History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 118

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

ing sense of the importance of the message he bore as an ambassador of Christ and a "legate of the skies." His ordinary discourses were full of thought as well as of feeling. Those who heard the course of sermons on the "Epistle to the Hebrews," and on the "Life of Christ," (since published) need not be told that a more remark- able series of discourses has seldom been heard from an American pulpit. There were public occasions also when he discussed great topics with a fullness and a power that left nothing more to be said, and with results of conviction in the minds of his auditors that nothing could shake, nothing even disturb. There are several discourses of Dr. Fisher that would alone make a distinguished reputation for any man, and are to be ranked among the highest efforts of the pulpit of his day. But not in the pulpit only did he shine. So unusually is marked excellence as a preacher combined with an equal excellence as a pastor that it would not have been strange if Dr. Fisher had proved comparatively inefficient in pastoral work.

Nevertheless he did prove to be an exceptionally good pastor. He gave living demonstration that one man may be both great preacher and good pastor. In all the families that made up his congregation, his name was a household word. Carrying everywhere an atmos- phere of cheerfulness and sunshine, no one ever met him in social life without feel- ing the charm of his manners and conversation. Slow to condemn and quick to sympathize, shrinking instinctively from wounding the feelings of any, and prompt in all offices of kindness and love, he won the hearts of his people to a most singular degree. Never was any pastor more universally beloved. The minister mnost covet- ous of the love of his people might well be satisfied with the measure of affection accorded to Dr. Fisher. A prince he was, not by virtue of any patent of nobility bestowed by an earthly monarchi, but by the direct gift of Heaven, with the royal signet of the giver legibly impressed thereon; a prince in intellect, a prince in large and liberal culture, but over and above all, a prince in active sympathies, warm affec- tions, and a great human heart going out impulsively toward all that pertained to man, however lowly, or sin-stained, or despised, and devoting his best powers and faculties to the good of the world and the glory of God. It was in the practical and persistent consecration of the gifts and graces with which he was endowed to these large and beneficent ends, that he earned the title, secured the honors, and obtained the rewards of a prince and a great man in Israel. Such, most iniperfectly, and in the merest outline sketched, was Dr. Samuel Ware Fisher, up to the day and hour when, at the flood-tide of his influence, and apparently in the meridian fullness of his intellectual and moral powers, he was, by the mysterious stroke of an unseen hand, suddenly struck down, leaving him with the bounding pulse of life faintly fluttering, the bright eye dimmed, the eloquent tongue mute or incoherent. His half-executed plans, his high expectations, his large purposes arrested, nothing re- mained for him but with child-like trust and sweet patience to await the final sum- mons, which, January 18, 1874, at Cincinnati, came in kindness to call him home. The temporary torpor of his faculties was at once dispelled, the clouds and the shadows that gathered about his setting sun have all been dissipated, the darkness has passed and light perennial and eternal beams on him; for, in his own beautiful words, "Another Teacher, infinitely wise and good, is now leading him up to the heights of knowledge, and in a moment he has learned more than men on earth can ever know."*

ELIAS RIGGS MONFORT, A. M., LL. D., one of the editors of the Herald and Pres- byter, a paper whose influence through the great Presbyterian body, which it rep- resents, is second to none, was born March 2, 1842, at Greensburg, Indiana. Through his father, Rev. J. G. Monfort, D. D., LL. D., he is a descendant of that Huguenot stock which fled from France to Holland and England, sacrificing home

* Dr. S. W. Fisher, the subject of the foregoing sketch, was directly descended from an officer of the Conti- nental army of the American Revolution. Jonathan Fisher (his grandfather), of the Massachusetts militia. was chosen by field officers as second lieutenant in Fifth Company, Northampton, Second Hampshire County Regi- ment, Massachusetts, March 22, 1776.

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and country for their religious convictions, and which has enriched so largely the life and thought of the nations among which it has made its home. Through the same line comes also a strong infusion of the sturdy liberty-loving Scotch-Irish blood. His mother, Hannah Riggs, was a daughter of Rev. Elias Riggs, one of the pioneer ministers of New Jersey. She is a sister of the venerable, Christian mis- sionary, Rev. Elias Riggs, D. D., LL. D., who for sixty years has been a missionary of the American board, in Turkey. Through the maternal line, Welsh, English and Scotch elements have furnished their vigorous vitality to his blood. To quote the language of another [Biog. and Hist. Cyclopedia of Ohio]: "He represents, in per- son and character, the happy commingling of the blood of an honest and Godfear- ing ancestry, and inherits from them the physical stature, mental energy, and stal- wart qualities, that make the noblest and most progressive type of American man- hood."

