History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 109

Author: Middleton, Evan P., editor
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1196

USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 109

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).

"The body was removed to Callao, on the morning of the day following, in a carriage-and-four, accompanied by the ministers of foreign relations and war of the Peruvian government, and the aids of His Excellency, the Presi- dent, with a suitable escort, an immense train of carriages and attendants on horseback, comprising the American merchants of the place, who, together with myself, appeared as chief mourners, and all the foreign residents of every nation, as well as many native citizens and officers. At about 2 p. m., the procession reached Callao, when the body was immediately embarked in a boat of the 'Brandywine' frigate accompanied by the captain and pall bearers. Next followed a boat with the before-mentioned members of the government and the chief mourners, afterward, in their respective barges, Adm. Guise, Com. Jones, the British commanders and Vice Consul, Capt. Finch, a most numerous and respectable attendance of officers and citizens. The line of boats, occupying about two miles, moved toward the island of San Lorenzo, minute guns being fired by several men-of-war in the harbor. As the body passed, the English commencing, and, in succession the French, Peruvian and American, which latter continued until the interment had

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taken place. On the return of the boats, as the members of the Peruvian government, who had been in attendance, passed the 'Brandywine,' Com. Jones displayed the Peruvian flag at his fore and fired a salute of seven- teen guns, which being answered by the Admiral's ship, closed the ceremony of the day."

It is not known where Cooley is buried. He left no descendants in the county, and as far as is known, no other members of the family have ever lived in Champaign county.

WILLIAM PATRICK.

One of the unique characters of Urbana for eighty years was William Patrick, who came to Urbana in 1811 and who lived in the city until his death, January 18, 1891, lacking five years of rounding out a century. Born in New Jersey, September 22, 1796, a son of Anthony Patrick, he came with his father to Ohio in 1806 and to Urbana August 9, 1811. The life of this man could easily be written to fill a volume. He was a lovable char- acter; for more than three-quarters of a century he walked the streets of U'rbana; he served as its mayor for years; in county affairs he was no less active, serving for years as an associate judge of the county; he served as clerk of Urbana township for thirty-two years; as justice of the peace of the township for seventeen years; and served as assessor, recorder, a member of the city council and as commissioner of insolvents. He was elected mayor term after term and finally positively declined to let his name be used as a candidate. His occupation was that of a cabinet-maker and he was actively engaged in the making of furniture until 1857, when he turned over his business to his sons.

Such a man was William Patrick. Although he held public offices and more of them and for longer periods than any other man in the county, yet as has been said of him, "no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil" marked his public or private life. It was through his influence that the city now has Oak Dale cemetery; it was he who bought the strip of land which is now the beautiful highway to the cemetery : it was he who planted the trees which now adorn this driveway.

Judge Patrick was married on April 30. 1820, to Rachel Kirkpatrick, who died on August 21, 1865. They were the parents of seven children.

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HENRY WEAVER.

Henry Weaver, the wealthiest man in Champaign county at the time of his death in 1872, was born in Berkley county, Virginia, May 6, 1788, and while yet an infant was brought to Kentucky with his father's family, residing in said state until 1802, part of the time near Maysville, and later near Lexington. In 1802 he came with his father to this county, settling in the southwestern portion of Mad River township. In 1807 he was married to Nancy Chapman. He moved to Urbana in th winter of 1813-14. beginning business in a small shop that then stood on Scioto street. He was a shoemaker and plied his vocation dilligently, and branched out into mercantile pursuits in a small, but profitable way, entering fully into legiti- mate store business (as it was called in those days), only when his son Lemuel became old enough to attend the counter. In 1821 he built the Bassett House at the northeast corner of Scioto and Locust streets, the building now occupied by the Urbana Telephone Company. In 1824-25 he occupied a store room in what is now the postoffice on South Main street ; afterwards, and for about two years the Glenn corner, now occupied by Sam Bianca and others, at the southwest corner of South Main street and Monument Square. In 1821 he was appointed tax collector of Champaign county. At that time the collector traveled the county over, visiting each taxpayer, and was armed with the special powers and privileges of a con- stable to distrain and enforce payment if necessary. In 1833 he purchased from William Neil the site of the L. Weaver building, northeast corner of Scioto street and Monument Square, and removed the old buildings to lots on Church and Court streets. He erected at once on this site a building which was in that day an ornament to the town and one of the finest brick blocks west of Columbus. He built the building occupied at present as a clothing store by W. E. Brown, and the Weaver dry goods store room, now occupied by W. E. Marsh as a dry goods store. The first two stories of the building now known as the Douglass Inn were built by John C. Pear- son and Henry Weaver finished his work on Monument Square by bringing to its present form this large, elegant building, excelled by beauty of archi- tecture and attractive style by few houses in the state.

