History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 124

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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in Cincinnati. He had been a soldier, serving faithfully in the War of 1812.

George W. Skaats was one of a very large family of children, numbering twelve or thirteen, among whom he was the sixth child, born October 10, 1816, in New York city, where his father was then living and engaged in the grocery trade. At the age of seven months he was taken with the family to Dearborn county, Indiana, and seven years thereafter to Cincinnati. Here he received his education in the city schools, and at the early age of nineteen started into business for himself, as a grocery- man, at the corner of Carr and Front streets, purchasing the stock and good-will of an Englishman named Wil- liams. By this time young Skaats had saved the hand- some sum of nine hundred dollars, which he had made in ferrying persons across the Ohio in his skiff, outside of school hours, having been thus quite independent of his father for clothing and personal expenses since the time he was twelve years old. After about three years in the grocery business, it was found too confining for one of his active habits, and he was advised by a physi- cian to go into a more open-air employment, if he would save himself from consumption. He then went into brick-making, which was at that day a very extensive and profitable business at the West End, it being the transi- tion period for Cincinnati from a wooden to a brick city. He had several brickyards, two of them in Barr's woods, which then covered most of that part of the place be- tween Sixth and Eighth streets. He made a large share of the brick for the present court house, and all of that for the German Catholic church at the corner of Twelfth and Walnut, and the old Universalist church on Walnut street, between Third and Fourth streets, besides large quantities for private purposes. He remained in this business for about ten years, reaping rich rewards from it. During the high water of 1847, which invaded his dwelling on Carr street, near the river, he changed his vocation to that of a coal dealer, having his yard at the point where Fifth street crossed the Whitewater canal, locating afterwards in a large yard at the corner of Sixth and Freeman streets, where he dealt in coal for a number of years. Meanwhile, however, in 1851, he, in company with Messrs. George Coon and Fuller, built a distillery on the plank road, now Gest street, which became known from its location as the Plank Road dis- tillery. He assisted in conducting this until the summer of 1856, when he sold out and invested very heavily in coal, much of which he bought at five and six cents a bushel, and sold it the next winter, in a time of scarcity, at fifty to sixty cents. From his succes in dealing in "black diamonds," he was known for a time as the "diamond king." He then bought the Hazard farm in Delhi township, on the hill back of the present site of South- side. It is now occupied by the Protectory for boys, owned and managed by the Catholic order of the Broth- erhood of St. Francis. Mr. Skaats lived for more than eight years on this farm, continuing a coal business in the city with his brother-in-law, Mr. Charles E. Argevine, under the firm name of Skaats & Argevine. He then returned to Cincinnati, making his home on Fourth

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street, above Park, and then at a new residence built by him at No. 96 Dayton street, where he died August 1, 1877, nearly sixty-one years of age.

The father of Mr. Skaats was one of the most ardent Abolitionists of his day, a thorough sympathizer and co- worker with Ezra Coffin, Mr. Harwood, and other lead- ing anti-slavery men of the more pronounced type. The son was not in full sympathy with them, but was an old-line Whig, and became an active Republican upon the formation of that party, remaining with it till his death. He was elected a member of the city council in 1847, when but thirty-one years old, and served by suc- cessive reelections until his removal to the country, and again for about ten years after his return, his later service being in the board of aldermen, or upper house of the city government. It is not remembered that he was ever defeated as a candidate for the council. He also served for two terms in the Ohio house of representatives- being elected the first time in 1865, when a resident of Delhi township, and again just ten years afterwards, being a member of the assembly at the time of his death. He was considered a very consistent and useful member, though not much of an orator; and his judg- ment was greatly relied upon in committees and in the sessions of the house. He was connected with the or- ders of Odd Fellows and Free Masons, in the latter of which he had advanced to the Scottish Rite, by the cere- monies of which the final services at his grave were per- formed. He was also a member of the Universalist church from 1834 during the rest of his life, worshipping with the society on Plum street.

