USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 2
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most pleasing after dinner speaker and as toastmaster is par excellence. His connection with different fraternities is most extensive. He is a prominent Mason, has attained to the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite, is a Knight Templar and belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He also holds mem- bership relations with the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Red Men, the Benevolent Order of Elks and a score of other organizations, and his personal characteristics, as well as his devotion to the basic principles of these societies. render him a most popular and valued member.
In political circles he is equally well known. Taking a deep interest in the political situation, both local and national, and at all time- keeping well informed on the issues and questions of the day. he has been frequently. called to public office by those who recognize his fitness for leadership and his loyalty to the interests entrusted to his care. Ile served as a member of the city council from the old fifth ward, has also been police commis- sioner and was then given the highest municipal office within the gift of his fellow townsmen. After his first term as mayor of Columbus he re- ceived endorsement of his service in his reelection for a second term, which continued until 1893 and he retired from office as he had entered it-with the confidence and good will of the great majority of his fellow citizens, who felt that his administration had been practical in its reforms and in its progressive measures. The county, also recognizing his worth, called him to the position of sheriff and for two terms he acted in that capacity, retiring on the 4th of January, 1909. He filled these offices in such a satisfactory manner that his administration of the trust will not soon be forgotten. His devotion to the publie good has never been excelled and few incumbents in the offices have equaled him in all particulars.
GEORGE HEREODH JONES.
Among the members of the Columbus bar whose records reflect credit and honor upon the history of the judiciary of Ohio George H. Jones is numbered and his reputation has been wou through earnest effort in a calling which de- mands keen intellectuality. ready discrimination and careful analysis. He was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, June 9, 1857. The family comes of Welsh ancestry, the father. David D. Jones, having been a native of Wales. When seventeen years of age he became a resident of Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1843 removed to Ohio, engaging in merchandising at Portsmouth. He was for many years closely identified with the commercial interests of that city. where he maintained his residence until his death. which occurred in 1889 when he was eighty years of age. He held some local political positions and was well known in his county as a substantial and prosperous citizen, noted as well for his uprightness and sturdy character. He wedded Margaret Griffith, who was of Welsh descent. and died February 21. 1904. at the age of eighty- nine years and six months.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
George H. Jones, contimming his education through successive grades in the public schools of his native city, eventually completed the high-school course and took up the study of law in the office of Jones & Thompson, the senior partner being Colonel H. E. Jones, who commanded the Fifty-sixth Ohio Regiment, while the junior partner was Judge Thompson of the United States distriet bench. Ile afterward went to Cincinnati, where he attended law school and at the same time received practical training in the office of Judge Harmon. He was graduated from law college with the class of 1877. but as he had not as yet attained his majority he could not be admitted to the bar. At the invitation of Judge Slack, cirenit judge at Huntington, Indiana. he went there to practice law and remained for a year. He then received a subjudicial appointment with the collector of customs at Puget Sound, making his headquarters at Port Townsend. Washington. Shortly afterward he en- tered upon the practice of law and was chosen deputy prosecuting attorney for the entire section of western Washington, filling the position until 1885. He then devoted his energies to a private law practice and was accorded a liberal clientage that was indicative of the ability which he displayed in handling the work of the courts.
Mr. Jones had come to be recognized as one of the leading representatives of the republican party and therefore was prominent in public affairs. In 1889 he was elected a member of the constitutional convention and while this serving aided in framing the present organic law of the state. He represented an historic district, a part of which was San Juan islands. His knowledge of law and his study of the science of government well qualified him for the ex- collent work which he did in connection with the constitutional convention. He was very active in polities, attended all of the conventions of the republi- can party and was influential in shaping its policy. He also did considerable correspondence for the managers who sought to nominate William Mckinley for the presidency. As chairman of the Jefferson county executive and central committees he called the first republican convention in the state of Washington, which endorsed the candidacy of Major Mckinley and elected delegates to the state convention and sent delegates to the national convention which nomi- nated MeKinley in St. Louis in 1893. In 1898 President MeKinley tendered him an appointment as special United States attorney in the judiciary depart- ment and he accepted it. After completing this appointment he was tendered an appointment as an assistant attorney at Washington, D. C., in the same department, but deelined to serve. He was called to local office as president of the school board, and was also city attorney of Port Town-end for two terms. His practice extended to all parts of the state of Washington and he also did considerable admiralty practice before the United States courts.