His father removed to Cincinnati in 1855, and in 1856 became the president of the Glendale Female College, located in one of the important educational centers of southern Ohio. Young Monfort, at the age of fourteen, became a resident of Ohio. After prosecuting his studies in the best schools of Cincinnati and Glendale, he in 1859 entered Hanover College as a sophomore; but then his studies were inter- rupted by the out-break of the Civil war. He was among the first to forsake the quiet of college life for the battle's front, enlisting June 18, 1861, as a private in Company A, Sixth O. V. I. On October 8, following, he was promoted to second lieutenant, and assigned to the Seventy-fifth O. V. I .; May 15, 1862, he was made first lieutenant, and January 12, 1863, was commissioned as captain. He was with the regiment continuously from the organization until disabled at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863, having participated in over twenty battles. He was severely wounded in the hip, which it was feared would prove fatal, but after a long siege he recovered. to find his career as a soldier terminated, and himself the possessor of a weakened limb and honorable scars. Capt. Monfort's fidelity to duty and courage in time of danger were recognized by all who served with him. His brave and collected de- meanor in battle were marked as the fire grew hotter, and the danger increased. Maj. G. B. Fox wrote of him: "After Gettysburg, Capt. Monfort's bearing was ad- mirable, the hotter the fire, the braver and cooler the man. Conscious of the dan- ger that surrounded him, his sense of duty was so strong that every service was per- formed regardless of personal peril." Col. Ben. Morgan, of the same regiment, reported as follows: "As an officer and a soldier, he was all that I could wish, being intelligent, faithful and brave-one that I could place at all times implicit confidence in carrying out and obeying orders. On the battle-field, amidst carnage and death, he was ever active and zealous in the discharge of his duties, fully real- izing the glorious cause in which he was enlisted, and which called forth man's noblest ambitions and energies." His prompt and efficient discharge of every duty, however dangerous or unpleasant, his personal interest in, and solicitude for, the well-being of his comrades amid the dangers and discouragements of military life, not only won the confidence and esteem of his associates, but were officially con- mented upon and commended by his superior officers. Of his soldierly qualities, the gallant Col. Rielly, who fell at Chancellorsville, writing from Stafford Court House, Va., January 13, 1863, said: "He is one of the very few officers of the regiment who can be said always to have been at their post. I regard the company to which he is attached as one of the best drilled and disciplined companies of the regiment. No company. I believe, has been better held together throughout our hard marches, hard fighting, and harder fare, than Company F."

After his return home, our subject returned to Hanover College, and gradu- ated in 1865. Having chosen the law as his profession, he entered the Cincinnati Law School, gradnating in 1867, and was admitted the same year to practice in the courts of Ohio. He determined, however, to enter upon the practical duties of his

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profession in his native place, Greensburg, Indiana. . Here he received successive marks of the confidence of his fellow-citizens, by being elected, when a practitoner of but two years' standing, district attorney for the Twenty-second District of Indiana, which office he held until 1872; in the same year he was elected prosecuting attor- ney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Indiana. In 1874 he was admitted to prac- tice in the supreme court of that State.

His wound interfering with his practice of the law, at the desire of his father he became an associate editor of the Herald and Presbyter, and has contributed largely to the editorial and business efficiency which has characterized its administrations. For many years he has been an active and influential elder in the Presbyterian Church, on Walnut Hills, and has occupied many positions of trust and honor in the gift of the Church at large. In 1869, Hanover College conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts, and, in 1885, Highiland University conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. For many years he has been a trustee of Hanover Col- lege, and of Lane Theological Seminary, of which latter institution he was treasurer for eight years. Twice he has been a member of the General Assembly of the Pres- byterian Church, and in 1888, by the appointment of that body, was one of its rep- resentatives at the meeting of the alliance of the Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the Presbyterian system, held in London, England. He has also served upon many of its important committees, notably upon that of Christian Unity, which had for its object the attainment of a closer union among all branches of the Evangelical Churches of this country. He is also a member of the assemblies com- mittee on German theological seminaries, and a member of the committee of confer- ence with the Southern Presbyterian Church on the question of the freedmen. He was appointed by the Assembly in session at Omaha, with Dr. Marquis, of Chicago, to carry the greetings of the Assembly to the Convention of the Protestant Episco- pal Church then in session.