Mr. Skaats was married in Cincinnati April 8, 1845, to Miss Zenecia L. Ludlum, first daughter of Likum and Fanny (Madison) Ludlum. She survived Mr. Skaats, and resides in the handsome suburban dwelling at Mount Washington, formerly owned by Captain Benneville Kline, passing her winters occasionally at the residence No. 572 West Eighth street, upon her extensive property in that quarter. They had seven children-four daugh- ters and three sons, viz:

John Newton, who died of scarlet fever, in Cincinnati, at the age of eight years.

Clara Ellen, who also died of scarlet fever, nearly six years old.

Margaret Emma, who died of the same scourge (the three children departing within twenty days of each other), about three years old.

George William, residing with his mother.

Fannie L., also at home.

Luella May, married Mr. Charles F. Loudon, of Cin- cinnati, August 20, 1879, residing at No. 572 West Eighth street.

James Madison, residing with his mother.

DRAUSIN WULSIN, EsQ.

This gentleman, one of the most prominent attorneys and Republicans of the city of Cincinnati, is of French descent. His maternal grandfather, however, was of

English blood. The family was from the south of France, and was first represented in America by his great- grandfather, who was born in Genoa, Italy, and came to this country some time in the last century. His son, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this notice, was born in New Orleans in 1780, and the paternal grandmother also there in 1788, when Louisiana was still under the dominion of the Spaniards. Mr. Wulsin's maternal grandfather was a native of Mississippi, born in 1750; but the grandmother also of New Orleans, in 1786. The elder Wulsin died in that city, leaving a somewhat numerous family, among whom was Drausin, the third son, father of the subject of this memoir, who was born in New Orleans August 6, 1814. He grew to manhood there, but was the first of the family to remove his residence from that city. He was previously united in marriage, however, on the twentieth of January, 1836, to Miss Josephine Young, born August 11, 1818, daughter of an English father and French mother, whose maiden name was De Tassy. They remained in the Crescent City about fifteen years longer, and then pushed northward, landing with their young family in Cincinnati in 1851. His means enabled him to live here for some years without engaging in active business; but he subse- quently invested a part of his property in the piano trade, and then engaged in pork-packing, ending his days, how- ever, in comparative retirement, with some attention to the management of a farm which he had purchased in Kentucky, and upon which he had resided. He had meanwhile lived with his family for a few months in each of the States of Iowa and Indiana. His life was closed in peace upon his country seat, in August, 1863. The mother is still living with her children, most of whom are unmarried, and still form one family. The surviving children number three brothers and as many sisters- Aline, Drausin, Lucien, Laura, Clarence and Lillie. Another brother, Eugene, was a member of the Fourth Ohio volunteer cavalry, and died a prisoner, one of the victims of the horrible pen at Andersonville. Two of the brothers who survive also served in the war of the Rebellion-Drausin in the One Hundred and Thirty- seventh Ohio infantry, and Lucien in the same regiment with Eugene. All the family who are alive remain in Cincinnati.

Drausin Wulsin was born in the French quarter of New Orleans, June 10, 1842. When the family re- moved to Cincinnati, nine years afterward, neither he nor any of the children, nor either of the parents, al- though one of them had an English father, was able to speak the English tongue. This made the education of the children, for the sake of which the father had been prompted to seek better opportunities in a northern city, somewhat difficult; but they soon overcame the obstacle, and received all the advantages the public schools of the city were then able to offer. Young Drausin went through the entire course of popular education, as then organized here, but stopped a little short of graduation at the Hughes high school, of which he was a member, in consequence of the removal of the family to Iowa. The elder Wulsin was an accomplished musician, par-

