USA > Ohio > Allen County > History of Allen County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part One > Part 46
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
To-day the city has gone beyond the power of any one man. Whatever may have been his shortcomings, the average citizen of Lima will be ready to forget, and in the last struggles of Mr. Faurot to regain his lost financial prestige he will still be remembered as one of Lima's real benefactors.
1
CHAPTER XXI
CONCLUSION
Influences That Helped to Build a Great County-A Brave, Devoted and Enterprising People-Allen County a Type of the Great American Nation of To-day.
History is a record of what man has done. The tides of old ocean; the storms of winter; the torrid blasts of summer-all the influences of Nature combined have not wrought as great changes upon the earth's surface as has man, the type of an endless life.
Long before the dawn of civilization man commenced to make history, to change the face of Mother Earth. In all the ages of civilized man, these changes have been growing at an in- creased rate. The great virgin forests, once covering the earth with a shield, have been laid low by the hand of man. The streams have been bridged, and the marshes drained. The black diamond and the amber oil have been brought from the depths for the comfort and necessity of man. The East and the West, the North and the South have been brought togeth- er by steam and electricity, almost causing us to forget time and space.
These facts apply to no part of the country more fittingly than to Allen county.
The old Black Swamp-once a menace to health and a bar to progress-has been made to blossom like the rose, and well-ordered farms with commodious dwellings and giant barns, are seen on every hand. The primeval forest has been converted into polished floors or "quartered" oak ; and in a thousand useful ways it serves the convenience of man, and has filled his pockets with shining gold.
"The great forests, once so hated because they formed a stumbling-block in the tedious struggles to reduce the soil to a condition for
tillage, have been converted into a source of wealth. Within a radius of five miles of Del- phos, 35 sawmills (now perhaps doubled) are constantly employed in the manufacture of lum- ber, and a value nearly equalling the product of these mills is annually exported in the form of lumber. Excepting in the manufacturing of maple sugar, and for local building and fencing purposes, no use until recent years had been made of the timber, and its destruction from the face of the earth was the especial object of the pioneer farmers and in this at that time sup- posed good work they had the sympathies of all others who were interested in the development of the country. The gathering of the ginseng crop once afforded employment to the families of the early settlers, but the supply was scanty and it soon became exhausted. Some 18 years ago, when the business of the town was suffer- ing from stagnation, Dr. J. W. Hunt, an enter- prising druggist and now a citizen of Delphos bethought himself that he might aid the pioneers of the wilderness and add to his own trade, by offering to purchase the bark from the slippery elm trees, which were abundant in the adjacent swamps. For this new article of commerce he offered remunerative prices, and the supply soon appeared in quantities reaching hundreds of cords of the cured bark ; and he has since con- trolled the trade in Northwestern Ohio and ad- jacent regions. The resources found in the lumber and timber and in this bark trade, trifl- ing as the latter may appear, have contributed, and are yet contributing, almost as much to the
-
340
HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY
prosperity of the town and country as the aver- age of the cultivated acres, including the "pro- ducts of the orchard." (From Knapp's His- tory of the Maumee Valley."-1872.)
School-houses and churches stand at every crossing of the ways, and these silent emblems are the means by which a great and noble people was evolved. Allen County, with her millions of wealth, her yet undeveloped resources, is an excellent type of the great American Nation of which she is a part. The same brand of patriot- ism that was born in the breast of Otis, Han- cock, Jefferson, Henry and Adams, was found, fully ignited in the breasts of the people of Allen County when Lincoln sent forth his call for help, and in just 60 hours thereafter soldiers from this county were en route for Washington. Of the 100,224 common soldiers which Ohio sent to the war, Allen County furnished 776.
In the veins of the people of this county pours a flood of rich blood, formed from the mingling of the best of many races-the Ger- man, the Welsh, the Scotch-Irish, the French,
the Danish and the English-and the product is a type of citizens whose energy and determi- nation built the Faurot Block, and the Masonic Temple; organized and managed The Lima Lo- comotive & Machine Company, and the Deisel- Wemmer cigar company, or financed a great bank or a railroad.
