History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 128

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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Dr. Cook is a modest and retiring gentleman, carrying the impress of the refined and dignified scholar. He is greatly beloved by his patients, as well for his faithful- ness, tenderness, and glowing cheerfulness, as for his high professional skill. He is an embodiment of professional courtesy and honor ; and a city or a country, as well as the several medical societies to which he belongs, may be proud of such a gentleman and scholar. For more than thirty years he has been a consistent member of the Methodist church, in which he holds the highest official positions. M. C. W.

SAMUEL EELLS

was born in Westmoreland, Oneida county, New York, on the eighteenth of May, 1810. His father was Rev. James Eells, for many years pastor of the Presbyterian church in that town, and he was third in a family of seven children. The culture and habits of his home were eminently adapted to his peculiarities of mind and heart during the opening years of his life, and he was wont to refer to the influences that affected his childhood as hav- ing determined his whole career. This was more remark- able on account of his natural self-reliance and indepen- dence, and afforded proof in his boyhood of that union of an affectionate disposition with a vigorous intellect which was so pleasing in his mature years. He was admirably qualified to be a leader, in whatever circle he might be, winning by the kindness that always was prominent, ex- citing interest by his wit and genius, and swaying by the acknowledged force of his character and mind; so that, being chief among the young persons of his native vil- lage, he furnished occasion to not a few of the prophets who cast his horoscope, to predict a brilliant career for one who so often delighted and surprised them by his exhibitions of rare gifts.

In August, 1827, he became a member of the fresh- man class in Hamilton college, but in a few months his health failed, and it was doubtful whether he could con- tinue his studies; but after a year's interval, during which time he travelled much by sea and land, he re- sumed his college life, and was able to pursue it till he graduated in 1832. The discipline and education of this year, just at the period when they would have most influence, were probably of more importance as bearing on his future, than the contributions of any other single year of his life. He had tested and learned himself, than which there is no knowledge of more value to one who proposes to attempt an elevated career. He had studied men, and the lessons furnished him so carly opened the way to success on many occasions of difficulty afterwards. He had come in contact with the rough world and en- countered some of its severest tests of the human will and energy, and felt that he could face what might meet him hereafter without trembling, though no aid should

be given him save that of the unseen Helper. The stripling who took his place in college the second time, was very unlike the boy who was there before, and he was soon able to make his mark among the unusual number of brilliant young men who were at that time in the institution. After preparation in the office, and un- der the instruction of Hon. Sampson Mason, of Spring- field, Ohio, Mr. Eells commenced the practice of law in Cincinnati, in February, 1835, poor, unknown, without patron or friends. For several weeks he did not have a case, and his first opportunity to appear at court was as- signed him by the judge in defence of a man without money or friends, who was indicted for larceny. By de- grees, yet very slowly, he attracted the attention of some of the eminent men who at that time occupied the bar in Cincinnati, and in November of that year was invited by Salmon P. Chase to become his partner. This was more than his ambition could have anticipated, far more than he had dared to hope. Mr. Chase had been in suc- cessful practice for several years, and even then had given promise of the distinction he afterward attained; so that the young man to whom he was attracted, realized the necessity now imposed on him to task every power to do justice to his position, and to the duties which were at once thrust upon him. As an advocate he was likely to succeed, as he did, because of his fondness for forensic address, and the gifts which especially qualified him to affect those before whom he might so appear. But, as a counsellor, he needed much thorough study and the more established habit of discriminating thought, and he resolved in this respect to excel. His success may be best learned from the words of some of the dis- tinguished men who knew him well, and are pleased to honor one who was their associate for but a short time.

Chief Justice Chase said of him :

To a most persuasive and prevailing eloquence, he joined the grace of high literary culture and the strength of profound legal knowledge, while in the walks of private companionship he was equally endeared by his tenderness and his manliness. If I were to rely wholly on my own recollection, the account would be brief indeed; but it would be all eulogy-a sun that scarcely rose above the horizon ere it hastened to its setting, but during its course all radiant with the light of mind, and its setting with new and softer glories from the world which needs no sun.

