USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > Centennial history of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Vol. II > Part 77
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
finally disposed of his manufacturing interests and established a retail store on a small scale. After several removals he took the business to North High street and at that location the business enjoyed a rapid growth, becoming one of the leading commercial enterprises of the city. They carry a full line of dry goods, always keep in touch with the best products that the markets afford and the business policy of the house has been such as to secure a growing trade. As the years passed the enterprise became a very profitable one, so that in the later years of his life Mr. Armbruster was able to retire largely from business, turning over the management of the store to his son. His snecess was worthily won, his achievements representing the fit utilization of the innate talents which were his. He labored persistently and energetically along well defined lines of trade and in all of his life record was never known to take advantage of the necessities of a fellowman in a business transaction.
Mr. Armbruster was never much interested in politics, although he was not neglectful of his duties of citizenship. In early life he gave support to the democracy and later voted for candidates whom he considered best quali- fied for office without regard to party affiliation. Socially he was allied with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. About sixteen years prior to his death he erected a commodious and beautiful residence at No. 683 South High street, where his widow, his son Harry and his family all reside. Mr. Armbruster died at his home December 26, 1902. In the later years of his life when he had leisure he devoted most of his time to the pleasures of his own fireside and delighted to extend the hospitality of his home to his many friends. His life was indeed a busy and useful one and he recognized and utilized his opportunities for advancement, so that as the years followed he gathered the fruits of his labor in a handsome competence. He was thus enabled to leave to his family a substantial fortune as well as the priceless heritage of a good name. He never had occasion to regret his determina- tion to come to the new world but on the contrary readily adapted himself to changed conditions here and sought in the fields of labor opportunity for his advancement in the business world. Mis. Armbruster is a member of the Independent Lutheran church and yet makes her home in Columbus. where she hus resided continuously for thirty-six years.
EDWARD K. STEWART.
Energy and persistency, resulting in successful accomplishment, are the most striking characteristics of Edward K. Stewart, vice president and general manager of the Columbus Railway & Light Company. He is one of the city's most busy men and in all that pertains to formulating and executing well defined plans, resulting in the attainment of the purpose desired, he hus few equals and no superior- in this, his native city. He was born in 1845, and the public schools afforded him his educational opportunities. His record is another illustration of the fact that a college course, while of value as a prep- aration for life's work. is not an absolute essential. for Mr. Stewart, without other than public school training, entered business life wherein he has made continuous progress until he stands today among those who are most active
Dla ized by Google
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
in shaping the business and financial history of the capital. He ina initial step as an employe in the Franklin branch of the State Bank, was later transmuted into the Franklin National Bank. Subsequent became teller for the Hayden-Hutcheson Company and for a number of acted as cashier for the P. Hayden & Company Bank, now known as the den-Clinton National Bank on East Broad street. All through these ye bent his energies to the solution of intricate problems of banking and years advanced his responsibilities were increased with his consecutive 1 tions. In 1892, retiring from the banking business, he entered a wide to him more congenial financial field.
Several years before Mr. Stewart had become interested to a limited in street railway enterprises which at about that time had been largely . ments in Columbus and most costly experiments to those who were pi therein. His first venture in this field of activity was in the East Park Street Railway, now the Long Street branch of the Columbus Rail' Light Company. In 1880 this line became a part of the Main and Higl consolidation. In 1892 Mr. Stewart was chosen vice president and s manager of the Columbus Street Railway Company and in 1899 the Col Central and Cross-town lines were absorbed, forming the Columbus R Company. The business interests were considerably increased and ex when in 1903 the Columbus Railway & Light Company was formed, 1 the property of the Columbus Railway Company and the Edison Con thus practically covering the city with the consolidated street railway and largely controlling the electric power and private lighting busine city having asserted the prerogative of publie lighting as well as privat trical service in competition with the Columbus Railway & Light Con
Mr. Stewart was an active and virile force in bringing about the v consolidations which resulted in giving Columbus one of the finest pl: street railway transportation, involving the actual investment of milli money, to be found in any American city. While the successful mar tion and control of such extensive interests would satisfy most me Stewart, who has long been recognized as a dynamic force in business has extended his efforts into various other lines, being now president Case Crane Company, the Columbus Dry Goods Company, vice pr of the Union National Bank, member of the board of directors Columbus Gas Light & Heating Company, of the Scioto Valley Traction pany, the Ohio Trust Company, the Central National Bank and the I Savings Bank. He also sustains other prominent business relations at withstanding his varied and manifold interests, he is a gentleman o: manner and even poise, indicating a well balanced character.
