History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 125

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

USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present > Part 125

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).

honors. Schooled and trained from boyhood in all the departments connected with banking, and having spent his entire active career in this vocation with great suc- ·cess, he is recognized as one of the leading representatives of the banking interests of Cincinnati. By virtue of his long experience and his natural mental capacity, he is enabled to grasp and solve the complex questions and problems which necessarily arise in the financial world. There is no business name in the commercial directory that demands of those who administer its affairs higher business qualifications than does that of banking. To this fact alone can the great majority of failures in this .department of commerce be attributed. The great success that has attended the various banks in which Mr. Goodman has held leading official position certainly ·evinces excellent judgment and a thorough knowledge of his business. He is rec- .ognized as one of the keenest financiers in Cincinnati, than whom there is none who

784

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

is more honest or stands higher in the esteem of his fellow citizens. Mr. Goodman is a man of unassuming manner, retiring in habits, and conservative in opinions. In his address he is dignified, yet exceedingly agreeable to all, a perfect gentleman both by nature and education. He has been a member of the Episcopal Church for many years, and for several years junior warden of same. In politics he was originally a Whig, but is now independent, leaning rather to Republicanism. He has never allowed himself to mingle in public affairs, or to accept any public office.

HENRY G. SKIFF, who has become popular with Cincinnatians as assistant city auditor, is a native of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and was born July 2, 1846. His father, Stephen D. Skiff, and his grandfather were both also born in that quaint little old Massachusetts locality. . The former, who was a man of much enterprise and considerable attainments, married Eleanor Davis. In 1849 he went with others from the old "Bay State" to California, making the tedious journey by water and doubling Cape Horn. The scenes and adventures in which he then participated have become historical, and he has since often referred to them with much interest. His worthy wife has been dead about twenty years, but her memory is treasured by many who knew her and adinired her for her many admirable qualities of mind and heart.

Henry G. Skiff received a common-school education in his native town, and com- ing West at the age of eighteen located in Cincinnati. He was alone and among strangers, but he was a resolute lad with a purpose to get on in the world, and a self- reliance which vouchsafed to him a reasonable measure of success. He was as genial then as now, and though he for a time sought vainly for remunerative employment, he found no difficulty, after he had become a little acquainted, in gaining influence which secured him employment with the Consolidated Street Railway Co. After a short period of service with this company, he found employment as assistant book- keeper with one of Cincinnati's pioneer furniture houses, and subsequently became head bookkeeper. He was thus engaged until he became a member of the firm of Herrick & Skiff, retail grocers, and after the dissolution of the firm he returned to bookkeeping. In 1880 began his connection with the city auditor's office. His position at first was a comparatively unimportant one, but he discharged its duties so diligently and faithfully that he was soon advanced until he gained the place in which he has become so deservedly popular, and where he has served uninterrupt- edly for fourteen years. Mr. Skiff was married, in 1871, to Miss Florence Stewart, whose parents died when she was quite young. Children have been born to them as follows: Stephen Clifford, Frederick B., Charles J., Henry G .. Jr., Abner D., and William Albert, two of whom, William Albert and Stephen Clifford, are deceased. Mr. Skiff takes a most earnest interest in everything pertaining to the welfare and development of Cincinnati and the advancement of all her important interests. He is popular as an official, partly because of his innate and whole-hearted friendli- ness, but more because of his absolute fidelity to every trust, and because his position as an advocate of good, honest and economical government is unassailable. With- out seeking rapid advancement, he has richly earned such as has been conferred upon him, and his record in office and out of office is such an one as any man might be proud of.

GENERAL BENJAMIN RUSH COWEN was born at Moorefield, Harrison Co., Ohio, August 15, 1831, a son of the late Benjamin Sprague Cowen and Anne Wood, both natives of Washington county, N. Y. Benjamin Spragne Cowen was born Septem- ber 17, 1792, and died at St. Clairsville, Ohio, September 27, 1869. He was a physician, but came to the Bar in 1831; was a Whig member of Congress in 1842-43; member of the Legislature in 1845-46; and judge of the court of common pleas, 1846-52. He fought in the war of 1812, and was United States commissioner of military prisons during the war of the Rebellion. He was the youngest brother of

785

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

Esek Cowen, of the New York court of appeals. His wife, whom he survived four years, was a daughter of Judge David Wood, of New York. The grandfather of our subject, Joseph Cowen, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.

