, and still later resided at Mount Vernon where his son attended the public schools and Mount Vernon Academy. In 1867 he removed to Mount Liberty where he remained in business until 1882, when he engaged in the hardware business at Dela- ware, Ohio, from which he has now retired.
After completing his literary education, Dr. Wintermute began the study of medicine under Dr. A. P. Robertson of Mount Liberty, Ohio, and in the spring of 1881 was graduated at the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincin- nati. Immediately afterward he opened an office for practice at No. 58 Clark street, Cincinnati, where he continued until the spring of 1882, when he removed to Delaware, Ohio. There he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice and remained until August, 1890, when he returned to this city and resumed his practice here. Dr. Wintermute occupics the chair of obstetrics and dis- eases of women and children at the Eclectic Medical Institute and is a mem- ber of the staff of able surgeons and gynecologists and also one of the at- tending physicians to the Seton Hospital, of Cincinnati. He is also favor-
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ably known to the medical world as the author of Wintermute's edition of "King's Eclectic Obstetrics," a standard work. He is also a member of the editorial staff of the Eclectic Medical Journal. From 1884 to 1888 he served as coroner of Delaware County, Ohio.
In his school of medical practice Dr. Wintermute stands at the head in Ohio. In 1888 he was elected president of the Ohio State Eclectic Medical Association and in 1891 was elected treasurer of the same and has been successively reelected each year since. His professional associations include the Ohio State Eclectic Medical Association, the National Eclectic Medical Association, the Ohio Central Eclectic Medical Society and the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Society. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows, Elks, National Union, Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order and A. O. U. W., his interest in each being far more than perfunctory.
Dr. Wintermute was married December 31, 1890, to Mary A. Cherry, who is a daughter of Dr. James M. Cherry, a prominent physician of Dela- ware, Ohio. No children have been born to this marriage.
Dr. and Mrs. Wintermute attend the Norwood Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a stanch Republican. Both in the city, where his offices are advantageously located in the Leverone Building, and in the beautiful suburb of Norwood, where he resides, Dr. Wintermute has many friends and ad- mirers.
CHARLES DAVIS .*
CHARLES DAVIS, who for many years was one of the leading business men of Cincinnati, identified with the city's life in many circles, died at his beautiful home at No. 224 Loraine avenue, Clifton, on September 26, 1903. Mr. Davis was a native of Cincinnati and was a son of Charles Davis, the well known pioneer citizen and early capitalist of this city.
Charles Davis, with many other successful business men of Cincinnati, was a graduate of Chickering Institute; he later attended the military school at Chester, Pennsylvania. His business career was commenced in the whole- sale drug business, which he later abandoned and turned his attention to the manufacture of machine tools and was active in the organization of a com- pany which grew into the great corporation now known as The American Tool Works Company. After years of prosperity, Mr. Davis disposed of
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many interests and enjoyed a more leisurely life, passing some time in foreign travel with his mother, and becoming well posted in the manners and customs of the people of other lands.
Mr. Davis was the inheritor of much real estate in Cincinnati, which his foresight and business ability converted into some of the best paying realty in the city. He was one of the first to convert residence into business property on Seventh street, sparing no expense to make it one of the most desirable and attractive parts of the city.
For a number of years he was a leading member of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, where his business ability and integrity were always recognized and where he will be sadly missed. His associates in this organ- ization held a memorial meeting in the library of the Chamber of Commerce on the Wednesday following his decease, and many were the tributes paid to his character and accomplishments.
Mr. Davis was a 32nd degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner. He also held membership in numerous other fraternal societies. He was admired and beloved in a number of social organizations, where his literary abilities and personal characteristics were much appreciated; naturally gifted as a writer, he wrote several valuable works merely as a pastime. He was popular in. the Queen City, the Commercial, and the Manufacturers' clubs. He was an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church. His last resting place is in Spring Grove Cemetery, by the side of his father. He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Peter Zinn, and by scores of warm personal friends.