In 1859 Weaver was elected president of the Champaign County Bank, a position he held several years, or until the reorganization of the bank under the national banking laws.

Mr. Weaver was a man of purely business habits. His mind was thor-

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oughly engrossed and occupied with business and his attention was not easily drawn aside from his daily routine. With vigilant eye he observed his gradual and constantly increasing fortune, meeting with little adversity, yet surmounting difficulties with vigor and energy. Within a few days of his death he was on the street and at his store at his accustomed hours transacting the usual business connected with his large property, retaining his usual vigor of strength until Tuesday, February 27, 1872. On that day he was attacked with congestion of the lungs, suffering severely until Sunday evening, March 3rd, when he died at 8:25 o'clock. He retained his consciousness to the hour of death, although at times under the influence of powerful opiates administered to alleviate pain.

REAR ADMIRAL JOSEPH FYFFE.

Joseph Fyffe is the only native of Champaign county who has ever attained the rank of a rear admiral in the United States navy. Born in Urbana, July 26, 1832, he died at Pierce, Nebraska, February 25, 1896, and was on the navy register for forty-seven years. He was the son of Col. Edward P. Fyffe who was born in Urbana, April 23, 1805, and who is often spoken of as the first white child born in Urbana. Edward P. Fyffe was in turn a son of William H. Fyffe who was born in Virginia, later moved to Kentucky and who settled in Urbana in 1805. Edward P. Fyffe was a cadet at West Point for a time, later was graduated in medicine and practiced in Urbana until his death. He was mustered into the service in the Civil War as colonel and was mustered out as a brevet brigadier-general. Colonel Fyffe died on September 5, 1825.

Admiral Fyffe was a distinguished son of a distinguished father. When only fifteen years of age he received an appointment to the navy and from that date, September 9, 1847, until July 20, 1894, he was in the service of his country. His long career on the ocean, his promotion from time to time until he reached the high ranking of a rear admiral, and the promi- nent part he bore during the half century of his public service may well command the attention of his fellow-citizens of Champaign county. His first ship was the "Cumberland" and on that vessel, as a boy of fifteen, he learned the rudiments of the education which was to fit him for the high command which was to be his in after years. Before sixteen years of age he was on the "Stromboli" and had seen active service in the Mexican War. He was on one ship after another, serving on the "Yorktown" off the coast of Africa and later on the "St. Lawrence." He was promoted to

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the rank of midshipman on July 15, 1854, at the Naval Academy at Ann- apolis and was later assigned to the "San Jacinto". In 1856 he volunteered to be one of the Grinelle party which went to the Arctic regions in search of Sir John Franklin and rescued and brought home Doctor Kane and his party. He was decorated with the medal of the Arctic Order of Victoria by the Queen of England for his services on the Arctic expedition.