SMITH M. COMLY.
From pioneer times the Comly family has been represented in Oh the ancestral history of Smith M. Comly is one of which he has every to be proud. Moreover his own lines of life have been cast in harmony with and while bending his energies rather toward commercial interes
Dignized by Google
810
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
public service, he is nevertheless recognized as one of the valned and represen- tative citizens of Columbus. He was born October 8, 1868, in Columbus, Ohio. His grandfather became one of the pioneer residents of this state, settling at New Lexington, where he followed the occupation of farming. ITis son, General James M. Comly, was born at New Lexington, Perry county, and was reared amid the scenes and environments of frontier life. At the time of the Civil war he espoused the Union cause and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Forty-second Ohio Infantry. Later he was exchanged to the Twenty-third Ohio and remained with that regiment until the close of hostilities, being in active command in every battle in which the regiment participated with one exception. During his military service he was associated with several men. who later gained notable distinction, and who belonged to the regiment and fought with, General Comly in the war. The most prominent of these were Rutherford B. Hayes and William MeKinley, afterward presidents of the United States, and Stanley Mathews, later a judge of the supreme court. Prior to joining the army General Comly had studied law and had entered upon ac- tive practice. He was also connected with the Ohio State Journal and occupied almost every position on the paper until eventually he became editor. He was likewise the first president of the Board of Trade of Columbus and was iden- tified with various movements which have constituted important features in the growth and development of this city. His life was an intensely busy and useful one and he left the impress of his individuality upon the city's develop- ment and growth. He wedded Elizabeth Mary, who was born in Columbus. a daughter of Sannul Mary, who was a physician and surgeon and served as sur- geon general during the Civil war. Previous to the outbreak of hostilities he was very active in assisting runaway negroes to freedom, his home being a station on the famous underground railroad. He was likewise one of the founders of the Starling Medical College and thus contributed in substantial measure to the educational development of the state.
Smith M. Comly, after attending the public schools of Columbus, beeaine a student in the Ohio State University. after which he went to Toledo, where he spent five years in the office of his father, who was then the owner of a well known newspaper. On the expiration of that period he returned to the capi- tal city and in 1893 entered the coal business. He is now the president of the National Fuel Company, in which connection he has developed an enterprise of large and profitable proportions. He today has an extensive patronage and the volume of business which he annually transaets makes his one of the profit- able commercial enterprises of the city.
On the 14th of November, 1895. Mr. Comly was married to Miss Margaret McComb, who was born in Columbus, a daughter of W. J. McComb, a real estate dealer of this city, and a niece of General W. T. Sherman and Senator Jolin Sherman. Mr. and Mrs. Comly have two children: Elizabeth, born October 15, 1901 : and James M., born March 27, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Comly occupy a very prominent position in social circles and their home is most at- tractive by reason of its warm-hearted hospitality and its interesting social functions. Mr. Comly belongs to that public-spirited, useful and helpful type of men whose ambitions and desires are centered and directed in those chan-
1
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
nels through which flow the greatest and most permanent good to the s number. It is true that his chief life work has been that of a roma successful coal merchant but the range of his activities and the scope influence have reached far beyond this special field.
LOUIS SEIDENSTICKER.