Mrs. Peter Zinn, our subject's mother, who before her first marriage bore the name of Elizabeth Goodin, is a daughter of the well known pioneer citizen George Goodin, who settled in Cincinnati in 1825. Elizabeth Goodin was married in 1852 to Charles Davis, who died in 1854, leaving one son, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Davis was later married to Peter Zinn, who was born in Clinton township, Franklin County, Ohio, February 23, 1819. He was apprenticed to the proprietors of the Ohio Statesman to learn the trade of printer; soon after beginning his work as a journeyman printer, he came to Cincinnati, where after working two years as a compositor, he became publisher of the Daily News. Later, he decided to study law, and for this purpose entered the office of Judge Bellamy Storer; after five years of study he was admitted to the bar and became associated with Charles H. Brough, the firm being known as Brough & Zinn. In 1848 Mr. Zinn
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made a trip to Europe, and resumed his practice upon his return home. He was sent to the State Legislature in 1861 for a term of three years and during the Civil War gave brave and loyal service to his country as major of the 85th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf. In 1873 he published a law book entitled " Select Cases on Trusts," which was well received by his colleagues in the legal profession. He was reared a Quaker, and many of the char- acteristics of his early training clung to him; he disliked all manner of pre- tense and show. He became one of the most eminent lawyers of Cincinnati in his day, and died in 1880. Mrs. Zinn is a. member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
CAPT. CHANNING RICHARDS .*
CAPT. CHANNING RICHARDS, for many years one of the most brilliant lawyers of the Hamilton County bar, professor of commercial law in the Law School of the Cincinnati College, and one of the city's most prominent men, died at Battle Creek, Michigan, September 12, 1896. Captain Richards was born in Cincinnati, February 21, 1838, and was a son of Channing and Lydia (Williamson) Richards.
Upon the death of Captain Richards, a committee appointed by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, made a report paying tribute to his memory. This committee was composed of Messrs. J. D. Cox, Lewis M. Hosea and Benjamin R. Cowen, men who knew him intimately for many years, and from this report we print the following ex- tract :
" The home of our companion, Capt. Channing Richards, was from birth to death in Cincinnati or its suburbs, except a comparatively short residence in Memphis, Tennessee, after the close of the Civil War. His death oc- curred at Battle Creek, Michigan, where he was spending his last summer, under medical treatment, and his body was brought home for burial. The seeds of the disease which ended his life were probably sown in his system during the hardships and exposures of the field service as a soldier, though his last sickness extended only from the beginning of the winter of 1895.
"He came, on his father's side, from one of the oldest colonial families of New England. His ancestor, John Richards, was one of the Plymouthi
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Colony about 1632, and afterward became one of the Plymouth Trading Post, established at New London, Connecticut, by Jonathan Brewster, son of the patriarch William, about 1652. John Richards became a resident of New London and died there in 1687. There the family remained, with numerous descendants, until the beginning of the present century (19th), when Channing senior, the father of our companion, was born. He settled in Cincinnati as a young man, and in 1837 married Lydia Williamson, who was granddaughter of General Elias Dayton, a member of Washington's staff, and of the family after whom the city of Dayton, Ohio, was named.
" From his earliest youth our companion was of a quiet, studious dis- position. He was fitted for college in private schools in Cincinnati, and entered Yale in 1854, graduating in the class of 1858. He was a brilliant man at the University, was a member of the 'Scroll and Key' society, took the Townsend prize, and delivered the salutatory of his class at com- mencement. There, as elsewhere, his modest and retiring disposition limited the number of intimate friends, but those who were privileged to come close to him bear warm testimony to his strong, brave, and conscientious character.
" He studied law and was admitted to the bar within two years after leaving college, and was already establishing himself in practice when the Civil War broke out. At the first call for troops he enlisted, April 20, 1861, as a private in the Guthrie Greys, Company A, Sixth Ohio Infantry, for three months' service, and, on the reorganization for three years, he was sworn in (June 18) for the war.
" He served actively in the 6th Ohio in the summer campaign of 1861 under General McClellan in West Virginia in the pursuit of General Garnett, who fell at Carrick's Ford. In October he was discharged for the purpose of assisting to raise new regiments, and served for a time as aide upon the staff of General Wade, commanding the Camp of Instruction at Camp Den- nison, Ohio. He had been provisionally commissioned as lieutenant in the 75th Ohio by authority of General Fremont, but when that officer was re- lieved from command in the West the appointments were not recognized.
"He was then offered the position of first lieutenant in the 13th Mis- souri (Col. Crafts J. Wright), a regiment raised in Ohio, in fact, but adopted by Missouri. His commission dated January 11, 1862, and he immediately joined the regiment at St. Louis.
" The regiment took part in the capture of Fort Henry and Fort Donel-
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son in the same winter, and had the honor of being the first to enter the works on the ' unconditional surrender' of Donelson to General Grant. The hardships of that brief winter campaign have rarely been equalled. Bivou- acking without tents in almost continuous rain, sleet and snow, when they were not as yet inured to field life, the troops suffered extremely, but the glory of the capture of a whole army of the enemy compensated for their toils.