It was in 1900 that Mr. Jones established his law office in Columbus and has since been numbered among the ablest members of the capital city har. In November, 1902. he was appointed. withont solicitation on his part. to the office of assistant attorney general by Attorney General Judge Sheets, and continued in that capacity until the close of the term in January, 1904. Mr. Jones was then made first assistant attorney general by Wade Ellis and served during his first term or until March, 1906, when he resigned to enter the ac-
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tive practice of law. He makes a specialty of corporation law and has a large and distinctively representative clientage of this character. He is also special counsel for the Columbus, New Albany & Johnstown Railroad, an electric in- terurban line. Few men have more intimate knowledge of corporation law or are more accurate in applying its principles. Both as an advocate and coun- selor Mr. Jones enjoys a high reputation and as an honored member of the Ohio State Bar Association.
On the 25th of October, 1883, in Portsmouth, Ohio, Mr. Jones was mar- ried to Miss Ada B. Finch, of that city. He is fond of fishing and makes it his principal source of recreation. While in the west he served as captain of Company I, of the First Regiment of the Washington National Guard for three years. Strong in his individuality he never lacks the courage of his convic- tions but there are as dominant elements in his individuality a lively human sympathy and an abiding charity which, as taken in connection with the sterling integrity and honor of his character. have naturally gained to him the respect and confidence of men. In whatever relations of life he is found- in the government service, in political circles. in business or in social relations -he is always the same honorable and honored gentleman, whose worth well merit- the high regard which is uniformly given him.
JOHN POSTE.
Columbus draws her citizenship not only from every state in the C'uion. but from every civilized nation on the face of the globe, but the strongest representatives of business life and political prominence here are those who rep- resent, or trace their ancestry to the Anglo-Saxon race. John Poste was a repre- sentative of the England-American clement in her citizenship. He was born in Kent, England, October 18, 1833. a son of the Rev. Beale Poste, an Epis- copal clergyman, who spent his entire life in England.
John Poste was twenty years of age when he left that land for the new world. He had been reared in his native country, had acquired his education there. and in the year of his emigration to the United States was married to Miss Caroline Ashby. With his young bride he then started for America, land- ing at New York, where he remained for a time and then came to Columbus.
Here he soon became known in business circles and in public life of the community. Almost immediately after his arrival he secured a position in the library in the state house, and the work was one of intense enjoyment for him, for he was very fond of books and was always a student who read widely and thought deeply. He afterward engaged in teaching for a time, but afterward abandoned that profession to give his attention to more congenial work. Fond of fruit-raising, he established a nursery, leasing a tract of land on South High street, and when his success justified the step he purchased the property. own- ing quite an extended amount of land there. In his business as a nurseryman he prospered and made wide shipments of his goods, while he also enjoyed a large local trade. He closely studied the science of horticulture, as well as the practical work of raising trees and shrubs, and he became a valued member of
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
the agricultural society, with which he was long connected. He also took great interest in that branch of training at the Ohio State University, and his opin- ions were largely regarded as an authority upon hortienltural subjects, while his specific business largely set the standard for enterprises of this character.
As the years passed, six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Poste, of whom three are yet living: Beale Edward, Hamilton and John Robinson. Those who have passed away are: William A., who was the firstborn ; Mary Jane, the third in order of birth ; and Arthur, the fifth of the family.
