USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 59
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In the country schools of Vinton county. John L. Lawler pursued his education. When not busy with his text-books John Lawler worked upon the home farm and there remained until 1874. when he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in the same locality and continued the de- velopment of the field- in connection with handling live stock until 1879. In that year he exchanged his farm for a tract of heavily timbered land on the river division of the Hocking Valley Railroad. his tract of forest includ- ing much valuable poplar, walnut and hardwood. He then turned his at- tention to the lumber business, furnishing sawed timber. Inmber ties for rail-
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way- and hardwoods of superior quality to the trade for domestic and other purposes, also converting the thousands of cords of waste wood into char- coal, which met with a ready sale and furnished the river division with its first regular and remmerative freight business and also supplied Union Furnace with a splendid charcoal fuel. This made an opening for the de- velopment of the great coal deposits, first for private use and finally for dis- tant markets. Mr. Lawler added one hundred and five acres to his original holdings and from time to time increased his acreage by additional purchase until he was the owner of a tract of about one thousand acres of the finest coal lands in the state. He is still operating his mines and selling the product and since 1889 has directed his properties and their operation from Columbus. Year by year his business interests have expanded until the ex- tent and importance of his trade relations today places him in a most prom- inent relation to business activity, not only of the capital city but of the state. Aside from his extensive coal. limestone and ore interests, he is first vice president and director of the Union Building & Loan Savings Company, a director of the Keever Starch Company and a director of the Lincoln Sav- ings Bank.
On the 25th of January, 1875, Mr. Lawler was married to Miss Catherine C. Doran, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and they have seven daughters and a son: Mary E., who is the widow of P. J. McNamee and re-ides at home with her two children; Clara Alice, the wife of Arthur E. Shannon. of the Shannon Furniture Company; Ellen A., the wife of William F. Gal- lin. a civil engineer of Columbus: Regina, the wife of Joseph F. O'Shaugh- nessey. a traveling salesman for Green-Joyce Company; Grace E .. at home; John C., who is connected with his father in business; and Stella E. and Elizabeth A .. who are attending school. The daughters all have been, or are being educated at St. Mary's of the Springs of Columbus. Mr. Lawler is a member of the Knights of Columbus. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and while residing in Vinton county he served as county commissioner for a term but declined a reelection. This is the only political office that he has ever filled, for he has preferred to do his public service as a private citizen and to devote his attention to his business interests, which have constantly developed as the result of his initiative spirit and keen dis- cerument. He has never feared that laborious attention to details so neces- sary to success and along well defined lines of labor has reached his present enviable position in financial circles.
BUTLER SHELDON.
Honored and respected wherever he is known. there is no man occupy- ing a more enviable position in the commercial and financial circles of Column- bus than does Butler Sheldon, vice president of the Sheldon Dry Goods Com- pany. This is due not alone to the success he has achieved but also to the straightforward business principks he has ever followed. It is true he entered
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upon a business already established but in controlling and enlarging this. many men of less resolute spirit would have failed; and his record demon- strate- the fact that success is not a matter of genius, as held by some, but is rather the outcome of clear judgment. experience and undaunted enterprise. Aside from his mercantile interests he is connected with various other cor- porate concerns, which are elements in the city's business activity and pros- perity as well as a source of profit to the stockholders.
Mr. Sheldon was born in Columbus, February 6. 1874. He is a son of Robert E. and Mary E. (Butler) Sheldon, the former president of the Shel- don Dry Goods Company and the Cohnbu Railway & Light Company, mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Entering the public schools, Butler Sheldon passed through conscentive grades mutil he finally completed the third year in the high school. In his boyhood days he had spent his vaca- tions in his father's store, natural instinct seeming to draw him to mercantile life. In 1891, at the age of seventeen. he entered the employ of Miles, Ban- croft & Sheldon, wholesale dealers in dry good-, becoming connected with the notion department. He bent every energy to the mastery of the business until his health failed in 1895, when he spent six months on a cattle ranch in northern Colorado. The outdoor life and ex: reise fully restored his health. He berame junior partner in the house of Bancroft. Sheldon & Com- pany on the 1st of Jannary. 1895, was elected vice president of the Sheldon Dry Good- Company at the time of its organization January 1. 1901. In the years of his connection with the business he has thoroughly mastered it in principle and detail and as the years have gone by he has passed on to a position of executive control, bending his efforts to administrative direction. He has been actuated in all hi- undertakings by the progressive spirit that characterizes the age, nor has he confined his attention alone to one line. the extent and importance of his business interests being indicated in the fact that he was elected president of the Columbus Railroad Company. June IS. 1903. president of the Columbus Traction Company in January, 1907. and president of the Columbus Light, Heat & Power Company. September 15. 1908. Each successive annual election continues him in office and moreover he has done effective work for the city's interest on the Columbus Board of Trade, serving as one of its directors and has been a member on several of it- important committees.