In intellectual pursuits the people of the county have always taken an advanced standing. They have been prominent in law, medicine and. statesmanship. While the county is not an old county, yet her voice has been heard in the coun- cils of the State, and of the Nation. Her peo- ple are independent and courageous-they could live well if shut off from the rest of the world by some impassable barrier. From the soil, re- sponsive to the farmer's patient toil, comes an- nually 400,000 bushels of wheat, and a million bushels of shelled corn, and other cereals in like proportion.
The future of Allen County is assured-her rank and her standing in the sisterhood of coun- ties of a great State, are unalterably fixed.
1
SAMUEL COLLINS
Representative Citizens
AMUEL' COLLINS, who is numbered with the retired business citizens of Lima, was formerly largely interested in the grocery line here, accumulating a competency and taking his. place with men who have contributed largely to the development of Lima as a business center. Mr. Collins was born in Belmont County, Ohio, March 6, 1824, and is a son of John and Rachel (Cunningham) Collins.
The grandparents of our subject were res- idents of Pennsylvania. From that State his parents removed as pioneers to Belmont County, Ohio. They belonged to that hardy, industrious class who led contented, agricul- tural lives and reared families which have made Ohio notable in every line of activity. Their nine children grew to maturity and all became respected members of the communities in which they subsequently settled. The parents left Belmont County in 1834 and moved to Logan County, where they lived the remainder of their lives.
Samuel Collins grew up on his father's farm and attended the local schools. It was in 1852 that he came to Lima and established him- self in the grocery business, in what is now known as the Boone Block, where he continued until he built the Collins Block in 1874, which he now owns and where he now makes his home. For many years he continued in busi- ness, took a prominent part in public matters, supported movements for various public im- provements and at all times did his full duty as a man and citizen. In 1865 he retired from the grocery business and from that time to this he has been engaged in caring for his extensive
real estate interests, which include many city lots and buildings and excellent farming prop- erties.
In 1847 Mr. Collins was married to Mary Brinser, a daughter of Christian Brinser. To them were born three children, viz : Rose, wife" of J. Hinkle, deceased February 14, 1902; Daniel, who married Emma Pierson and re- sides in Lima; and Perry, who married Cath- erine Fenlon and makes his home in Detroit, Michigan, where he is engaged in merchandis- ing. Mrs. Collins died December 21, 1903. Mr. Collins is a Democrat and for some years he was active politically. In 1861 he was elected sheriff of Allen County and served with great efficiency until 1865. Fraternally he is a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows and the Red Men. His. portrait accompanies this sketch.
ON. JAMES MACKENZIE. The late Judge Mackenzie, long a resident and leading citizen of Lima, both in- herited and won fame. As the son of his father he was distinguished, but he was more so because of his own brilliant intellect and conspicuous services in the edito- rial field and as a member of the bench and bar of Northwestern Ohio. He was born in Dun- dee, Scotland, July 14, 1814, and was a son of William Lyon Mackenzie, M. P.
William Lyon Mackenzie was born in Scotland, March 12, 1795. In 1820 he re- moved to Canada and four years later estab)- lished the Colonial Advocate at Toronto. In 1828 he was elected to the Provincial Parlia -.
344
HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY
ment for York and at once entered upon a public career that aroused both personal en- thusiasm and great animosity. He was the leader of the great Reform party and in 1832, upon the termination of his first service in Parliament, was sent as a delegate to London with a petition of grievances. Elected the first mayor of Toronto, in 1834, he continued to insist on reformatory movements in every branch of the government, publicly attacked the Lieutenant General of the Dominion in his newspaper, the Constitution, and in 1837, despairing of redress, headed a band of armed insurgents who demanded of this high official a settlement of grievances complained of. Long since, reforms far more radical than ever de- manded by Mackenzie and his followers have been granted, but the times were not yet ripe and the reformer was excluded from Canada, and resided in the United States until the am- nesty proclamation of 1849, when he returned to Canada and was there conspicuous in public life until his death, being a member of Parlia- ment from 1850 until 1858. His death oc- curred at Toronto in 1861.
James Mackenzie learned the printing bus- iness with his father and could not fail to be in sympathy with the latter in his great ideas for the free government of Canada. In 1837 he came to the United States and took part with the insurgents in the fighting on the front- ier, with youthful enthusiasm assisting in all the insurrectionary movements. He was his father's closest friend and sympathizer and later he started a newspaper at Lockport, New York, designed to help the Canadian cause, naming it the Freeman's Advocate. This jour- nal was widely circulated, especially along the frontier, but was discontinued in 1839 for reasons of expediency.