The death of the husband and father occurred December 24, 1889. He remained active in business up to the time of his death, earnestly desiring to provide liberally for his family that they might enjoy the comforts of life without recourse to strenuous labor which leaves little opportunity for social interests or intellectual progress. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Trinity church. Honor and honesty were synonymous with his name. He was never known to take advantage of the necessities of others in any business transactions, and at all times he was loyal to the trust reposed in him and to the obligations that devolved upon him. He never had occasion to regret his determination to come to the United States, for he regarded its opportunities as superior to those of the mother country, and through using the chances which offered he worked his way steadily upward. His widow still survives him and resides in the old homestead on South High street. having been a resident of Columbus for fifty-seven years.
JUDGE CURTIS C. WILLIAMS.
If "biography is the home aspect of history." as Wilmott has expressed it. it is certainly within the province of true history to commemorate and perpetuate the lives of those men whose careers have been of signal usefulness and honor to the country, and in this connection it is compatible that men- tion should be made of Judge Curtis C. Williams, one of the most able and learned members of the Columbus bar who, since 1886, has engaged in the practice of law in the capital city. He has covered forty-seven years of active and useful life, during which time he has held to the highest pro- fessional standards and thus ever conserved the interests of the profession which stands as the conservator of human rights and liberties.
Judge Williams was born in Hanoverton, Columbiana county, Ohio, August 13, 1861, and comes of sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestry with also an intermingling of Welsh. The family is noted for longevity. his great-grand- father almost rounding out a century. His grandfather, Joseph F. Williams, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, wedded Miss Mary Gilson and early in the nineteenth century removed westward to Columbiana county, Ohio, where he became both an active and successful business man and a promi- nent factor in shaping the affairs and molding the destiny of the state during the formative period in its history. He was chosen to represent his dis- triet in the lower house of the general assembly and afterward served for
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C. C. WILLIAMS
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
two terms in the senate. He gave careful consideration to the various im- portant questions which came up for settlement and was connected with much constructive legislation that in due course of time found its way to the statute books of the state. His son, Dr. R. G. Williams, born in Colum- biana county in 1836, after a long and successful professional career lived in dignified retirement in Alliance up to the time of his death, which occurred November 9, 1906, when he was in his seventieth year He was one of Ohio's legislators, also, serving for two terms in the house of repre- sentatives. The family name has always been a synonym of patriotism and devotion to the public welfare, coupled with marked ability displayed in discharging publie duty. Dr. Williams married Miss Elmira Frost, a daughter of William A. and Beulah (Chandler) Frost. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania who became one of the pioneer residents of Colum- biana county.
Judge Williams spent his youthful days in Alliance, Stark county, Ohio, where he removed with his parents when a child. There he attended the public and high schools and thus prepared for college, acquiring his inore advanced education in Mount Union College of Alliance, from which insti- tution he was graduated with the class of 1883. Like many who have made the practice of law their life work, Judge Williams entered upon the pro- fession of teaching as a preliminary step in his business career, efficiently serving as superintendent of schools. He came to Columbus and as a student entered the office of Converse, Booth & Keating, under whose direction he pursued his reading of law until he was qualified to pass the examination before the supreme court in 1886. He then began practice and throughout. his professional career he has never yielded to the popular belief that fidelity to honesty was not compatible with the practice of law. Personal character is one of the elements which go to determine the rank of any member of the legal profession, and in this regard, as well as by reason of his mental acquire- ments, his standing has been high. While his devotion to his clients' interests has been proverbial, he has never forgotten that he owes still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law and his close conformity to such a standard awakened for him the confidence and respect of the general public who in 1891 gave proof of their appreciation of his ability and integrity as a lawyer in electing him to the office of prosecuting attorney. He made a splendid record in the position and when again nominated as a candidate by the democratic party he lost the election by only one hundred and nine votes at a time when the republican majority of the county was between twenty and twenty-five hundred. He then resumed his law practice and was accorded a large and distinctively representative clientage. In 1897, however, he was again called to office, being nominated by the democracy for the common pleas bench, on which occasion he ran five hundred ahead of the democratic state ticket and was elected. On the bench he was capable, conscientious, and independent in the discharge of his official duties, fully living up to his solemn obligation to administer equal and exact justice alike to the rich and the poor, being at all times in his judicial career imbued with the spirit of honesty, courage and a sense of right, recognizing. too, the
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
fact that a judge has at times to temper justice with mercy in the rendering of a decision that transcends the mere letter of the law in the expression of its spirit, which is not only one of restriction but also one of assistance in developing the manhood of the individual. Since his retirement from the bench Judge Williams has given his attention to private practice of an im- portant character, and the consensus of public opinion accords him rank with the prominent counselors and advocates of Columbus. He is a member of the Ohio State and Franklin County Bar Associations and has the highest - respect of his contemporaries and colleagues.