Louis Seidensticker, connected with various corporate interests lumbus in financial and official relations and widely recognized here as terprising business man, is perhaps best known as the senior partner firm of L. Seidensticker & Brother, extensive dealers in dry goods and furnishing goods. One of the native sons of the capital city, he was 1 1852 on the square adjoining that on which he is now carrying on b His father, John Seidensticker, had come to Columbus in 1845. He saddler by trade but soon afterward turned his attention to the furnitu ness. After conducting a store of his own for a period he became a 1 of the Columbus Cabinet Company, with which he was associated for years, when on account of ill health he retired and spent his remainin in the enjoyment of well earned rest. He was a well known and su man, possessing the characteristic German thrift and enterprise and h popular and valued member of various German societies. He wedde Magdalen Zettler, also a native of Germany and a representative of known carly Columbus family. She died in 1902, while the death c Seidensticker occurred in June, 1906.
Lonis Seidensticker was a pupil in the parochial schools to the twelve years and then started in the business world, since which time been dependent upon his own resources. He entered the employ of Gu: who was carrying on business under the firm style of J. G. Maier & Son was in 1866 and Mr. Seidensticker, entering the service as an errand b rapidly promoted and in the course of years became manager and br the concern. In this establishment he received careful, thorough 1 training, gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the business in detail. On the 15th of February. 1882, he opened a store in con with his brother. having a limited stock in a small build his present location. He had carefully saved his earnings until he f his capital justified him in starting in business for himself. The 1 strictly limited to dry goods and men's furnishings and from the ou business has shown a steady, healthy growth, the trade increasing . year until it has asenmed proportions of considerable magnitude. In 1905, Mr. Seidensticker purchased the present large store building in . meet the demands of growing trade and now has the buildings from 153 East Main street. The growth of the business is furthermore in by the fact that while he started out with one salesman he now emplo. teen sales people. To other lines he has also extended his activity and a director of the Market Exchange Bank, a director of the Union Bui
Dignized by Google
812
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
Savings Company and vice president and director of the Allemania Building & Loan Company.
In 1881 Mr. Seidensticker was married to Miss Mary M. Schmitt, of Co- lumbus, and their children are: Eva, Albert, Joseph, William, Lucille and two who died in infancy.
Mr. Seidensticker is a member of the Columbus Board of Trade and of the Knights of Columbus, the Beneficent Knights of St. John and St. Joseph's Court, No. 433, of the Improved Order of Foresters, in which he now acting as treasurer. He is likewise connected with the St. Paul Young Men's Society and is a member of the Cecelia Maennerchor. He is prominent in local po- litical cireles as an advocate of humanitarian principles yet does not seek nor desire office for himself. He is an alert, wide-awake man, alive to the inter- ests and opportunities of the day, and an analyzation of his life record shows that persistency and honesty have constituted the key that has unlocked for him the portals of prosperity.
THOMAS T. VAN SWEARINGEN.
The life work and admirable success of Thomas T. Van Swearingen are evidences of what may be accomplished in America under the system of government which his ancestors helped to establish. In the paternal line he is descended from one-his great-great-grandfather-who was a captain in the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment in the Revolutionary war and was wounded and taken prisoner in the battle of Stillwater September 19, 1777. Later he was exchanged and reentered the service, continuing an active defender of American interests until national independence was won. Prior to the war he had been deputy lieutenant in Berkeley county, Virginia, and was fa- miliarly known among his friends as King Van. Henry Bedlinger, the great- grandfather of Mr. Van Swearingen, was of the Virginia line in the Revo- lutionary war and rose from the ranks to the captaincy of his company, his commission being signed by John Hancock. He was taken prisoner by the British at the battle of White Plains and held as such "for four years less sixteen days," as the record gives it.
Thomas Townsley, a great-grandfather of Mr. Van Swearingen in the maternal line, was a member of Colonel Watts' Pennsylvania Regiment in 1776 and served two other enlistments with the Pennsylvania troops, his military experience continuing until April, 1781. Colonel James Strode Van Swearingen, father of Thomas T. Van Swearingen, was in 1803 an ar- tillery lieutenant and under orders from the secretary of war, General Henry Dearborn, marched through the wilderness westward to Detroit and built Fort Dearborn and a blockhouse on the present site of Chicago, thus becom- ing the founder of that city.