Capt. Monfort is a public-spirited citizen, active in promoting good government, interested in important public improvements, ready to aid in pressing schemes for the relief of the weak and helpless, and zealous for the maintenance of law and order. He is a member of the Cincinnati board of education, and was instrumental in securing the Walnut Hills high school, which, when completed, will be the finest and best equipped public-school building in southern Ohio. Although so largely devoted to religious and quasi-religious work, he has not lost his military spirit or ceased to be in touch with the great organizations which are aiming to maintain unimpaired the martial and patriotic tone of our people. He is a member of the G. A. R., and of the Loyal Legion. His ancestral line, and collateral branches, contain many faithful and distinguished ministers, also many soldiers of the Revo- lutionary war. His grandfather, Rev. Francis Monfort, had (no less than) two brothers, four sons, and, one son-in-law who were ministers. Three at least of his ancestors served in the war of Independence. Lawrence Monfort, his great-grand- father, with two brothers, served in Capt. Hugh Campbell's company from York county, in the Pennsylvania Line; Joseph Glass, in the Virginia Light Horse Troop, and Francis Cassatt, in Col. Fisher's New York Troop. The latter was also a mem- ber of the first Constitutional Convention of Pennyslvania, member of the War Com- mittee for York county, Penn., and was appointed to move the Pennsylvania militia into New Jersey, during Washington's winter campaign. Capt. Monfort married Miss Emma Taylor, daughter of Eli Taylor, a prominent business man, and sister of Capt. J. G. Taylor, of Cincinnati, who served with distinction during the war on the staff of Gen. Gordon Granger. They have three children, Joseph Taylor, Hannah Louise, and Marguerite Morehead. [Prepared by Rev. Wm. McKibbin, D. D.

REV. FRANCIS CASSATT MONFORT, D. D., the second son of Rev. J. G. Monfort, D.D., LL.D., and Hannah (Riggs) Monfort, was born at Greensburg, Ind., Septem- ber 1, 1844. He descended from two lines of ministers. Both his grandfathers,

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his father, and all the brothers of his father and mother were ministers of the Pres- byterian Church. His college studies were pursued at Hanover and Wabash, grad- uating at the latter in 1864. He spent one year at McCormick Theological Semin- ary, Chicago, two years at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, and three years abroad at the Universities of Edinburgh and Berlin. One of his mother's brothers is Rev. Elias Riggs, D.D., LL. D., of Constantinople, Turkey, who has been for more than sixty years a missionary of the American Board in Turkey, and is widely known as an Oriental scholar and translator.

Dr. Monfort was licensed as a minister in 1867, and ordained as pastor of the Orchard Street (now Fourth) Presbyterian Church in 1870. This pastorate con- tinued three years when it was dissolved to enable him to accept a position as editor of the Herald and Presbyter, which place he has filled with marked ability and acceptance for nearly a quarter of a century. In 1879 he was invited to occupy the pulpit of the First Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, temporarily vacant, thus adding the responsible duties of pastor to that of editor. He was pursuaded to continue this service, and in 1881 accepted a call as pastor, holding the position until 1888. His ministry in this historic church was eminently successful, taking charge at a critical time, and having to contend with difficulties peculiar to churches in busi- ness centers of large cities. His success was phenomenal, in view of the constant and heavy losses by migration of the members to the suburbs, notwithstanding which the membership was doubled. His popularity was not confined to the congregation, for his standing and influence among his ministerial brethren and the community was very marked. Promptness and faithful attention to every detail of duty was one of his characteristics. This was manifest in the uniform care shown in his ser-

mons. His pulpit style was no doubt modified by his experience as an editor. His style shows him to be a master of clear, concise English, and his aim has always been to be understood rather than to be profound. In 1884 he published a volume of sermons which has since been translated into nine languages. The characteristics of his pulpit ministrations are well illustrated in this volume, his habit being to write with great exactness, and then deliver usually without manuscript, following very closely the line of thought in the manuscript. The "Presbyterian Journal," when reviewing this book, said: "These sermons are possessed of a peculiar excel- lence in this regard, viz. : that simplicity that conveys the greatest truths to us in a framework of phraseology that seems first to be commonplace in this style of expres- sion, but on examination shows itself to be beyond the reach of just criticism because of the vigor embodied in its simplicity."