At a later date Mr. Mackenzie was en- gaged by Vick & Company, of Rochester, New York, who were then conducting a daily paper -the Workingmen's Advocate-in the inter- ests of the American working man, as their editor, and when they sold out to a successor who established the Rochester Advertiser, Mr. Mackenzie continued on that journal for a time in the capacity of reporter and local edi- tor. From Rochester Mr. Mackenzie came to
Ohio and located at Cleveland where he re- sumed his law studies which he had previously commenced at Lockport, New York, and was prepared by the firm of Bishop & Backus for the bar, to which he was admitted in 1843.
His selection of a field for practice was Henry County, Ohio, and while awaiting cases he taught school and entered into politics, be- ing elected township clerk and, in 1844, prose- cuting attorney of Henry County. The latter position he resigned in 1845 and removed to Putnam County, where he could not resist the temptation to reenter journalism, purchasing the Kalida Venture, a paper. of Democratic politics, which was generously supported in Putnam and other counties as soon as he as- sumed its management and which he ably con- ducted for 10 years. He soon became a leader in political life in Putnam County and in 1846 was elected prosecuting attorney, being subse- quently re-elected in 1848 and 1850. In 1853 he was elected a member of the Ohio State Legislature and after a term of faithful serv- ice was again made prosecuting attorney of Putnam County in 1856.
The removal of Mr. Mackenzie to Allen County in 1858 was only a breaking of old ties to make new ones. For two and a half years he was editor and publisher of the Allen County Democrat, and in 1861 and 1863,he was elected prosecuting attorney of Allen County. In the fall of 1865 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, to supply the vacancy oc- casioned by the death of Judge Metcalf, was elected judge in 1869 and again in 1874, com- pleting his long term of judicial service in Feb- ruary, 1879, retiring from the bench with the respect and esteem of the members of the bar of Allen, Putnam and Shelby counties.
Upon leaving the bench, Judge Mackenzie resumed the practice of the law at Lima, in partnership with Theodore D. Robb. Added years only brought increased honors and his name is numbered with the eminent ones of his profession in his adopted State. He was a man scrupulously upright and he never could be convinced that a question was right unless his judgment told him so. This solid judicial sense, with a kind of intellectual honesty and freedom from all bias, made him admirably
345
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
fitted for so responsible a position as that of judge. He was also an effective advocate and his wise counsel preserved peace on many oc- casions when a less honest man would have ad- vocated appealing to the machinery of the law.
Judge Mackenzie was married to Lucina P. Leonard. and they had seven children, the two sons being Eugene C. and William L, the latter being a member of the law firm of Mot- ter, Mackenzie & Weadock, of Lima.
In closing this review of a notable man, it is right to add that all during the Civil War Judge Mackenzie's sympathies were with the Union cause, his inherent love of liberty and freedom making him all his life opposed to slavery. He died at Lima, Ohio, on the 9th of May, 1901. His death left a great vacancy among the ranks of a profession which, in Al- len County, has numbered many brilliant men.
D AVIS J. CABLE, senior member of the well-known law firm of Cable & Parmenter, of Lima, and an attorney of acknowledged ability, who has been in active practice for almost a quarter of a century, was born in Van Wert County, Ohio, August 11, 1859, and is a son of John L and Angie R. (Johnson) Cable.
Joseph Cable, the paternal grandfather of our subject, settled in Ohio prior to its ad- mission as a State. He was one of the distin- guished men of his time. From 1849 to 1853 he represented the Fifth Congressional Dis- trict of Ohio, composed of Columbiana, Stark, Jefferson and Carroll counties, in the United States Congress and is noted further as being the author of the first homestead bill presented to Congress. He edited the first newspaper. issued at (New) Lisbon, Columbiana County, and later was associate justice of the State. The maternal grandfather, Davis Johnson, was one of the early pioneers of Van Wert County.