Hon. W. S. Groesbeck wrote of him thus:

Samuel Eells was an extraordinary young man, and if he had lived would to-day have been known and honored throughout the Nation. He had every quality to make himself distinguished. He rose here, at our bar, very rapidly, and had a reputation which has never been sur- passed among us by any one so young. Young as he was, he made to the courts and juries some as able and eloquent arguments as I have ever heard. It was a great pleasure to hear him. He was logical and classical, and at times very grand and eloquent. There was nothing foolish about him, and he was equal to any situation in which he found himself. It is not often we meet such a man. Once known, he can never be forgotten.

Mr. Eells remained in partnership with Mr. Chase for three years, during which time the business of the office increased, and he became so well known that it was evi- dent he would be wise to assume an independent posi- tion. Advised by the firm and excellent friend whose kindness and established reputation had been of so much advantage to him, and also by others who desired his ad- vance, he opened an office of his own in November,

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1837. His business multiplied beyond his strength, and was of a most desirable kind. His acquaintance soon became extended. His reputation passed beyond the limits of the city to which he had so lately come as a perfect stranger, and the path seemed open to the reali- zation of the most glowing visions his ambition had ever pictured.

He was flattered by frequent persuasions from his friends that he would enter political life, and high offices in the State were offered him, but he declined to be turned in the least from the profession he had chosen, with prophetic devotion replying that he did not expect to live more than a few years, and he was resolved to crowd those years with as much success as a lawyer as God would give him strength to attain. He lived less than six years in that profession, if we reckon those fragments when he was absent and when he was disabled, though still attempting to do something in his office. Yet it is be- lieved that few young men in our country have reached more satisfactory rewards, and left more eminent and abiding proofs of success than Samuel Eells.

CHRISTOPHER VON SEGGERN, ESQ.

This gentleman, a well-known attorney and ex-coun- cilman of the Queen City, is of German descent, a native of Delmenhorst, Oldenburg, where he was born March 26, 1827, the first son of Frederick and Catha- rine (Kramer) Von Seggern. October 18, 1829, his father left Bremen with his family for the promised land in the great western world. They landed at Baltimore on Christmas day, and thence journeyed westward, over the mountains to Wheeling, by wagon and on foot, the in- fant Von Seggern, the subject of this sketch, being car- ried a large part of the way on his father's back. From Wheeling they went to Cincinnati, where the father found work at his trade as a journeyman blacksmith at Holyoid's carriage shop, on Sycamore street, where the old National theatre now stands, remaining under an em- ployer until 1832, when he set up in business for himself. He was the first German blacksmith in the city to do so.

At the early age of ten, young Christopher was brought into contact with the sterner realities of life by labor at driving a horse and cart. At twelve he began to learn the trade of his father, but in two years was transferred to the wagon-shop attached to the paternal establishment, where he remained at work six years. At the age of twenty, without any apprenticeship, he took up the trade of coopering, at piece-work for the firm of Gibson & Armstrong, at the old White inills, on Western avenue. About six months later the coopers at their shop were drowned out by back water from Mill creek, and he re- turned to his father, laboring for him until August 15, 1848. This is the date of the happy event of his mar- riage to Miss Louisa Wagner, of Cincinnati. The next day he entered the office of David T. Snelbaker, esq., then justice of the peace,, and afterwards mayor, as his clerk, at the munificent salary of three dollars a week, which his occasional fees as interpreter in the court us-

ually increased to about six dollars. In 1850 he was advanced to the post of deputy sheriff during the term in that office of the late C. J. W. Smith. Two years later he was taken into the county recorder's office, and served here six years, at the same time with Messrs. Oehlmann, Lloyd, Schoonmaker, and Dr. Bean, who assisted him in devising the admirable system of refer- ence to the titles of all the real estate in the county, which is known as the "General Index." It is still used in the office with great satisfaction, and has been exten- sively copied elsewhere. His spare hours during his several clerkships and deputy's career had been employed in the study of the law, and in 1857 he was regularly admitted to the bar, in whose practice he has ever since been very extensively and profitably engaged, especially in commercial and record business.