" For his gallant service Lieutenant Richards was, on February 10, pro- moted to a captaincy. The regiment advanced to Nashville, and thence to Clarksville, Tennessee, where it remained in garrison until near the end of March, he being made provost marshal during the stay. On the 30th of March it joined the rest of Grant's army at Pittsburg Landing. For gal- lantry and conspicuous ability at the battle of Shiloh, General Grant recom- mended Captain Richards to be colonel of a new regiment, and, with the understanding that the promotion approved at Washington secured the com- mission, sent him home to recruit and organize his regiment. He was now to suffer one of the most trying and vexatious disappointments which can befall an officer. A clash of authority between the National and State au- thorities arose over the matter of promotion to regimental rank, and the Governor of Ohio did not recognize the advancement made. On May 29, 1862, by order of the Secretary of War, the 13th Missouri was accredited to Ohio and designated as 22nd Ohio. It bore this designation through the rest of its service. Captain Richard's promotion, though it did not secure to him the rank of Colonel, was by some blunder held to have vacated his captaincy in the 22nd Ohio, and a stranger was appointed to the vacancy. When the facts became known to General Grant, he intervened in so effective 'a way as to cause a correction, and Captain Richards was reinstated in his old regiment by a new commission of August 26, 1862. This still left the injustice of a serious change of seniority in the line of the regiment, which blocked the way to regular advancement in it. Captain Richards felt so deeply the disappointment he had thus experienced that he discouraged all efforts of his friends to procure transfer or promotion by other means, and served as a captain to the end of the war. There could be no doubt that his education and large intelligence combined with liis recognized soldierly qualities would have made his career a very prominent one but for the un- toward events in which his conspicuous merit seemed to work against his promotion.
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" After the Corinth campaign in Mississippi, the 22nd Ohio was greatly reduced in numbers by casualties of hard service, and it was not entitled to the full complement of field officers. This further increased the obstacles to advancement. The patriotic sense of duty in Captain Richards did not weaken amid these discouragements, and he served the country as faith- fully and intelligently as if his hopes had been fulfilled. After the battle of Corinth, he was frequently detailed on important duties. He served as judge advocate of the division after the fall of Corinth, and a little later judge advocate of a general court-martial held at Jackson, Tennessee. He was next assigned to duty as provost marshal of the District of Jackson, and on change of quarters of the troops he continued the duties at Memphis. In June, 1863, he was ordnance officer of the 2nd Division, 16th Army Corps, at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and, after the capture of that place, was ordered back to Memphis, where he served in various capacities until the close of the war, being for a considerable period military mayor of that city.
" At Memphis, he married Miss Harriet S. Learned, and, on being mus- tered out of the United States service, he resumed the practice of law there, where he remaind in honored and successful professional work till 1871, when the effect of the climate on his health induced him to return to Cincinnati. He was offered the position of chancellor of the court of Memphis by the Governor of Tennessee, but the reasons for a change of climate seemed imperative.
" In Cincinnati he soon became assistant district attorney of the United States, and was then district attorney under two administrations. On leav- ing that office he entered the well known firm of King & Thompson, and no counsellors had public confidence more fully than the new firm of King, Thompson & Richards. Mr. Richards was elected president of the Cin- cinnati Bar Association in 1893.
"In 1888 Mr. Richards was chosen professor of commercial law in the Law School of the Cincinnati College, and continued to occupy that chair with universal approval and great profit to the students until his decease. He was elected a companion of the Loyal Legion during his residence in Mem- phis and was transferred to Ohio as a charter member of the Ohio Com- mandery, December 13, 1882.
" His religious life was one of more than common interest. He was con- firmed in the Protestant Episcopal Church while he was a student in college
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and steadily remained in that communion. At Glendale, in the suburbs of Cincinnati, he was for a number of years senior warden of Christ Church and always a member of the board of wardens. He had charge of the Bible class for adults both at Glendale and in the Church of Our Savior on Mount Auburn, Cincinnati, after he joined the latter parish. He continued these duties down to the time of his death. He was a trustee of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, of Kenyon College, of the Children's Hospital on Mount Auburn and of Spring Grove Cemetery. He was chancellor of the Diocese of Southern Ohio and president of the Church Club.
"In the performance of every duty, military, civil and religious, there was the same devotion, the same high intellect, the same courage, the same modesty, the same unselfishness. He was a loving father and husband and a most faithful friend. Distinguished in many ways as he was, he still im- pressed all who knew him well as fitted for still higher responsibilities and still broader usefulness. In his death the Commandery and our order have met with a great loss, and the whole community mourns with us."
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