Benjamin Rush Cowen was educated at a private school at St. Clairsville, and at the St. Clairsville Classical Institute; took a regular course in medicine; learned the printing trade, and became the editor and publisher of the Belmont Chronicle from 1848 to 1857. In 1857 he removed to Bellaire, Ohio, where he engaged in merchan- dising until the breaking out of the Civil war. He was chief clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives in 1860-61. He was also at this time engineer-in-chief of Gov. Dennison's staff, with the rank of colonel, which position he resigned to enlist in the Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in April, 1861. The following month he was appointed first lieutenant and A. C. S., and on June 1, same year, pay- master U. S. A. In January, 1864, he was appointed Adjutant-General of Ohio by Gov. Brough, and was re-appointed to the same position by Gov. Cox in 1866. Three brevets were conferred on Gen. Cowen by the President for organizing the "bun- dred-days' men" in 1864. He was elected secretary of the State of Ohio in 1861, which office he resigned in May, 1862, and returned to the field. After the close of the war he was engaged in nail manufacturing and coal mining at Bellaire until 1869, when he came to Cincinnati and engaged in the grain business. In 1869 he was appointed supervisor of Internal Revenue for California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona, and in 1870 was transferred to the Southern District of Ohio in the same office. In April, 1871, he was appointed assistant secretary of the Interior, which office he held until the close of Grant's administration. In 1883 he became editor- in-chief of the Ohio State Journal at Columbus, which position he left in December, 1884. November 28, 1884, Gen. Cowen was appointed clerk of the United States. circuit and district courts of the Southern District of Ohio, which position he now holds.

He was married, September 19, 1854, to Ellen, danghter of the late Matthew Thobrun, of Belmont county, Ohio, and sister of Bishop Thobrun, of Calcutta, India. The family are members of the Methodist Church, and he was a delegate to. the Ecumenical Conference in 1881 in London, England. Gen. Cowen is a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar, and a member of the Loyal Legion and the G. A. R.

WILLIAM J. MUNSTER, public accountant, was born in St. Louis, Mo., November. 19, 1850. He is a son of the late Herman J. and Christine (Garrell) Munster, both of whom were natives of Hanover, Germany, and came to this country with their- respective families, both families locating in St. Louis. The elder Munster was a contractor and builder. He died in 1861, having survived his wife several years.

W. J. Munster completed his education at the St. Louis University, from which institution he was graduated in 1867. He then learned short-hand, and was employed for some years as stenographer for the Life Association of America. From 1871 to 1875 he was chief clerk of the Board of Revision of Army Tactics under Gen. Scho- field. In the latter year he came to Cincinnati, and assumed the bookkeepership of the Cincinnati Coffin Company, finally becoming its secretary and sales manager, and remained with this company until 1884, when he embarked in business as a public accountant. Since then his work has embraced the investigation of the books of the City Infirmary Board, and of the Board of Public Works, resulting in the upheaval of both of these bodies. His work has also included other valuable services to this community in the investigation of the books of the State, city and county offices generally, and of a great many of our leading manufactories and wholesale houses. He originated the system of accounts and vouchers now in use by this and other municipalities. On June 1, 1893, he formed a partnership with Allen W. Dun- ning, late auditor and treasurer of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway Con- pany.

786

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

Mr. Munster was married, March 16, 1872, to Catharine Layman, by whom he has five children: Clara, Edwin, Oliver, Bessie and Howard. The family reside in Bellevue, Ky., and are members of the Methodist Church.