Dr. Monfort has been a voluminous writer for the press, entering into all the questions of the day as an original thinker. He is a man of clear views and strong convictions of duty, with the courage of his convictions. He is a strong Calvinist in theology, and a conservative in Church polity, holding firmly to the belief that the Church is divinely appointed as the instrument by which the Lord's work is to be done. In temperament he is calm, and never governed by temporary emotion or excitement. In his church work the growth of members was continuous and even. His personality and influence have been widely extended beyond the lines of work as an editor and preacher. He has been prominent in the work of city evangelization, and his counsel is sought by all who know him as wise and timely, and he has always been recognized in ecclesiastical, as well as business and social circles, as a man of integrity and sound judgment.

REV. HUGH W. GILCHRIST, who at the inception of this work was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, was born in Shelbyville, Shelby Co., Ohio, December 7, 1858, and is a son of Rev. John and Sophia (Monfort) Gilchrist. The father, who was also a Presbyterian clergyman, reared a family of seven children, of whom our subject is the sixth. When he was but four years old his father died, and a year later his mother removed with her family to a farm at Greenfield, Ind., where they remained seven years.

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At the age of fifteen our subject apprenticed himself to an older brother to learn the trade of cabinet maker, which he followed for several years, and while in college operated a large planing mill. He was graduated from Hanover College in 1885, and completed his theology at Lane Seminary in 1888. While a student at the seminary he took up supply work at Pilgrim Chapel, and after graduating, upon the resignation of Dr. F. C. Monfort, he succeeded him as pastor of the First Presby- terian Church. Here he did very efficient work until 1893 when, on account of declining health, he was forced to announce his resignation to a large congregation moved to tears by sympathy and regret. He is now located at Gettysburg, Penn., where it is hoped he may recover his usual health, made robust by his early training, but nearly shattered in the service of the Lord. Rev. Gilchrist was married June 17, 1890, to Miss Margaret, daughter of Joshua B. and Sarah (Crowe) Garrit, the former professor of Greek in Hanover College, the latter a daughter of Dr. Crowe, who was the founder and first president of the college.

REV. EDWARD HOWE LEAVITT, the father of Edward S. Leavitt, and son of Hon. H. H. Leavitt, was born in 1829, graduated from Washington and Jefferson College, studied law and was admitted to the Bar. He then studied and was prepared for the ministry at the Theological Seminary of Princeton College, New Jersey. Aside from his ministerial calling he was well known as a literary writer and critic, his articles appearing in the "North American," "International " and "Church" reviews. He died in Cincinnati June 22, 1888.

REV. ADOLPHUS SPRING DUDLEY was born at Cincinnati November 15, 1834. His grandfather, Rev. Elias Dudley. was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1788, studied for the ministry, and was pastor of the Huguenot church at Oxford, Mass., for twenty years. His father, Otis Dudley, married Miss Elizabeth Richardson, of Uxbridge, Mass., and they made their first home at Harper's Ferry, Va., where four children-William Augustus, Caroline Louisa, Otis, Jr., and Sarah Judson-were born to them. In 1833 they removed to Cincinnati, where Mr. Dudley engaged in mercantile business on Main street, and here the subject of this sketch was born. Five years later Mr. Dudley removed to Williamsburg, in Clermont county, where another daughter, Helen Margaret, was born, and where he spent the remainder of his life in active business, dying in 1872.

Our subject prepared for college and was graduated in 1858 at Miami University, with the honors of his class. He studied theology at Lane Seminary, finished his course in 1861, and in the same year settled at Morrow, Ohio, in his first charge. In addition to his pastoral work he was active in encouraging enlistments in the Union army, and in 1864 himself enlisted as a private, being at once promoted to the chaplaincy of his regiment. At the close of his service he was united in mar- riage with Elizabeth Phipps Mansfield, eldest daughter of the late E. D. Mansfield, and at once accepted the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church of Logansport, Ind. In 1869 he resigned this charge, and was immediately called to the Presby- terian Church of Granville, Ohio. After six years he was called to the Lane Semi- nary Church, Cincinnati, remaining with this church until 1879. He spent the two succeeding years at Emporia, Kans., laboring as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of that city, and aiding in founding and endowing the College of Emporia. For a number of years he was president of the board of trustees of Granville Female College, and for two years occupied the chair of philosophy in that institution. His voice having been impaired by bronchial disease, he engaged for several years in secular business, principally as editor of the "Law Bulletin" of Cincinnati, and as contributor to various publications. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Mr. G. E. Coddington, of the Third National Bank of Cincinnati, and they have one son, Dudley Coddington; his second daughter, Miss Edith Dudley, is a member of the Faculty of the State Normal School of Pennsylvania; his third daughter, Miss Helen Margaret Dudley, is a member of the class of 1896 of Wellesley College; his