Judge Williams was married in 1893 to Miss Margaret Owen, of Colum- bus, and they have thive daughters and two sons; Elmira Anne, Curtis C., Margaret Iola, Marie Owen and Arthur Frost. Their home is a permanent abiding place of domestic felicity, and its hospitality proves a most attrac- tive feature to their many friends. Judge Williams is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a member of the Mystic Shrine, while he is also popular in other fraternities, including the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and Elks. Whatever tends to promote the public welfare receives his indorsement and his thoughts on municipal questions are practical. while his support of any measure usually brings to it a large following. for he is an influential citizen in whose opinions his fellow citizens have much faith.
WILLIAM O. THOMPSON, D.D., L.L.D.
Dr. William O. Thompson, who measures up to a high standard in educa- tional circles, has since 1899 been president of the Ohio State University. Throughout his entire life actuated by a desire to make his labors of service and benefit to his fellowmen, he has been a factor in moral and intellectual progress and there has come to him the recognition of his own capability in successive promotions that have eventually brought him to his present position of responsibility and importance.
Dr. Thompson was born in Cambridge, Guernsey county. Ohio, on the 5th of November, 1855. His ancestors for some generations were identified with agricultural interests and bore their part. not only in the work of material development in the various localities in which they lived. but were also active in support of general progress and upbuilding. In his youthful days Dr. Thompson was a pupil in the public schools in the villages of New Concord and Brownsville, neither of which are far distant from his native town. For some time he was under the instruction of Miss Rosa Kerner. now a resident of Zanesville, Ohio, and remembers that period as among the most pleasant and profitable of his school days. The knowledge that he had acquired through the means offered by the state but made him athirst for more and. desirous of obtaining a college education, he resolutely set to work as a farm land in order to earn the funds necessary for such a course. Eventually he was matriculated in Muskingum College at New Concord and there on the completion of the classical course won the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1878.
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The fact that farm work was more readily obtained and commanded a better remuneration in Illinois than in Ohio led him to go to Lawn Ridge in that state, where he was employed as a farm hand through the summer months, while in the winter seasons he engaged in teaching. With these occupations and the systematic pursuit of his own line of studies, contributory to his hopes and ambitions, he managed to keep himself busily employed and incidentally accumulated a sufficient sum to enable him to enter the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, for in the meantime he had deter- mined to become a minister. He was graduated in 1882 and was now well- equipped for his chosen life work. He then entered the home missionary field, beginning his labors at Odebolt, Iowa, where he remained until 1885. He had previously been licensed to preach by the Zanesville Presbytery in session at Dresden, April 13. 1881, and was ordained by the Presbytery of Fort Dodge, Iowa. July 13, 1882. On concluding his labors at Odebolt, Iowa, he removed to Longmont. Colorado, where he served as pastor for six years, during which time he was also president of the Longmont College. The successful work which he did in educational lines resulted in his receiving a call to the presi- dency of the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, in 1891. Accepting this, he remained at the head of the institution for eight years or until 1899, when he assumed the presidency of the Ohio State University offered him by its board of trustees. Here he has labored continuously since and his efforts have been attended with excellent results. In all of his work he has held to high stand- ards and has continually sought ont new methods whereby his own usefulness and the influence of the school would be increased. The purpose of teaching is to develop capacity and Dr. Thompson is in perfect accord with President Eliot. of Harvard, who said. "What is needed is continuons education, which lasts all through life." It has therefore been the aim and purpose of Dr. Thompson to give the students under his control the foundation for such an education, preparing them to meet whatever comes to them of joy or sorrow, of success or faihire, believing that every circumstance holds its lesson and that every condition or point of accomplishment should but serve as a starting point for other labor.