He was commissioned master and lieutenant on September 16, 1856, and during the next few years served along the South American coast and in the East Indies on the "Germantown". At the opening of the Civil War he was on the sloop "Lancaster" in the Pacific ocean and was later transferred to the "Minnesota", the flagship of the North Atlantic block- ading squadron. He was with this frigate until 1864, when he was given command of the "Hunchback", a double-ended gunboat, which was stationed on the James river. After the war he was stationed at the Boston navy yard and in 1867 was ordered to the "Oneida" and sent to the Asiatic coast. On December 2, 1868, he was commissioned commander and given command of the "Centaur". His next service was as light-house inspector of the fourteenth district, following which he commanded the "Monocacy" in the Pacific ocean and continued there from 1875 to 1879, in which latter year he was promoted to the rank of captain and placed in command of the "St. Louis". In 1880 he was given command of the "Franklin" and eighteen months later he was made captain of the flagship "Tennessee", of the North Atlantic squadron. His last active service on the ocean was his command of the flagship "Pensacola" of the Pacific station, and it was while on this ship that he was taken sick and returned to his home in Urbana to recuperate. In 1888 he became captain of the Boston naval yard and remained there for three years, being promoted to the rank of commodore in February, 1889. He was assigned to special duty in Boston in 1890 and in 1891 took command of the New London naval station. On July 13. 1893, he took charge again of the Boston naval yard and remained there until he retired from the service July 20, 1894. Such in brief was the career of one of Champaign county's distinguished citizens. It was his request that his remains be brought back to the city of his birth and they now rest in Oak Dale cemetery.

JOHN RUSSELL.

John Russell, the only native-born son of Champaign county who ever held the office of secretary of state of Ohio, was born in Concord township,

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September 22, 1827. He was the fourth son of Robert and Mary Russell who emigrated from Loudoun county, Virginia, to this county about 1818 and settled near the farm where John Russell was born.

John Russell was reared on his father's farm, where he had the expe- rience of many a boy of those early days; but he had a few cardinal charac- teristics which distinguished him from his fellows. In his early youth he evinced a breadth of vision and marked intellectuality which promised well for his coming career. After he had acquired a common-school education at the district school near his home, he taught school in the winter time after he reached sufficient age. Not content with the education he had. John longed to go to college. By strict economy and untiring industry, he acquired sufficient money to enter Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, in the fall of 1849. He remained there two years and was graduated in the scientific course. Soon after he returned home he married Margaret M. Rus- sell, the daughter of Aaron and Tamzon Russell, but whose family was not related to his.

At an early age John Russell united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and throughout his life he adhered to the precepts of the Chris- tian religion with unswerving fidelity in all his relations of life. . There is no doubt that much of this estimable trait of his nature was ingrained through the early training of his mother, who in her long life impressed her deeply religious character and noble womanhood upon her entire family.

Without his solicitation, John Russell was nominated and elected clerk of the common pleas court of the county in 1854 by the largest majority ever given to a candidate in the county up to that time. During his first term, his able, scrupulous and courteous service to the public so commended him to the electorate, that he was re-elected and served until 1863, a period of nine years. Soon after the expiration of his last term as clerk, he was appointed chief clerk to the secretary of state, William Henry Smith. Upon the resignation of the latter, Governor Hayes, who later became President of the United States, appointed Mr. Russell to fill the vacancy. After his term had expired, he returned to Urbana and busied himself in the office of W. W. Wilson, collector of internal revenue for this district. In 1869 he was nominated by acclamation and elected state senator for the district composed of Champaign, Clark and Madison counties. Before the con- vening of the Legislature, however, he was stricken with paralysis, and died on December 16, 1869, when he was in the prime of his life. Not only the whole community united in honoring his memory at his death, but the officers of the state met at Columbus and passed resolutions of deep regret

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for his death and a high eulogy of his life and character. The officers of ' the state attended the funeral in a body, led by Governor Hayes, who, on that occasion, united with the ministers in giving testimony to the many virtues and sterling integrity of John Russell.

Champaign county has produced several men of great talent and high distinction ; but it has produced few who equal John Russell in those qualities of a true Christian gentleman, which endeared him to his friends and neigh- bors and commended him to those he served in public capacity.

JOSEPH P. SMITH.

Joseph P. Smith, a citizen of Urbana, state librarian of Ohio under Governor Mckinley and later head of the Bureau of American Republics, was one of the many men of Champaign county who made a name for him- self in state and national affairs. Smith was born in Adams county, Ohio, and came to Urbana in 1888. He became the editor of the Citizen and Gasette, a position which he capably filled for a number of years. Before Mckinley became governor he had become acquainted with Smith and a close friendship sprang up between the two men; so close, in fact, that when Mckinley became governor of Ohio he tendered Smith the position of state librarian. Here he made himself invaluable to the governor and when Mckinley made the race for the presidency in 1896 it was the former Urbana newspaper man who became his confidential secretary during the progress of the campaign.