In 1851 Mr. Von Seggern was elected to the city coun- cil as a member from the Ninth ward of that day, and was again chosen to that body in 1852, 1855, 1858, 1860, 1863, and 1869. In 1861 he was made president of the council. In 1858 he became a member of the board of education, served two years, and was reelected in 1863, serving thence by successive reelections until 1869, in 1866 being chosen vice-president of the board. In 1869 he was once more chosen to the council and served his two-years' term, finally closing his service in that body in the spring of 1871, All these responsible posts Mr. Von Seggern filled with acceptance to his constituents and the community, reflecting honor upon him during twenty years of consecutive public service, and since. As a lawyer in full practice, he invariably bestows much care- ful research and thought upon the preparation of his cases, and always speaks to the point. He is a man of quick perceptions, generous impulses, and fine feelings, ex- tremely jealous, withal, of his honor. These manly qualities have secured him the confidence of the citizens of Cincinnati, and have placed his success as a practi- tioner beyond a peradventure. His firmness of purpose and strength of will to do or to be may be fitly illus- trated by the following incident: When about sixteen years of age he assisted in the organization of the old fire company No. 7, and, although at the time unable to write, having had but three months' schooling in Eng- lish at the First District school on Franklin street, he was elected secretary of the company. Instead of declining on account of this defect, he resolved at once to be equal to the emergency by learning the art of writing in English, simultaneously with the assumption of his offi- cial duties in the company. This was the turning-point in his history, for the mental discipline and culture in- volved in this, his period of self-education, together with the real progress made in knowledge, enabled him to as- sume the duties of a clerkship and ultimately the prac- tice of law.

Mrs. Von Seggern is also still living, and in the enjoy- ment of excellent health. She has proved herself a help- mate indeed in all the walks of life, by cordially cooper- ating with and supporting her husband in his public and private enterprises. They have had twelve children, of whom six are living.

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

CHAPTER L.

PERSONAL NOTES.

ISRAEL LUDLOW .- The following notice of the Ludlow family was received after the personal sketch of Colonel Israel Ludlow, in our chapter on Losantiville had passed through the press. It has been courteously prepared for this work by a gentleman who shares the Ludlow blood -the Rev. Ludlow D. Potter, D. D., president of the Glendale Female college:

General Benjamin Ludlow (an officer in the Revolu- tionary war) resided at Long Hill, bordering the Passaic valley, three miles from New Providence. His residence was on the north side of the Passaic river, the boundary line between Morris and Essex (now Union) counties, and ours on the south side. So he was in Morris county and we in Essex. He was quite a noted character, and his family residence a marked feature in that region --- the abode of more than ordinary refinement and culture in his day. He, his wife, and .all his children, except two, were buried in the graveyard in New Providence. He and his wife imbibed the French infidelity so prev- alent about the close of the Revolutionary war. On his deathbed he renounced his infidelity through the faithful labors of Rev. Dr. W. C. Brownlee, who subse- quently wrote a sketch of him and his religious death- bed discussions, and it was published in a thick tract by the American Tract society, entitled "The General." Subsequently his widow passed through a similar experi- ence, and the pastoral labors resulted in her conversion also. This formed the subject of a second tract, entitled "The General's Widow.". The tracts, I think, were sub- sequently suppressed at the request of the family. Gen- eral Ludlow had a large family, but most of them died with consumption after reaching maturity, or before. His eldest son, Cornelius, graduated at Princeton col- lege in 1816. His youngest son, George, was long sheriff of Morris county, but subsequently became de- ranged, and, I believe, died in an asylum. His eldest daughter married Dr. John Craig, of Plainfield, New Jersey, and outlived all the rest, but died childless. They all renounced infidelity and died in the faith. None left children except Cornelius. Colonel Israel Ludlow, of Cincinnati, was a brother, or half-brother of General Ludlow ; I think a half-brother. The first wife of the late George C. Miller, of Cincinnati, was a daugh- ter of Colonel Israel Ludlow, and Mrs. Whiteman and the late Mrs. Charlotte Jones, of Cumminsville, and their brother and sister, were Colonel Ludlow's grand- children. The old Ludlow mansion in New Jersey, which I visited a few years ago, has passed entirely out of the family. Indeed, the family is nearly extinct. Hon. T. M. McCarter, a distinguished lawyer and judge in New Jersey, a graduate of Princeton in 1842, is a grandson, I believe, of Cornelius Ludlow, mentioned above.