On the 12th of April. 1898, in Orange, New Jersey, Mr. Sheldon was married to Harriett J. Tilney, a daughter of John S. and Mary (Garner) Tilney. They have two sons, Ralph and Butler, the former born August 26. 1899. and the latter on August 15. 1901. The family resides at Marble Cliff. a beautiful suburb built on the hills about five miles northwest of the city. There Mr. Sheldon ha- erected a hand-om residence and has been closely connected with the affairs of the village. On the 4th of May. 1898. he was elected mayor of the town. His political allegiance is given the re- publican party, of which he is a stalwart advocate but hos no ambition for political honor or office aside from the service which he can render his village in behalf of good government and numicipal progress. He belongs to the Central Presbyterian church and is popular socially, having a circle of friends
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almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances. His business career has been marked by a thorough understanding of each task which he has undertaken and by that continuons progress which logically follows con- stantly expanding powers and employment of opportunity.
THOMAS LAWRENCE CALVERT.
Ability, enterprise, ambition and genuine worth never fail to leave an impress upon the activities of the community, in which they are manifest. Possessing these qualities Thomas L. Calvert through gradual stages of ad- vancement has reached the responsible position of secretary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, in which connection he is doing splendid work to fur- ther the farming interests of Ohio, Practical experience acquainted him with the actual work of the farm in his boyhood days. He was born at George- town, Maryland. December 20, 1858, a son of Thomas L. and Elizabeth Cal- vert, who had formerly been residents of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, except during a single year that included the date of their son's nativity, that year being passed in Maryland. Returning to Pennsylvania, they again established their home npon a farm. As the name indicates the Calvert- are of Senteli lineage and there is also a Quaker strain in the blood.
While still in his youthful days Thomas L. Calvert, Jr., came to Ohio and in this state entered the public schools, where he pursued his education save for a year or two which he spent in the Friends School at Newton, Del- aware county, Pennsylvania. one of the excellent educational institutions of learning in that day and one which had a great influence in molding and fashioning for good the characters of its students. During the entire period of his youth Mr. Calvert was associated with the farm and its work, dividing his time between the duties of the field and the work of the school- room with an occasional honr for play and recreation. In his early man- hood he secured a clerk-bip in a general store at Selma, Ohio, and later, thinking to find the profession of telegraphy profitable and congenial, he began learning the business. Hle was mistaken, however, in thinking to find it a pleasant pursuit for it proved irksome and monotonons to an active, ro- bust youth and the indoor life was also detrimental to his health. There- . fore he turned his attention to elerking and after a year in partnership with his brother. R. G. Calvert. he bought ont his employer and they conducted a successful and growing enterprise until 1892, when Thomas L. Calvert dis- posed of his interests to his brother and returned to the farm near Selma, devoting his energies to it- substantial development and cultivation until he was chosen to his present position as secretary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, on the 1st of May, 1906. He still maintains his home on the farm where his family spend- the heated months of suminer. The only other office which Mr. Calvert has ever filled is that of trustee of Madison township. Clark county. Ohio, which position he filled from 1879 until 1906. when he resigned to enter upon his present duties.
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On the 14th of June, 1888, in Selma, Ohio, Mr. Calvert was united in marriage to Miss Elta F. Warner, a daughter of Simeon and Elizabeth War- ner, of that village. Her father was also connected with farming pursuits. Mr. and Mrs. Calvert have three living children: Leland S., thirteen years of age; J. Donald, eleven years of age; and Helen E., a maiden of nine sum- mers. They have also lost three children.
In his political views Mr. Calvert has always been an earnest republican since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. Since 1891 he has been a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Selma and he is connected with the Patrons of Industry. His characteristics are those of an alert, enterpris- ing business man and, with thorough and practical knowledge of farming und a somewhat comprehensive understanding of the work from the scientific standpoint as well, he is doing excellent service to further the interests for which his office stands.
COLONEL JAMES KILBOURNE.
This prominent citizen was born on the 9th of October, 1841, in the city of Columbus, where he now resides and enjoys the confidence and respect of the entire community. His grandfather, also Colonel James Kilbourne. was a distinguished pioneer of this state. His father, Lincoln Kilbourne, was prominent among the early merchants of the borough even before the present state capital was organized as a city.
Colonel James Kilbourne of this review was graduated from Kenyon College in 1862 with the Bachelor of Arts degree and from the same institu- tion received his Master of Arts degree. He became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and the Nu Pi Kappa societies and of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He completed a course in the Harvard Law School in 1868 with the Bachelor of Law degree.
The activities of Colonel Kilbourne have touched various interests of society and have left their impress upon the material, intellectnal and moral progress of the state and upon the philanthropie and benevolent work.