The campaign of 1896 was notable in one particular respect. Mckinley remained at his home in Canton, Ohio, during all the summer and fall of that year and received delegations from all over the United States in his own front yard. It was Smith's duty to gather data for a speech appropriate for each particular delegation, and he did it in a consummate manner. If the delegation happened to be from Hooppole township, Posey county, Indiana, Smith looked up the county and township and made appropriate suggestions for a speech extolling the resources of the particular community ; if the delegation was from Wisconsin, Wyoming, or any other state in the Union, it was Smith's duty to look up and prepare for Mckinley the neces- sary data to be used in a speech appropriate to the occasion and delegation. Consequently, when Mckinley became President, Smith was appointed to a responsible position at Washington. He was given a prominent position in the Bureau of American Republics and placed in charge of the magazine issued by the bureau. He continued his connection with the bureau until

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his death, February 5, 1898. His health had been failing for some time pre- vious to his death, and he had gone to Miami, Florida, during the winter of 1897-98 in order to recuperate. He is buried in the Oak Dale cemetery at L'rbana.

FRANCIS MARTIN WRIGHT.

Francis Martin Wright, former auditor of Champaign county and later auditor of the State of Ohio for ten years, was born in Frederick county, Virginia, July 14, 1810, and died on January 18, 1869, as the result of a steamboat accident on the Mississippi. He came to Urbana in 1834 and made that city his home until his death, with the exception of the years spent in Columbus. He was a man of keen political sagacity and had an unusual insight into the maneuvers necessary for political success. He was not a politician in the ordinary Machiavellian sense, but a public-spirited citizen who was sincerely interested in public affairs. He served as county auditor for some years and as state auditor from 1856 to 1867. He resigned his posi- tion as state auditor on account of his health and it was while on a trip to the South that he met his death in 1869 as the result of a steamboat explosion.

DR. JAMES WILLIAMS.

Dr. James Williams, state auditor from 1872 to 1880, was born in Prince George county, Maryland, May 21, 1822, and died at Mechanics- burg, Champaign county, Ohio, July 9, 1888. He came to Champaign county in 1831 with his parents and was licensed for the practice of medi- cine in 1843. He followed his profession until 1850 and then went to Cali- fornia, but returned a year later and was elected the same fall to the state Legislature. When Francis M. Wright became state auditor in 1856 he appointed Doctor Williams as trust-fund clerk and he served in this capa- city for eight years.' In 1864 he became deputy auditor and held this posi- tion until he was elected auditor in 1872. His long connection with the office had made him thoroughly conversant with every detail of its admin- istration and as a result he was re-elected in 1876, serving until 1880. He was in the auditor's office continuously from 1856 to 1880, a period of twenty-four years, and a longer period than any man had served in the office up to that time. After retiring from the office in 1880, he returned to his former home in Mechanicsburg, where he quietly lived until his death, July 9. 1888.

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REV. WILLIAM HALLER.

William Haller, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and a resident of Champaign county from 1812 until his death in 1880, was born in Mason county, Kentucky, August 5, 1801, and arrived in Urbana with his parents on October 12. 1812. In 1814 the family settled on Nettle creek and there the future minister grew to manhood. At the age of nineteen he was ordained as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church; married in 1825 to Sarah Arrowsmith, who died ten years later, leaving three children ; married, in 1837, Jane Arrowsmith, sister of his first wife, two children being born to the second marriage before the death of his wife in 1851; married, in 1855, Myrtilla Bishop and one child was born to this third mar- riage. Reverend Haller was a frequent and valuable contributor to the local papers on a wide variety of subjects. For sixty years he was a local preach- er and served many of the Methodist churches in this and adjoining coun- ties. Shortly after his first marriage he built his cabin in Mad River town- ship and continued to reside in that township until after the death of his second wife. He then located on the hill one mile west of Urbana, but some years before his death he removed to Kingston, where he was living at the time of his death on December 2, 1880. He lies in the Talbott cemetery, beside the remains of his second wife.