HON. MELVILLE E. INGALLS, president of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, and of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company, was born at Harrison, Maine, September 6, 1842. He was reared on a farm, alternating from home duties with attendance at the district school, throughout the period of his boyhood. He early evinced great fondness for study, and formed the ambition of securing a liberal education. At the early age of sixteen he presented himself before the school committee of an adjoining town, and on examination received a teacher's certificate. He was equally successful in his application for a school, and for six consecutive winters taught with great satisfaction to his patrons, and a con- siderable addition to his own store of experience and knowledge of human nature. His early plans and ambitions had not been relinquished, however; he fitted him- self for college at Bridgton Academy, and when seventeen years old entered Bowdoin College, in his native State. In the meantime he had formed the desire of entering the legal profession, and, with but limited means at his disposal, he deemed it best to begin the study of law without completing his college course. Accordingly he entered the law office of A. A. Stront, of Harrison, Maine, and afterward, in 1862, Harvard Law School, and graduated in the following year, receiving one of the prizes offered for best dissertation. In 1864 he returned to his native State, and opened an office in the town of Gray. A provincial town offered but limited oppor- tunities for the development of his talent, however, and the same year he entered the office of Judge Woodbury, of Boston, one of the most distinguished members of the Massachusetts Bar. His advancement in his profession, and in public confi- dence, was rapid. In 1867 he was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature from the Sixth Senatorial District, and served one term, but declined a renomination, pre- ferring to devote his entire time and attention to his profession. His practice con- stantly increased, and in success and profits surpassed his expectations. He was made counsel for several large and influential corporations, and continued in that capacity until 1871, when he was requested by the stockholders of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette Railway Company to move to Cincinnati, and assume entire charge of its affairs as receiver. He did so, and in three years the property was in such condition that a reorganization was successfully consummated. He was then elected president, continuing in that office until 1876, when the Company was once more thrown into bankruptcy. Mr. Ingalls was again appointed receiver, and in this trying position his transcendent abilities as a financier were more clearly manifested than ever before. Nothing daunted or discouraged, he undertook with renewed energy the task of saving the almost ruined Company. He obtained voluntary sub- scriptions from the stockholders, and with money thus raised paid the debts of the company, and secured the release of the railroad from litigation. In February, 1880, his arduous work was completed, and he organized the company under the name of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago Railroad Company, of which he was immediately elected president; a position for which he was most thor- oughly qualified by guiding its affairs through the intricate difficulties of finan- cial embarrassment. Mr. Ingalls retained the presidency until 1889, when this company was consolidated with'the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Rail- way Company, popularly known as the "Big Four," of which he has since been president. Under his management, the "Big Four" road has been entirely reor- ganized, and its offices placed in first-class working order. A glance at the phe- nomenal growth of this system affords the most ample proof of Mr. Ingalls' wonder- ful executive ability. It began with one hundred and seventy-five miles of railway; to-day it comprises 2,300 miles, with ten thousand operatives on its pay rolls, an annual expenditure of $10,000,000. Even in this age of phenomenal development,

787

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

a similar record of such marvelous development can scarcely be produced. Mr. Ingalls was also president of the Kentucky Central Railroad Company from 1881 to 1883, and has been president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company since 1SSS. The wide range of his responsibilities, the uniform success of his career, justly entitle him to characterization as a man of remarkable talents and responsi- bilities. His distinguishing qualities are quick perception, acute penetration, accu- rate judgment, a magnetic and enthusiastic temperament, and a disposition thor- oughly kind and affable. He is always accessible to the humblest employe of the road, and is prompt and thorough in the investigation of every grievance presented to him. As a public speaker, his language is fluent and forcible, and on frequent occasions, when he has been called upon to deliver addresses, his words have given evidence of the painstaking studiousness that characterized the New England boy, and the careful diligence of the student.

In the public affairs of his adopted city Mr. Ingalls has always manifested a commendable interest. He was one of the founders of the Art Museum, having taken an important part in the proceedings relative to its establishment, and has been president for several years of that institution, of which the people of Cincinnati are so justly proud. He also served as president of the Cincinnati Exposition in 1880, and delivered the address at the dedication of the City Hall, in 1893. On January 19, 1867, he married Miss Abbie M. Stimson, of Gray, Maine, and to this union four sons and two daughters have been born. They have a beautiful home at East Walnut Hills, surrounded by a noble park of sixteen acres, a delightful retreat from the cares and perplexities of railroad financiering. Mr. Ingalls is a Democrat in politics, but the multitudinous cares of his business life have not permitted active participation in political affairs during his residence in Cincinnati.

FRANK D. COMSTOCK, treasurer of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, was born June 23, 1856, at Fox Lake, Wis., son of L. M. and Julia B. (Dunham) Comstock, natives of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in which a mem- ber of the Comstock family was the first white child born. His parents were of English origin, and his father was a merchant. They had two sons, Frank D. and Clarence C., the latter a merchant at Cleveland, Ohio.