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ticularly in the use of the piano, clarionet and guitar ; and he took pains to see that each of his children, boys and girls alike, was well instructed as a pianist, and they continue to this day to exercise their gifts in this partic- ular. Mr. Lucien Wulsin was for some years president of the Cincinnati musical society, and is a member of the firm of Messrs. D. H. Baldwin & Co., of Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville, among the most extensive dealers in pianos and organs in the northwest. Clarence, another of the brothers, is a clerk in the same house. Drausin Wulsin shares the talent of the family in this respect. After the return from Iowa he studied book- keeping and became book-keeper for his father, and then for Messrs. Potter & Wilson, dealers in machinery, on East Second street, above Broadway. He began the study of the law in April, 1861, in the office of French & Cunningham, the former of whom was a highly educated man, and had been a Baptist minister. The same year Mr. Wulsin entered the Cincinnati law school, in which he took nearly the full course, but was again disappointed of graduation by the removal of the family to Kentucky. He returned the next year to Cincinnati, and was ad- mitted to the Hamilton county bar. He began practice in October, 1862, opening an office at No. 97 1-2 West End street, in the office of Mills & Goshorn. In about two years the office was abandoned, and Mr. Wulsin took the field as a soldier in the One Hundred and Thirty- seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, one of the hundred- day regiments called out in the summer of 1864. He served with his command at Fort McHenry, near Balti- more, and returned to practice at the expiration of his term. His office was again with Mills & Goshorn, and upon the dissolution of that firm he formed a part- nership with the junior member, Major A. T. Gos- horn, who has since been renowned as the director- general of the Centennial exhibition. At the expiration of a year, Mr. Goshorn withdrew from the profession and became a manufacturer, and Mr. Wulsin took as a part- ner Henry P. Belknap, jr., who is now an orange-planter in Florida. In 1870, Mr. Lewis E. Mills, the former partner of Major Goshorn, returned from a European tour, and the next year, the firm of Wulsin & Belknap having been dissolved, Messrs. Wulsin & Mills joined their professional fortunes in a new partnership. Mr. Mills afterwards returned to Europe, where he died, and Mr. Wulsin, in February, 1875, took as a partner James H. Perkins, jr., son of the well-known literary character of the same name, who is prominently mentioned in our chapter on literature in Cincinnati. The next year Mr. Perkins was made assistant city solicitor, which neces- sarily broke up the firm of Wulsin & Perkins. Mr. Wul- sin's next and his present partner is William Worthington, esq., son of the renowned Cincinnati lawyer of the last generation, the Hon. Vachel Worthington, and worthy inheritor of his talent and integrity. The partnership has endured continuously since 1877, and has proved thoroughly congenial and efficient, winning a large prac- tice and high position at the Cincinnati bar.

Mr. Wulsin has found time for some official positions and duties. In 1869 he was elected to the city council

from the old Sixteenth ward, and served two years. Six years thereafter he was chosen from the same ward to the board of education, in which body he served four years, during a part of which time he represented it upon the Union board of high schools. A Republican from the beginning of his political life (his father and grandfather, although Southerners and Southern-born, were both practical Abolitionists, and the latter, at his death, liber- ated every slave he owned) Mr. Wulsin has naturally been active in the advocacy of Republicanism. He was one of the original members and founders of the Lincoln club, and has assisted not a little in the growth of its membership and influence. In February, 1880, he was elected to the handsome position of president of the club, and his administration of its affairs was triumphantly en- dorsed by a reelection in the spring of 1881. He has no ambition for any higher office than this, nor for mem- bership in any other social organization.

Mr. Wulsin was married December 21, 1875, in Cin- cinnati, to Miss Julia, eldest surviving daughter of Col. Enoch T. Carson. They have no children, but maintain their own establishment in a pleasant residence on Eighth street, between Race and Elm.

JAMES S. WHITE,

of Madisonville, one of the leading lawyers of Cincin- nati, was born in the town of Cumminsville on the fifth of May, 1816. He comes of the very earliest pioneer settlers of Hamilton county. His genealogical history dates back to the days of Edward White, of Somerset county, New Jersey, who figured in colonial and Revo- lutionary times, and was the father of four sons and one daughter-Captain Jacob White, and his brothers Amos, Ithamer and Edward, and Elizabeth White. At an early period the family removed to Washington county, Penn- sylvania, where these sons grew to manhood before the Declaration of Independence was adopted and published, and there encountered the harassing life of frontiersmen, as well as participation in the sanguinary conflicts for American Independence.