JOHN H. YOUNG.

John H. Young was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, September 15, 1813, a son of Gen. Robert Young, of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. He passed his boyhood days in Piqua, Ohio, where his father was a pioneer lawyer and prominent citizen. At the age of fifteen Young began working in a printing office in Piqua and soon afterwards entered Oxford College, Ohio, and was graduated therefrom in 1835.

The year of his graduation found him located in Urbana and reading law with Gen. Israel Hamilton. Admitted to the bar in 1837, he was mar- ried in 1838 to Elizabeth J. White and to this union three children were born: Frances, the wife of Frank Chance; Carrie, wife of M. E. Barber, and Robert, now a resident of Chicago. Being a Democrat, Young was never able to hold a public office in Champaign county, although he was a member of the Ohio constitutional convention of 1873 and served as presi- dential elector several times. He was known as a "War Democrat," and gave his active support to the prosecution of the war. He was a candidate

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for Congress on the Democratic ticket on more than one occasion, and made a strong race against such men as Joseph Vance and Moses B. Corwin. always running ahead of his ticket. For nearly half a century he was one of the leaders of the local bar and was employed on one or the other sides of the most important cases in the county. He was active in the practice until a short time before his death, November 25, 1895.

JOHN S. LEEDOM.

John S. Leedom was one of the first college men to practice law in Urbana, and was in the active practice in Urbana from 1851 until his death. Born in Pennsylvania, August 1, 1826, he came with his parents to Miami county, Ohio, in 1831 and to Champaign county in 1835. He was reared on a farm in Concord township, began teaching school while still in his minority, and completed the literary course given in the Springfield Acad- emy in the forties. He entered the law office of John H. Young in Urbana, in 1849, and a short time later entered the University of Indiana, at Bloom- ington, and was graduated from the law department of that institution on February 26, 1851. He was at once admitted to the bar at Cincinnati and located at Urbana in partnership with his former preceptor.

He was a Democrat, and consequently did not have an opportunity to play an active part in county political affairs. He served as prosecutor from 1854 to 1856 and again from 1858 to 1862, but this was the only official position he ever held in the county. He made the race for Congress in 1868, but could not overcome the heavy Republican majority.

Leedom was for years one of the leaders of the local bar and at his death one of his biographers said "he was apt, terse, forcible in argument, ready and confident in debate, quick to grasp and combine the guiding prin- ciples underlying the mass of legal rubbish of a case. Thoroughly conver- sant of the law, careful and conservative, ready and trenchant in debate and expert in the analysis of human motives and passions, he had peculiar qual- ifications for a successful advocate."

FRANK CHANCE.

Frank Chance was one of the many local lawyers trained under the able tutelage of John H. Young and, at the time of his death in 1901, prob- ably enjoyed a larger income from the practice of his profession than any man in the county. Born near Westville, in this county, May 17, 1842, he

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was educated at Miami University and when eighteen years of age began the study of law under John H. Young, of Urbana, reading law during the winter of 1860-61. He enlisted at the first call of President Lincoln for troops in April, 1861, and served until June 25, 1864. His military service was very extensive; enlisting as a private in the Thirteenth Regiment he later enrolled in the Eighty-sixth Regiment. Still later he was adjutant of the Fourth Regiment and in 1863 became attached to the United States naval service and was with the "Gazelle" on its famous expedition up the Red river in 1863-64.

In the fall of 1864 Mr. Chance married Frances S. Young, the daughter of his preceptor, and at once joined partnership with his father-in-law in the practice. He had been studying law during the progress of the war and had been admitted to the bar on May 4, 1863. He was another of the many able lawyers of Urbana who have been Democrats and therefore unable to enjoy political favors at the hands of their fellow-citizens. He was honored on more than one occasion, however, by being nominated for Congress, but was always defeated. In the latter part of the seventies he became solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and retained this connection until his death in 1901. It might be said that he was followed in this position by Clarence B. Heiserman, another gifted lawyer of Champaign county, who is still serving in that capacity.

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History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 109

Author: Middleton, Evan P., editor Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Middleton, Evan P., editor
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1196