Thomas Townsley Van Swearingen, bearing the name of three of his distinguished ancestors of Revolutionary war fame, has every reason to be proud of the military record of the families from which he springs. He was
b
p]
in
p¿
L:
in
hi
a
P.
a1
tl
a1
g(
01
tu
m
he
st
B
Sı
of
C
F
b
H
w
th
of
al
hà
t1
at
01
tr
Dlgized by Google
814
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
from the Athens hills. The blacksmith was induced to dig sufficient coal to load the wagons on their return trip. Ou arrival in this city the coal was sold to W. A. Neil, Sr., at sixty cents per bushel or fifteen dollars per ton, and used for blacksmithing purposes in connection with the stage coach line. The smithy at that time stood near the corner of High and Broad street -. This was the first coal brought to Columbus and was the beginning of the immense coal traffic. Mr. Gill afterward owned many acres of this coal land. He was the first president of the Board of Trade, and in 1890 deliv- ered an interesting address before that body, in which the above facts were given.
Mr. Gill, seeing in use on Ohio river boats sheet-iron stoves for cooking purposes, adopted the plan and had patterns made for the same kind of stove in cast iron, and it is believed that this was the first square cook stove ever made. Prior to this time nearly all the cooking was done in Dutch ovens and skillets. Mr. Gill was a member of the firm of Buttles & Gill, the first commission and forwarding house to receive consignments of merchandise and produce by canal from the north and forward the same by wagons to Cincinnati and other points south and west of Columbus. In connection with the firm of Gill & Glover he erected a foundry at the foot of Town street, where the city prison is now located, and there manufactured stoves. plows, mill-gear and agricultural implements. This was in the '30s. About 1858 Mr. Gill invented and patented the movable cast-iron point for the combination steel plow, and now probably more than a million of these plows are manufactured each year. He was one of the chief promoters of the Columbus Gas Works, and for years was the largest stockholder in the company. Through his energy and enterprise many industries were induced to locate in Columbus, and he played a prominent part in making Colum- bus a railroad center. He subscribed liberally for the stock of the Columbus and Xenia Railroad, the Cleveland. Columbus & Cincinnati Rail- road, and was one of the promoters and directors of the old Columbus & Piqua and the Columbus & Indiana Central Railroads, the latter now being a part of the Panhandle system. He was also interested in the construction of the Central Ohio road, now controlled by the Baltimore & Ohio, and for many years he was a director of the Columbus & Hocking Valley Railroad and a promoter of the Columbus & Toledo road. In 1862 he bought the old Ridgeway and Kimball works on the west side, which had previously been partly consumed by fire, and commenced the manu- facture of freight cars, which were sold direct to the Federal government. The old foundry at the foot of Town street was continued, at which place. for a time, the car wheels and castings were made for the cars. He built the first refrigerator car. These car works were continued by Mr. Gill until 1884, and grew from a few employes until as high as eight hundred and fifty names appeared on the payroll. He owned several brickyards and man- ufactured brick in large quantities. He owned a great deal of valuable real estate in and about Columbus. In early times a large portion of business was transacted on the credit and barter system, and owing to this custom his losses were at times very heavy.
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
Mr. Gill was the oldest Mason in Columbus. He and his br liam were the first children in America to be vaccinated. Dr. Boston; a pupil of Dr. Edward Jenner, the discoverer of vaccin formed the important operation immediately upon his return fro where he went to acquaint himself with the new system of prev spread of smallpox.
At the time of the Morgan raid through Indiana and Oh poured into Columbus in greater numbers than there were accon for. Mr. Gill came forward and took several hundred of them 1 home, where he fed and cared for them. At the time of the C his promptness in acting was noticeable. He saw in the morn an account of the fire. At ten o'clock that morning there was a citizens to extend aid to the suffering citizens of Chicago. He ar meeting and announced that he had already expressed a carload hams, bacon, cheese, coffee and other articles to that city. The ment was received with cheers. He was a public-spirited man, ofte the list when anything of a public nature was being arranged. I thropy was so well known that his assistance was sought in many and rarely refused. Many young men owed their start in busin helping hand. He was a member of the First Presbyterian ch tributing largely at all times to its support. His hospitality was not- his most pronounced characteristics was his loyalty to his friend a man of rugged health and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-1 The immediate cause of his death was old age and the wearing body that had marvelous vitality. He died at his home, 34 No avenue, on March 12, 1895.