Matthias Denman was still living at his old home, in Springfield, New Jersey, in August, 1853, when he gave his deposition in the suits of the city of Cincinnati against the First Presbyterian church and the county of

Hamilton, for recovery of the square between Main and Walnut, Fourth and Fifth streets. In that deposi- tion he states that he was first here in late December, 1788, and afterward revisited the place four times, for about one month in 1798, a month in 1801, about a fortnight in 1811, and ten days in 1821. He stated that when the Miami purchase was conceived, Judge Symmes was a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and that his arrangement with Symmes for a share in the purchase was made in January, 1788. Colonel Ludlow was his agent on the ground for the transaction of all his legal business here until the transfer of his interest in the site of Cincinnati to Joel Williams.

William Stark, M. D., of Eight street, was born Feb- ruary II, 1836, in Gervitsch, Austria. In 1846 he went to Prussia, and became naturalized, graduating in the Berlin university in 1858; entered the Prussian army just after a course of medicine was completed in this university and in that of Vienna. In 1860 he was made assistant surgeon, and in 1863 surgeon of the regiment ; in 1866 was promoted to assistant general of staff in the army of surgeons. This was also the year he came to Cincinnati and located on Ninth street, between Elm and Plum. He removed again to Ninth, near Walnut, and in 1876 to 51 West Seventh street, where he now is. In 1861 he was married to Caecelia Kaiser. His two sons, Segmar and Oscar Stark, leave shortly for Berlin and Paris to complete their course of medicine in the universities of those places. The doctor is physician of the Jewish hospital.

John M. Scudder, M. D., physician, lecturer, author and editor, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, Septem- ber 8, 1829. At an early age his father died, and he was thrown upon his own resources for sustenance and an education. He was educated at the Miami university, Ohio, and at the Eclectic Medical institute, of Cincin- nati, and was appointed in the latter as one of its professors in the year 1856. In this college he filled the chairs of anatomy, obstetrics, and diseases of women of pathology and practice of medicine. He is au- thor of "A Practical Treatise of Diseases of Women," 1858; "Materia Medica and Therapeutics," 1860; "The Eclectic Practice of Medicine," 1864; "On the Use and Inhalation," 1865; "Domestic Medicine," 1866; "Dis- eases of Children," 1869; "Specific Medication," 1871; "On the Reproductive Organs and the Venereal," 1874; "Specific Diagnosis," 1874; and in addition to this large amount of work has edited and published the Eclectic Medical Journal since 1862. He owns the Eclectic Medical college of Cincinnati, and is its manager, as well as one of its lecturers, and is a member of most of the eclectic societies of the United States. He has accummulated a large fortune in the successful practice of his profession, and in the large sale of his books, which are considered generally as authorities on the sub- jects of which are treated.

Frederick Forchheimer, M. D., was born in Cincinnati. He graduated from Woodward high school in 1870. In medicine he graduated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city. After this he spent several

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years abroad, visiting the universities of Wurzburg, Strasburg, Prague and Vienna. Upon his return to the city he was appointed instructor in normal and path- ological histology in the Medical College of Ohio. He held this position for three years, at the same time filling the chair of medical chemistry and medical physics. After this he was appointed to the chair of physiology, which he still fills. He is, in addition, professor of clini- cal diseases of children and physician to the Good Sa- maritan hospital.