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son, Mansfield Dudley, is in Hughes High School. Mr. Dudley now (1894) is in charge of the Riverside Congregational Church.

JOIN ROSS BAUMES was born in Carlisle, N. Y., December 28, 1833. His father, Jacob Baumes, a farmer, was a native of New York, of English and German descent, and his mother, Susan (Bowler) Banmes, was a native of Rhode Island, of English descent. The subject of this sketch received his early education and prepared in part for college at the Scoharie Academy, and then entered Madison (now Colgate) University, from the College Department of which institution he was graduated in 1857, and from its Theological Department in 1859. He was immediately there- after ordained, and became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Westfield, Mass., where he remained until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he was appointed chaplain of the Sixty-first New York Volunteer Infantry. In the spring of 1862, ill health compelled his resignation of the cliaplaincy, and later in the same year he accepted a call from the First Baptist Church of New London, Conn. He next occupied the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Springfield, Ohio, until 1872, then coming to Cincinnati to assume the editorial management of the "Journal and Messenger," succeeding Rev. T. J. Melish, with which publication he was identified until 1877, and during which period the circulation of that paper increased from three thousand to ten thousand, due to the radical improvements made thereon by Dr. Baumes. In 1879 he founded the "Baptist Quarterly," which he edited for six years, and which was esteemed one of the leading periodicals of its kind in the United States. Subsequent to Dr. Baumes' sale of the "Quarterly," its publishers trans- ferred its publication office to New York City. Since 1886 Dr. Baumes has been engaged in miscellaneous literary work. He is a Republican, and was one of the Ohio Presidential electors in 1884. He is a member of the Harrison Monument Commission.

Dr. Baumes has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1857, was Romelia E., daughter of A. B. Willcox, a broker of New York City, who resided at Newtown, L. I. She died at Springfield, Ohio, in 1865. In 1868 Dr. Baumes married S. Jennie, daughter of A. O. Hayward, a lumber merchant of Springfield, Ohio. Of the children born of this marriage, five survive: Harriet L., a graduate of Mount Auburn Seminary; Ogden Hayward, an employe in the Cincinnati post office; Nellie Bowler; S. Jennie, Jr., and Palmer Bowler. The family reside at Tusculum, and are members of the Columbia Baptist Church.

REV. DUDLEY WARD RHODES, D. D., was born February 25, 1849, in Marietta, Ohio. His father, Charles R. Rhodes, was the second son of Dr. Dudley W. Rhodes, of Zanesville, Ohio, one of the earliest surgeons in the State and a pioneer in Masonry. Charles R. Rhodes was an eminent lawyer in Marietta. He married, in 1846, Mary Elizabeth Ward, daughter of Nahun Ward, of Marietta. Mr. Ward came from Shrewsbury, Mass., in 1814, and was one of the largest landowners in the State, and had brought many colonies of Scotch settlers into the Hocking Val- ley. Through his mother, the subject of this sketch claims descent from Maj. - Gen. Ward, Washington's second in command in the Revolution. The family in which Rev. Dr. Rhodes was reared consisted of five girls and two boys. The eldest daughter is now Mrs. T. Romeyn Bunn, of Amsterdam, N. Y .; the second is Mrs. Frank R. Ellis, of Cincinnati; Mrs. Louis Peddingham, of Marietta, Ohio, and Mrs. W. W. Harris, of St. Louis, are his other sisters; one, Mrs. Harriet Denny Harris, having died in 1888. His only brother is Charles Ward Rhodes, of the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Louis. Judge Rhodes, his father, died in 1887, and his mother still lives in the fine old homestead in Marietta.

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 118

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1592

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592