Mr. Gill was married in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the 29t ber, 1833, to Mary Smith Waters.
The history of Columbus can never be fully told without 1 many of the charming women who have done much to make the ci In the list of such women the name of Mary Waters Gill, wife of man Gill, capitalist, inventor and manufacturer, stands in the fore
Mrs. Gill was born in 1814 in North Easton, Massachusetts, ride from Boston, where the beautiful old colonial home-in per. vation-is still standing in its magnificent ancient garden with and pretty stream. Her father, Asa Waters, of Stoughton, Ma was a man of means and distinguished family. He was a lineal of Governor William Bradford. Her mother was Kezia Richmo Middleboro, Massachusetts, family of Richmonds. Through bo Mary Waters was descended from and closely related to many o distinguished and influential families of New England's early col. and brought with her, as a bride of 1833, much of the refinemnt & new to this part of the country but to which she had been aceusto home became the center of the intellectual life of the community an accomplished musician and brought with her the first piano bus. She was a woman of great refinement and culture, a Fren something of an artist and fond of all literary pursuits. She has
Inby Google
816
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF COLUMBUS
ful Christian character, and was one of God's noblewomen. She wa- edu- cated at the celebrated boarding school of Madame Oliver in Braddocksfield. near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, one of the most noted schools in the com- try. She was a true aristocrat. patrician, graceful in manner, gentle and loved by all. She contributed largely with her own means to the building of the First Presbyterian church on the corner of Third and State streets. She was instrumental in securing an organ for this church, the first to be placed in Columbus, and a most extraordinary thing in those days.
Mrs. Gill entertained on an elaborate scale which even at this time would seem magnificent. Her hospitality was noted, and the most cele- brated and influential people of the country and inany foreign visitors were guests at her home. She passed away on the 25th of December, 1905.
Eight of their children reached maturity. John Loriman Gill, Jr., of Philadelphia, is an inventor and manufacturer. George Waters Gill is a manufacturer of Columbus. Wilson L. Gill, of New York, is the originator and founder of the Gill School City, which organizes self-governing bodies of school youth for the purpose of creating and stimulating pride and pleas- ure of citizenship through their own cooperation, guided by interested teachers, in the social and civic activities in accord with the principles and forms of the government under which they live -- the ultimtae aim an en- lightened and conscientious citizenship. The Franklin Institute awarded Mr. Gill the Elliott-Cressen gold medal in recognition of the value and far- reaching influence of his idea. Herbert Richmond Gill is a resident of Columbus. Anne Eliza is the widow of Theodore G. Wormley, chemist. toxicologist and professor of chemistry in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Wormley is distinguished for having il- lustrated with steel engravings (the first work of this kind to be done by a woman) her husband's book, The Muro-Chemistry of Poisons. The beauty and merit of her work was recognized by the first congress of international scientific and medical men, meeting in Philadelphia in 1876, by their making her a member of that body-an honor not granted to any other women. Agnes Gill is the widow of Judge Jackson A. Jordan, of Cincinnati. Kezia Wilson Gill became the wife of Percy Bankhart, of London, England, who died in 1885 in Kansas City. Allis Bradford Gill is a resident of Columbus.
JAMES JOHNSON JENNINGS.
Continuous advancement along well defined lines of activity has brought James Johnson Jennings to a leading position as a representative of the business interests of the capital city, for he is now the cashier of one of the leading banking institutions of Columbus. Mr. Jennings is a native of Sandusky, Ohio, and a son of Hector and Sarah B. Jennings. The former followed merchandising and removed to Norwalk, Ohio, during the early childhood days of James Johnson Jennings, who there pursued his educa- tion, passing through consecutive grades until he was graduated from the Norwalk high school. He afterward attended the Ohio Wesleyan Univer-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.