Elkanah Williams, M. A., M. D., ophthalmologist, of Cincinnati, was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, De- cember 19, 1822. At ten years of age he went to Bed- ford academy, and in 1847 graduated in Asbury college, Greencastle, Indiana, after which he pursued a course of medicine in Bedford and Louisville, under leading physicians, and graduated in the Louisville university in 1850. He returned to Indiana and pursued his practice for two years, when, upon his wife dying, he returned to Louisville and attended a third course of lectures. In 1852 he came to Cincinnati, and in the fall of the same year crossed the Atlantic, mastered the French language, and attended a course of lectures in Paris on opthal- mology; then went to London and studied under Bow- man Critchett and Dixon of the London Royal Ophthal- mic society-the uses of the opthalmoscope having been learned under the famous Desmarres, in Paris, it fell to Dr. Williams' lot to introduce it in Cincinnati. In 1854 he went to Vienna and studied under Beer Rosos, Jaeger, and Stellwag-von-Carion. Then he went to Prague ; then to Berlin, where he pursued the study of his adopted specialty several months in each of these places. In 1855 he returned to Cincinnati, and opened an office for the exclusive treatment of the ear and eye. In 1856 he was invited to conduct the eye clinics in the Miami Medical college, and he thus established the chair of ophthalmics in the county. For twelve years he was ophthalmologist of the Cincinnati hospital. During the war he was surgeon of the marine hospital. In 1862 he again visited Europe, and attended the ophthalmological congress in Paris, and in 1866 he made a third trip for a similar purpose. In 1872 he went to London on the same errand. He is a member of the ophthalmological colleges of the old and new world, and a prominent member of many medical societies in America. Dr. Williams has made ophthalmology a specalty during his life, and deservedly has made it a success.

William De Courcy, M. D., of 428 Court street, was born in Campbell county, Kentucky, in the year 1849. His father was a physician of that county, while his grandfather and great-grandfather on his mother's side were pioneer settlers of that State. When the doctor was twenty years of age he graduated in the Ohio Medi- cal college, his father having graduated there also. He received his preparatory education in the Walnut Hills academy, of Campbell county, Kentucky. In 1873 he married Miss Fannie McCarty, of Cincinnati. She graduated in Hughes' high school in 1868, taking the Shield medal at that time. The doctor has been a suc- cessful practicioner in his profession.

Thaddeus A. Reamy, A. M., M. D., professor of ob- stetrics, clinical midwifery, and diseases of children, in the Medical College of Ohio, was born in Frederick county, Virginia. At the age of three years he moved with his parents to a farm in the vicinity of Zanesville, Ohio, where his mother, aged eighty, still resides in the same house into which they first moved, and where his father, Jacob A. Reamy, died in 1871, aged eighty. Dr. Reamy received his degree of A. M. from the Ohio Wesleyan university, of M. D. from Starling Medical college. From 1857 to 1860 he was professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery. On its organization he was commissioned as surgeon of the One Hundred and Twenty-second regi- ment Ohio volunteer infantry, remaining in active service but a few months, when he resigned to take his seat in the general assembly of Ohio, being elected to that body from Muskingum county. In 1865 he was elected pro- fessor of puerperal diseases of women, and diseases of children, in Starling Medical college, which position he held until after his return from Europe in the spring of 1870. In March, 1871, he removed from Zanesville, Ohio, to Cincinnati, and was soon after elected professor of obstetrics and clinical midwifery, and diseases of children, in the Medical College of Ohio, which position he still holds. In 1872 he was appointed gynecologist to the Good Samaritan hospital, which position he still holds. He is a member of the American Medical asso- ciation, the American Gynecological society, of which he is first vice-president; the Ohio State Medical society, of which he is ex-president; the Cincinnati Obstetrical society, of which he is ex-president; the Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, of which he is now president. He is corresponding member of the Boston Gynecolog- ical society, and of many other medical associations. Although not strictly a specialist, Dr. Reamy's reputation is most widely known as an obstretician and gynecologist. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Was married in September, 1853, to Miss Sarah A. Chappelear. Their only child, who was the wife of Dr. G. S. Mitchell, Dr. Reamy's associate in business, is now dead.

S. C. Ayers, M. D., 64 West Seventh street, is a native of Troy, Miami county, Ohio. His parents moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, soon after his birth, and that city was his home until he became a permanent resident of Cincinnati ten years ago. He received a high school education at home, and afterwards went to Miami uni- versity, Oxford, where he graduated in the class of 1861. He was among the first to volunteer in the first three months' service, and served his time out in West Vir- ginia, in company B, Twentieth Ohio volunteer infantry, Captain O. J. Dodd commanding. He attended lectures at the Medical College of Ohio in the winter of 1862-3, and in the following spring was appointed medical cadet. He served in this position one year, in the meantime attending lectures in the winter of 1863-4, and gradua- ted in March, 1864. He immediately went to the Cum- berland hospital, Nashville, Tennessee, where he served a year as acting assistant surgeon United States army,

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 128

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