Davis J. Cable was reared in Van Wert County, where the family has always been a prominent one. On completing the common school course, he turned his attention to the
law, subsequently entering the law depart- ment of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. He then came to Lima, was admitted to the bar in 1881 and entered into practice. In 1882 he was elected city solicitor. The firm of Cable & Parmenter, which was formed in 1888, is one of the strongest in the county and handles a large part of the important cases coming before the various courts. Their well- appointed and commodious offices are located at No. 304 Masonic Building, Lima.
Mr. Cable organized The Lima Telephone & Telegraph Company and is now and has been for some years the president of the same. He was one of the organizers of the National Roofing Tile Company, of which he has al- ways been secretary. He was the originator and one of the promoters of the Fort Wayne, Van Wert & Lima Traction Company and is at present vice-president and counsel of this company.
In 1882 Mr. Cable was married to Mary A. Harnly. They have a delightful home that they call "Springside Farm," which is located in the city environs.
Mr. Cable is a prominent Mason and has served as master of both the local lodges. Mr. Cable was one of the organizers of The Ma- sonic Hall Company, of which he became president and served as such during the erec- tion of the Masonic Building and for two years thereafter. While not an active poli- tician, he has always been alert as to public conditions and has constantly performed every duty of a good citizen.
1
ON THEODORE E. CUNNING- HAM. Probably no citizen of Lima has passed off the active scene of life within the last quarter of a century, who possessed in higher degree the different qualities which command respect and encourage admiration and personal affection than the late Theodore E. Cunningham, who for many years was one of the leading mem- bers of the bar. Few men of his profession have left a more lasting impress upon the
١
346
HISTORY OF ALLEN COUNTY
community. He was born October 31, 1830, in Wayne County, Ohio, and died April 16, 1889, at Lima, Ohio, aged 59 years. His pa- rents were Dr. William and Anna ( Ewalt) Cunningham.
Mr. Cunningham came of a combination of Scotch, Irish and French stock. Archibald C. Cunningham, his paternal grandfather, came to Ohio in 1821 from Washington County, Pennsylvania, taking up a large tract of farming land in Wayne County. His son William turned his attention to medicine and in January, 1832, came to Allen County, set- tling in the locality and among the straggling cottages which then represented the now thriving and important city of Lima. Here he, too, soon had a home, building his log cabin on what is now the southeast corner. of the Public Square. He became a well-known practitioner and a man who was as highly con- sidered for his professional skill as he was for his sterling traits of character.
Dr. William Cuninngham married Anna Ewalt, who was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, being a descendant of an old Huguenot family which once owned estates along the Rhine. Seven children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Cunningham, the three sur,- vivors of these being: Eliza, a resident of Lima, wife of Josiah Williams; Clementine, wife of W. K. Brice, and Sarah B., wife of George Morris, of Putnam County, Ohio.
Theodore E. Cunningham attended school at Lima until about 16 years of age, when he was apprenticed to the printing business, en- tering the office of the Kalida Venture, which was under the editorial management of James Mackenzie. He remained three years with this journal, and then came to Lima as associate editor of the Lima Argus, which, in 1852, in partnership with William C. Tompkinson, he bought. This paper, previously had been owned by Mathias H. Nichols and at that time was the only newspaper printed in the town. In 1854 he retired in order to take up his law practice, having been admitted to the bar in 1852, following the completion of his law studies with the firm of Nichols & Wal- dorf. He was succeeded on the Argus by
Thomas M. Robb, who continued the paper until 1855 when Mr. Cunningham and a Mr. Poland took possession of the office. After. a year, during which period they conducted the paper under the title of the People's Press, Mr. Cunningham retired entirely from connection with the publication.
In the meantime he had entered into a law partnership with Mr. Waldorf, which contin- ued until 1860, when he was commissioned a member, of the Board of Enrollment of the Fifth District of Ohio and attended to these duties through the period of the Civil War. In politics he was a Democrat. In 1866 he was elected a delegate to the Philadelphia conven- tion, and in 1873 he was elected from Allen County as a member of the Ohio State Consti- tutional Convention. The able manner in which he here represented his constituents is a matter of history. He entered into political contests with the courage of his convictions and fought long and well, even when he fore- saw defeat. He was long considered one of the ablest members of the Lima bar, not only on account of his native ability and intellec- tual force but also for other qualities. He was a man of magnetic presence, an orator who could hold his audience spellbound and a con- versationalist whose slightest effort brought new and entertaining views to light. Then he was so genuine. When he gave the clasp of friendship, he meant it, and even when, in course of conducting a case, his facts and argu- ments bore heavily on his opponent, there was no personal malice and no professional arro- gance. He was a man of refined, scholarly tastes, an incisive writer and a man of wide reading. To him those in need of advice or sympathy naturally turned and, without con- sideration of financial obligation, none was ever turned aside.