About the year 1788 Captain White came to Hamilton county, and was one of the small party that commenced the village of Columbia, being the earliest settlement in the Miami valley, made within the limits of Judge Symmes' purchase. He, after a preliminary examination of the surrounding country, returned to Pennsylvania, and brought a brother and sister on his return to Colum- bia. Being a bold, fearless adventurer, he left the settle- ment and on July 23, 1792, selected what is now section one in Springfield township (the location of which is where the Hamilton County Agricultural fair-ground is situated, now a short distance east of Carthage, and on his land), seven or eight miles in the wilderness, and built a block- house, locating it at what was then the third crossing of Mill creek, to which he removed his family and began an improvement. This place was known as White's station and was one of the centres of the Miami settlements. It consisted of the families of David Flinn, Andrew Goble,

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Andrew and Moses Pryor, and Lewis Winans, who fol- lowed the adventurer and built cabins on either side of the creek and contiguous to the block-house, part of which was enclosed with it by a rough log fence. This was soon after the commencement of the Indian war, during which time these pale faces were made the object of an attack by a strong party of Indians, who were re- pulsed and compelled to retreat. Captain White was a good, practical lawyer by study, experience and practice, in his own and others' cases, being, by reason of the new- ness of the country, under the necessity to undertake the causes by their solicitation, and also plead most of his own cases in court. He owned the centre wharf by a good and clear paper title-all the land north of the Ohio river from low water mark to Front street, and from the west side of Broadway to east side of Main street ; but by being kind and indulgent allowed the city to obtain a title by prescription. He brought suit for the recovery thereof finally, but it was decided by a majority of one of the court against him. The decision is reported in 4 Peters' United States Reports. Captain White died in Gallatin county, Kentucky, on the twentieth of July, 1849, in the ninety-third year of his age.

Amos White, his brother, and grandfather of J. S. White, moved to a farm between Glendale and Sharon- ville, where he raised a large family of eleven children : Edward, jr., John, Amos, jr., Joseph, Benjamin-father of J. S .- Jacob, Levi, Reuben, Sarah, Mary, and Jane. Most of these children lived to a ripe old age, Jane and Amos being about ninety years old at their death. Jacob, being the only surviving member of the family, now lives in the State of Illinois. Levi, a sketch of whose life is given elsewhere, was a minister of the Gospel in the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Amos White, the father, was an active man in the church himself, and his house being a stopping-place for the pioneer ministers who frequently made his place the end of their day's journey, it was not unusual to have a general in-gathering of the people for religious service when a preacher was known to come that way. He afterwards built "Salem," a brick church on his farm. His good wife, Miss Mary Wells, was formerly of Baltimore. Her parents were of the society of Friends or Quakers. She exhibited the simple neatness of the Quaker domestic life and manners. Amos White was the neatest and best agriculturist of the Miami valley. Of these children all lived to a good old age except Benjamin, who died at the age of twenty- four, when J. S., his only child, was but four or five months old. He had previously entered into the War of 1812 as a substitute for his brother Joseph. The com- pany was raised at Cincinnati and was of Hull's army; but while in the service he endured a severe spell of ty- phoid fever, front which fell disease he never fully recov. ered. He was in the army about six months.

In 1814 he was married to Miss Mary Smith, of Lau- rel Hills, Virginia, then living in Hamilton county, on Mill creek, with whom he lived only about eighteen months before his death. She was cousin of United States Senator Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, her mother being one of the Stevens family. She was born

March 25, 1793. She came with her parents from the State of Pennsylvania to Hamilton county, Ohio, when a child. Her husband's early death left her in loneli- ness and sorrow. She was afterwards married to Joseph Ludlow, a prominent man in the Methodist Episcopal church; but in 1862 he died, and she was again left be- reaved. In 1816 she was converted at a camp-meeting held by Rev. Russell Bigelow, and continued for fifty- one years a faithful Christian, when she died in the sev- enty-fourth year of her age. She taught her son, J. S., the alphabet by directing his attention to the initial let- ters of chapters in the Bible.

Mr. White, the subject of this sketch, began his active life without assistance from others, although he was slender and not strong. His stepfather, who was a builder, chose for him that occupation, a trade too irk- some and heavy for one of his physical abilities. He learned the trade and in his early years worked at it quite vigorously. Several structures of Madisonville still stand to attest the good work of his early manhood, while he was in his minority.