As the founder, president and general manager of the Kilbourne & Jacobs Manufacturing Company, Colonel Kilbourne has long been known as one of the foremost business men of the capital city, for the company owns and controls one among the largest plants of the kind in the world, with trade in nearly all of the leading markets on the face of the globe. The man who, as a lending factor in a great manufacturing plant, requiring the labor of his fellowmen as employes up into the thousands day by day. month by month, through a long series of years, naturally does much toward upbuilding and developing a city and making possible the erection of many homes by means of fair compensation for honest toil. In such a work Colonel Kilbourne seems to have much of life's mission, worthily employing his talents in lines that have been a source of public prosperity as well as of individual success. Various other corporate interests and business enterprises, however, have
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COL. JAMES KILBOURNE.
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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profited by his keen discernment, indefatigable energy and initiative -pirit. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Midland Mutual Life Insurance Company, a director of the New First National Bank, a director of the Haydeu- Clinton National Bank, of the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo Rail- way and the Columbus & Cincinnati Midland Railway, together with many private business corporations.
To have accomplished what Colonel Kilbourne has done would seem to have met life's requirements for almost any individual, and yet his business interests represent but n portion of his activities, which have been elements in the progress of city, state and nation. Interested at all times in those ques- tions which relate to civic virtue, he has wrought along lines of continuons progress, doing effective work with the Columnbus Board of Trade, of which he has been honored with the presidency. He was also president for eight years of the board of trustees of the Columbus Public Library, and is an hon- orary member of the Columnbus Trade- and Labor A-sembly and of the Column- Imus Building and Trades Conneil. In lines which indicate a recognition of man's obligations to his fellowmen his labor has been equally effective. He was the founder and president of the Columbus Children's Hospital, mid his interest in the great sociological, economic and political questions which are claiming public attention is manifest in his membership in the National Child Labor Association, the National Conference of Charities, the National Civic Federation and the American Society of Political and Social Science. He is likewise a member of the National Geographic Society, the National Forestry Association. the Ohio Historical and Archaological Society, and is vice presi- dent of the Leslie F. Owen Educational Society. He has likewise been presi- dent of the Old Northwest Genealogical and Historical Society, belong- to the Ohio Society of New York, has been president of the Central Ohio Har- vard Club and of the Kenyon College Association of Central Ohio. He has also been president of the Columbus Neighborhood Guild, of the Columbus Club, the Arlington Country Club and the Ohio Centennial Commission. He was president for many years of the Magazine Club, the oldest literary eInb in central Ohio, and a ve-tryman of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church.
Colonel Kilbourne is entitled to membership with military organiza- time from the fact that he served as a soldier during the Civil war in the Eighty-fourth and Ninety-fifth Regiments of Ohio Volunteer Infantry and on the staffs of General J. M. Tuttle and General John McArthur, commanding divisions of the Army of the Tennessee. During his service he rose from the ranks to brevet-colonel of United States volunteers. On the outbreak of the war with Spain he offered hi- services to the governor of Ohio in any capacity. He is now a member of the Grand Army of the Re- public and of the Union Veteran Legion. In 1903-4 he was president of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and is a member of the Son- and Daughters of the Pilgrims and of the Society of De-cendant- of the Mayflower, being descended in the internal line from Elder William Brewster. He is now the first vice president of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, elected for the year 1908-9, and is commander of the Ohio
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Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He is also a member of the Ohio Vicksburg Battlefield Commission.
Colonel Kilbourne has been equally widely known as one of the leaders of democracy in Ohio, serving as delegate from the twelfth Ohio district to the democratic national conventions of 1892 and 1896 and delegate-at-large to the democratic national convention of 1900, acting as chairman of the delegation in that year. He was also a candidate for district elector for pres- ident from the twelfth Ohio district in 1908. In 1901 he was nominated by acclamation for governor of Ohio in the democratic state convention.