In 1855 Mr. Cunningham was married to Elizabeth Hyatt, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, who died February 5, 1904, aged 72 years. To them were born six children.
HON. WILLIAM H. CUNNINGHAM, NOW filling the responsible and honorable office of judge of the Court of Common Pleas for .Allen County, is a son of Hon. Theodore E.
S. B. HINER, M. D
349
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
Cunningham, the subject of this sketch. He was first elected to his present position in 1898 and was reelected in 1902. He has every qual- ification for able work at the bar and is re- garded as an honor to the bench and bar of Lima. He is noted for the fair and impartial decisions that have characterized his service on the common pleas bench.
Judge Cunningham read law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in 1876, beginning at once the practice of his profes- sion in Lima. He is a strong Democrat and no man in Allen County or this section of the State stands higher in the estimation of his fellow-citizens than he. In his fraternal rela- tions he is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Elk and a Red Man. His wife, whose name be- fore marriage was Emma L. Funk, died in 1888, leaving one son, Allan, who is now en- gaged in business in Texas.
B. HINER, M. D., one of the most prominent physicians and surgeons of Lima and president of the Lima Hospital, was born in 1838 in Wayne County, Ohio, and is a son of John Hiner, one of the early settled agriculturists of that section.
S. B. Hiner enjoyed the best educational advantages that the time and locality afforded in his boyhood and youth. In 1864 he was graduated in medicine from the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, and immediately after- ward he entered the Union Army as an assis- tant surgeon, being detailed to hospital work at Knoxville, Tennessee. He remained there un- til the spring of 1865. After the close of the war, he located at Lima, Ohio, where he has continued in practice ever since. Perhaps not the "Nestor" of the profession here, but surely one of the most eminent, Dr. Hiner is respected, beloved and valued all over the city. He has been president of the Lima Hospital eyer since its founding and his skill and professional abil- ity as well as his executive capacity have made the position especially his own. He has been president of the Allen County Medical Society
and the Northwestern Medical Association and in addition to having membership in these two societies has also membership in the Ohio State Medical Society and the-American Medical As- sociation and the Association of Erie Railroad: Surgeons.
It was principally through Dr. Hiner's ef- forts that the first steps were taken toward or- ganizing the Northwestern Ohio Medical As -- sociation. He was one of those who brought:' about the joint meeting of the medical societies of Allen and Van Wert counties, held at Lima on April 4, 1869. It was then and there pro posed that a medical society should be formed to include the counties of Allen, Van Wert, Putnam, Auglaize, Hardin, Hancock, and Mer- cer, which constituted the congressional dis- trict. At this meeting he proposed that an- other meeting be held the following June. He again wrote to the physicians in this congres- sional district and a very creditable meeting was the result. Physicians from Lima, Wapa- koneta, Kenton, Mendon, Delphos, Ottawa, Van Wert, Columbus Grove, St. Marys and Spencerville-in all, 20-were present at this meeting, which was held June 1, 1869. At this. time a permanent organization was effected and the constitution and by-laws adopted. The first president of the association was Dr. W. H. Harper, who was elected in 1899. Dr. Hiner was elected president in 1881. It was not until December, 1871, that the territorial limits were so changed as to include all of Northwestern Ohio.
Dr. Hiner has been the surgeon for the Chicago & Erie Railroad ever, since transpor- tation over that line began, and for a like period has been surgeon for the Detroit Southern and the Western Ohio. Through post-graduate courses in New York, Dr. Hiner has kept up with modern methods of thought and practice and his years of varied experience have added to his skill.
Dr. Hiner is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally he belongs to the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. He has two sons -Edward W. and Harry C.,-both residents of Lima. A portrait of Dr. Hiner accompanies this sketch, being shown on a foregoing page.
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.