In 1881 Dr. Thompson received from his alma mater the degree of Mas- ter of Arts and in 1891 that of Doctor of Divinity, while in 1897 the Western University of Pennsylvania at Allegheny City conferred upon him the hon- orary degree of Doctor of Laws. During his residence in Columbus he has not only stood as the exponent of higher education but in all that makes for good citizenship he has been intensely interested, lending the weight of his influence and cooperation to further many movements for general good. He has been a member of the Board of Trade, a member of the city board of education and has done important public service on great civic occasions, where wisdom, rather than words, is required to render such occasion impressive. His entire life, save for the brief period which he devoted to farm work to obtain neces- sary funds. has been given to teaching, sometimes from the pulpit; again from the lecture platform and also in the schoolroom. In all that he has done he has furnished substance worthy to be woven into history and has left the im- press of his individuality in large measure upon those who have come
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under his guidance, planting in the soil thus offered the seeds of truth, which in later years have frequently been instrumental in making choice between good or evil. While he finds delightful companionship among men of strong intellect and broad culture, he possesses moreover an abiding sympathy that enables him to understand the individual and to render assistance to those with whom he comes in contact, enabling them to climb toward his own level.
JOSEPH RAINIE M.G.AW.
About 1861 one might have scen a lad of eleven years carrying the Ohio State Journal from Campbell Station to Senecaville, covering six miles on the round trip. His cirenlation numbered twelve copies of the paper. That boy is today the enterprising president of the firin of Jones, Witter & Company. conducting an extensive wholesale dry-goods bn-iness in Columbus. He was born in Senecaville, Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1850. His father, James MeGaw, was a native of Maryland and went to Guernsey county in 1841. . \ tanner by trade he followed that business for many years and met with a fair measure of success in his undertakings. He became well known and his death was deeply regretted, when in 1882 he passed away, having for four years survived his wife, who died in 1878. She bore the maiden name of Margaret Rainie and was of Scotch-Irish parentage.
Joseph Rainie McGaw was reared in Senecaville and attended the public schools until thirteen years of age. It was while he was still a school boy that he delivered the twelve copies of the Ohio State Journal. After putting aside his text-books he went to Barnesville, Ohio, where he carried papers and did other work until fifteen years of age. At that time he went upon the road as a traveling salesman for W. H. Jones and remained there until the removal of the firm to Zanesville in 1865. He continued with the house as a salesman until 1880 and in the meantime, in 1874, the business was moved to Column- bus, the firm being reorganized under the name of Jones & Garner. Mr. MeGaw's business ability was recognized and he was admitted to a partner- ship in the business under the style of Jones, Witter & Company. When the business was incorporated in 1906 he was chosen its president and has con- tinned in the position to the present time. Thus he was successively promoted through all of the departments and positions until he became the chief execu- tive officer. He is a splendid example of the successful self-made man, who owes his advancement entirely to his individual efforts, his persistent purpose and his indefatigable energy. The business has shown a steady growth from its inception and is today one of the leading wholesale dry-goods and notion houses of Columbus, being the second largest concern in the city. In their sales they cover the territory of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and West Virginia. Aside from his connection with this house Mr. MeGaw is also a director of the Hayden-Corbett Chain Company.
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