This labor was too severe for his strength, and being of studious habits and endowed with quick perceptions, he was earnestly advised by Dr. John Jewett, for whom he was then doing a job at his trade, to change his oc- cupation for that of a physician ; and, after consideration, he availed himself of the opportunity, and read medicine for about one year with his friend, Dr. John Jewett, until his studies were interrupted by the death of his precep- tor. He was then advised by Dr. Alexander Duncan to study law, but, feeling the need of a thorough literary education, he determined to enter college. For this pur- pose he had to resort again to his trade to earn a suf- ficient sum for his college expenses. His career through college illustrates the character of the man. Without advantages of previous preparation, he necessarily entered college unequally equipped for the race. Besides, he found it necessary to labor for his support during vaca- tions. But his native determination and tenacity of pur- pose carried him to the wished-for goal.

He completed his classical course at Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, in 1841. Among his classmates and col- lege friends were Charles L. Talford, George E. Pugh, United States ex-senator ; Henry Snow; John S. Williams, United States Senator for Kentucky; Rev. John G. Fee, the noted Abolitionist, also of Kentucky; Judge Joseph Cox, Judge Jacob Burnett, Judge Alexander Paddock S. F. Covington, A. Brower, and others of the Cincinnati bar; General Durbin Ward, Colonel John Groesbeck, and E. Denison. He began the study of the law, but was compelled to labor at his trade to help him through. He studied law with Judge Joseph Cox and Henry Snow, of Cincinnati, who have been his life-long kind friends, and who, after some preliminary study, encouraged his early efforts by occasionally putting business in his hands, and in 1846 he was examined for admission to the bar by a committee consisting of Judge Alphonso Taft, Judge Charles Fox, A. N. Riddle, Henry Starr, and Wil- liam Corry. He passed a creditable examination, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession,

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and has since become one of the most useful and valu- able members of the Cincinnati bar. He is a very mod- est man, and is ever prone to rate himself lower than his brethren. But if perfect truth, courage and fidelity, joined with intelligence and industry, make a first-class law- yer, then is Mr. White such. His word is as good as his bond, and his courtesy is equal to his courage.

Mr. White was not ambitious for office or place ; he never permitted himself to become a candidate therefor, although often solicited by his friends. Some of his clients have had many opportunities of weighing him in the balances, and he has never been found wanting, or as guarantor to his friends. His special forte is the settling of large estates, and his performance of this duty has won him an enviable reputation. His success is in great measure due, not merely to the courage and courtesy of which we have spoken, and to his well known integrity and intelligence, but to his careful foresight and pains- taking preparation, which has no doubt cost him many fees he might have earned by undertaking cases in haste, but has earned him the well-deserved confidence of all who know him, so that with Mr. White once employed is twice employed. He is not a lawyer from whom as well as to whom clients run, but when a client has once learned his value he is sure to return to Mr. White at the first emergency. Thus he has secured a host of friends whose confidence is worth much to him in his profession.

Mr. White was married in 1846 to Sarah A. Stewart, daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Stewart, early pio- neers of the county. He is the father of six living chil- dren-two sons and four daughters. His son, Benjamin S. White, the oldest child, is a lawyer, with some inclina- tions to political preferments. The younger son, J. S. jr., is strictly business in his manner and habits.

Mr. White has always taken an interest in horticulture and fruit growing. He is the owner of several tracts of land, some of which are planted with almost every fruit and flower that grows in this climate. His residence is beautifully situated on a plat of several acres of land in Madisonville, that in the blooming season of the year produces a luxuriance of flowers of unsurpassing beauty. He has been an active member of the Cincinnati Horti- cultural society and American Wine-grower's association for many years, and on account of the interest he has taken in this subject has won for himself the name of the granger lawyer.

Mr. White is a man of less than medium height and weight, of light complexion, has a well cut mouth, a deep, clear eye, and marked features generally; is quick to discern, fluent of speech, and possesses a lawyer's readiness with the tongue. He is amiable, peaceable, and benevolent ; assists others in need and distress, and has endorsed for his friends often to his loss. He is hospitable and generous, and no one has ever experienced his society without pleasure.

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 124

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666