Frank D. Comstock was educated at the public schools at Cleveland, Ohio, and at Humiston University, of that city. At the age of eighteen he engaged in the oil business, and then traveled for the Morehouse Oil Company, Cleveland. In 1881 he entered the freight department of the Bee Line, at Cleveland, and was employed there a year and a half. For five years he was assistant general bookkeeper, and on February 1, 1887, became chief clerk in the office of the car accountant. He was paymaster from July 1, 1887, to July, 1892, when he became treasurer, which position, one of the most important in the railroad service at Cincinnati, he has since filled. On July 31, 1878, he married Margaret G. Cogley, and they are the parents of one child, Marguerette J. Mr. and Mrs. Comstock attend the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church, and in politics he is a Republican. They lived at Cleveland until 1892, when they removed to Cincinnati, and now reside on McGregor avenue, Mt. Auburn.

WILLIAM GIBSON, superintendent of the Cincinnati division of the Cleveland, Cin- cinnati, Chicago & St. Louis railroad, was born August 23, 1856, in Edinburgh, Scot- land, and is the son of William and Agnes (Wilson) Gibson. His father died in 1871. His mother still lives in London, England.

Our subject was educated in the Royal High School and Watt Institute of his native city. He began railroad life in August, 1872, in the local freight office of the Caledonian railway, where he remained until 1874, when he accepted a position in the freight claim office at Liverpool Street Station, London, of the Great Eastern railway, and in 1881 became chief clerk in the traffic superintendent's office. In the same year he came to the United States and entered the employ of the Cincin-

788

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

nati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific railroad at Cincinnati. He was soon made chief clerk to general superintendent, and subsequently secretary to the president. In 1888 he was appointed trainmaster of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad, and a year later car service agent of the C. H. V. & T., where he remained until March, 1890. He then accepted position as chief clerk to general manager of the "Big Four " railroad, and on February 1, 1892, was appointed to his present posi- tion .. Mr. Gibson was married, August 17, 1886, to Miss Eliza Henderson, by whom he has one child, William Lawrence Gordon. This gentleman and family worship at the Episcopal Church, and reside at Hartwell. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Caledonian Society, and president of the Robert Burns Club, of Cincinnati. In politics he is a Democrat.

PAUL AUSON HEWITT, auditor of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, was born in St. John, New Brunswick, December 15, 1848, and is a son of William and Frances (Wright) Hewitt, natives of New Brunswick, and of Irish and Holland ancestry. On account of poor health his education was obtained chiefly by private instruction, but he also attended public schools at Troy, Penn., and Painesville, Ohio. Mr. Hewitt first entered railway service in May, 1872, as clerk in the auditor's office of the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley Railway Com- pany. In 1873 he was made paymaster of that company, to which office were after- ward added the duties of general bookkeeper. In February, 1875, he was made auditor, secretary and treasurer of the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley & Wheeling rail- road, combining these duties with that of general passenger and ticket agent. In Jan- uary, 1881, he became freight agent of the C. C. C. & I. railway at Cleveland, and in October of the same year auditor of the Ohio Railway Company. Mr. Hewitt was promoted to the auditorship of the C. C. C. & I. Railway Company in May, 1882, and in the following October the jurisdiction of his office was extended over the Indianapolis & St. Louis railway. Upon the consolidation of these lines he was appointed to his present position, which he has since filled in a manner which shows him to be a thorough railroad man.

Mr. Hewitt was married, July 9, 1871, to Miss Jeanette R. Bacon, of Canville, Kans., and the issue of this marriage was six children, four of whom are living: Harold Rexford, Paula, Donald Wright and Douglass Dale. Mrs. Hewitt died in 1891. Mr. Hewitt was married, April 28, 1892, to Miss Nellie May Thompson, of Hudson, N. H. He and his family worship at the Christian Church of Walnut Hills, where they reside, and in politics he affiliates with the Republican party.