On the 9th of October, 1869, Colonel Kilbourne was married to Miss Anna Bancroft Wright, the eldest daughter of General George Bohan Wright, and there were born to them three sons and a daughter, the three sons be- coming associated with their father in business after they reached maturity. James Russell Kilbourne, the eldest. attended the University of Virginia. In 1895 he was elected as a democrat to the Ohio legislature, at its twenty-second assembly. He was a lieutenant of battery in the Ohio National Guard. At the time of the beginning of the Spanish-American war he was abroad, and on his return home recruited a company of calvary. The service. however, was overcrowded and the company was not mustercd in. J. R. Kilbourne is vice president and assistant general manager of the Kilbourne & Jacobs Man- ufactoring Company and president of the board of trustees of the Columbus public library. George Bancroft, the second son, was a graduate of Williams College, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society and of the Sigma Phi fra- ternity. Hle enlisted as a private in the Fourth Ohio Volunteers, served in Porto Rico and was promoted to second sergeant for gallantry in action, be- ing one of four officers and men in his regiment recommended to receive a medal for bravery. After the war he was commissioned captain and adju- tant of the Fourteenth Ohio National Guard. He was a young man of ex- ceptional endowments and a most brilliant and promising career seemed be- fore him. He was placed at the head of the Chicago branch of the great Kil- bourne & Jacobs Company, and was meeting with the most flattering se- cess when in the late fall of 1906 he was stricken with pneumonia and passed away November 22. 1906. The youngest son. Lincoln. born September 30. 1874, is purchasing agent and one of the directors of the Kilbourne & Jacobs Manufacturing Company. He presented himself for enlistment during the war with Spain, but was rejected on account of sickness at the time. He at- tended Williams College and is a member of the Sigma Phi fraternity. He married Miss Flora Burr, and they with their three children, two daughters and one son, reside at "Hawkhurst" in Bullitt park. Alice Kilbourne, the only daughter of the house, is the wife of ex-Mayor Robert II. Jeffrey. She was born August 7. 1877. They reside with their three children, two sons and one daughter, in their country home of "Kelveden" in Bullitt park.
Colonel Kilbourne has accomplished much of life's mission, as is indi- cated between the unimpassioned lines of the foregoing paragraphs, but the writer would not presume upon a long and intimate acquaintance and friend- ship to detail that which would afford him much pleasure, knowing as he does that Colonel Kilbourne's right hand and left hand have always kept their
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secrets from each other-secrets that were not trumpeted into men's ears, but were felt in many humble homes and treasured in human hearts. It suffices to know that in all he has undertaken he has never failed to achieve a measure of good results which set the standard and gauge of the world a little higher. Absorbed as he has been in his large industrial affairs, he has never failed to perform all his civie duties, although he has never been an office holder or an office secker. There is no public or private charity but touches his pocket- book first and his sympathies afterward; no movement for the furtherance of education but receives his cordial assistance. The founder and promoter of a hospital for children, his hand is still helpful to every other movement to assuage and alleviate the sufferings of mankind. In short he is a human being with human sympathies.
EDWARD L. MCCUNE.
Edward L. MeCune, whose capability and efficiency as division claim agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company are enhanced by the fact that he is a lawyer by profession and was for some years a successful prac- titioner, was born in Columbus March 27, 1855, a son of Jonas and Cath- erine (Lamley) MeCune, the former a native of Brattleboro, Vermont, and the latter of the state of New York. In the year 1845 Jonas MeCone took up his residence in Columbus when the city was still small and of little business importance. He established a hardware store and for some years continued actively and successfully in that trade. His resourceful business ability led him into other connections of importance and for a considerable period he figured as one of the prominent promoters of business activity in the capital city. He was a director of the Columbus Rolling Mill, the Co- lumbus Gas Works and other enterprises and was identified with the ex- pansion of railway interests as president of the Columbus & Eastern Railroad, now a part of the Hocking Valley System. Both he and his wife have passed away.
Edward L. McCune was echiicated in the public schools of Columbus and in the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. In his junior year, however, he returned to his native city and, entering the office of Lorenzo English, qualified for the practice of law by a thorough and com- prehensive study of legal principles. In 1877 he was admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio and was connected in a professional capacity with the real estate department of the Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking Railroad Company for ten years, acting also as claim agent. In 1903 he became con- nected with the Pennsylvania Railway Company as claim agent for the Toledo division and still occupies this position, meeting his duties, which are often of a most delicate, as well as onerous and complicated nature. in a prompt and capable manner that results in fair and honorable adjust- ment. In this regard his knowledge of the law is of inestimable value and an analytical mind enables him to arrive at just and equitable conclusions regarding the various situations which he faces.
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On the 12th of July, 1876, Mr. MeCune was united in marriage to Miss Eva S. Black, of Newark, Ohio, and they have four children: Sarah, now the wife of William E. Rex. of Columbus: Edward 1 ... who is engaged in the real-estate and insurance business in Spokane, Washington ; Margaret and Robert, at home. The parents are members of the First Congregational church and Mr. MeCune is always interested in the material, social, in- tellectual and moral progress of the community. For four terms he served as a member of the city board of education and during half of that time was president of the board. He was elected for a fifth term as a member at large but was compelled to resign on account of the demands of other duties. The fact that he was called again and again to this position is indicative of the excellent service he rendered in this connection. his labor- and in- fluence always being given on the side of practical improvement and for the adoption of higher standard- of education. Fraternally he is connected with Goodale Lodge, A. F. & A. M. and is a member of the Ohio Club. A continuous roidem of Columbus, save for the brief period spent in college in the south, Mr. MeCune is widely known in this city and many with whom he has been acquainted since his youthful days. speak of him in warm terms of praise and admiration by reason of his business ability and his attractive personal qualities,
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