ALBERT S. WHITE, general freight agent of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, was born October 4, 1844, in Washington, D. C., while his father, whose name he bears in full, was a member of the United States Senate. His father was also a successful railroad man, and was the first president of the Lafayette & Indianapolis and the Wabash railways. The elder Mr. White was a native of Orange county, N. Y., and of early English ancestry, and his wife, Harriett (Randolph) White, was of the Randolph family so prominent in the early history of Virginia. The family consisted of four children, of whom our subject is the eldest.

He received his education in the public schools of Orange county, N. Y., and Lafayette, Ind., and at the age of seventeen enlisted as volunteer in the Fortieth Regiment Indiana Infantry, in September, 1861, becoming sergeant-major, and serving until disabled. In 1866 he engaged in mercantile business in Mankato, Minn., and was located there until 1869, when he entered the freight office of the Winona & St. Peter Railway, at Winona, Minn. In the same year he was made cashier of the local freight office of the Milwaukee & St. Paul railway in St. Paul, Minn., and next took service with the West Wisconsin railway at Hudson, Wis., in 1872, serving in various capacities until 1875, at which time he was appointed agent of the Merchants' Despatch Transportation Company at St. Paul and Minneapolis.

789

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

After five years' experience as a "line freight" man he was, in 1880, appointed local freight agent of the "Bee Line " at Indianapolis, and in less than a year was promoted to the office of general agent of the same company at the same place. Mr. White's ability as a freight man was recognized by his appointment in 1885 to the office of assistant general freight agent of the "Bee Line," and he performed the duties of this office in the cities of Cleveland, St. Louis and Cincinnati, respec- tively, until January 1, 1892, when he was appointed general freight agent.

Mr. White was married, April 20, 1881, to Miss Julia Cox, of Indianapolis, whose father, Jacob Cox, was an artist in that city for a period of sixty years. Mr. and Mrs. White have two children, Albert S. (3d) and Arthur Cox. The family wor- ship at the Protestant Episcopal Church of Wyoming, Ohio, where they reside. Mr. White is a member of Ranson Post, G. A. R., of St. Louis, and in his political views he is a Republican.

WILLIAM GARSTANG, superintendent of motive power of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad Company, was born at Wigan, Lancashire, England, February 28, 1851, son of Robert and Ellen Garstang. His father occupied a posi- tion corresponding to that of road master in this country, to which he immigrated in 1857, followed by his family in 1859. He located at Toronto, Canada, and laid the track of the Grand Trunk railroad, east of that city. He died in 1871, at the age of forty-eight. His family numbered seven children, five of whom are living in America.

Our subject was educated in the public schools, and at a drawing school in Cleveland. He began work as water-carrier for his father on the railroad, and in 1863 entered the Cleveland shops of the Lake Shore road, remaining there six years, after which he was machinist and gang foreman in the shops of the Atlantic & Great Western for eleven years, at Galion and Kent, Ohio. He was thus general fore- man in the locomotive and car department of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh railroad three years, at Cleveland and Wellsville; division master mechanic on the old " Bee Line," between Cleveland and Cincinnati, eighteen months, and between Galion and St. Louis three years; and superintendent of motive power on the Chesapeake & Ohio five years, with headquarters at Richmond, Va., after which he assumed his present position, with residence at Indianapolis. Mr. Garstang married, in October, 1873, Mary L., daughter of Jolin Zerbee, of Kent, Ohio, and they are the parents of four children: Reginald W., Wilfred R., Mabel L. and Virginia M. In politics Mr. Garstang is a Republican.

M. DE WITT WOODFORD, president of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company, was born October 27, 1838, in Fredonia, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., and is a son of Melancthon Smith and Harriet D. (Wheat) Woodford. The Woodfords were early English residents of Massachusetts and Connecticut, whence the grandfather of M. De Witt removed to Vermont, and from that place his father came to Chautau- qua county, N. Y. The Wheat family were early Welsh settlers of New England. Melancthon Smith Woodford was a merchant, and died in 1890 at the age of eighty- one years. His family consisted of five children: Julia, deceased wife of Philo H. Stevens, a merchant at Fredonia, N. Y .; Walter R., general manager of the Cleve- land, Lorain & Wheeling railroad; Caroline, wife of W. S. De Wing, lumberman and general manager of the Chicago, Kalamazoo & Saginaw railway; Julia, wife of Frederick S. Powers, of Cleveland, Ohio, and M. DeWitt.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 125

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