History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 127

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 127

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).

Mr. Hall was married November 11, 1884, to Miss Ida Dobyns, of North Mid- dletown, Ky., by whom he has one child: Carey D. Our subject is a member of the Cincinnati Literary Club; he resides in Covington, Kentucky.

SAMUEL MORSE FELTON, president of the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railroad, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., February 3, 1853, son of the late Sam- nel M. Felton, who was for many years president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore railroad. He is a descendant in the eighth generation of Lieut. Nathaniel Felton, who, in 1633, came to Salem, Mass., from Great Yarmouth, England, His family has had many distinguished representatives in the eastern counties of Eng- land. Nathaniel's great-grandfather was, during the latter part of the sixteenth cen- tury, the leading man of the borough of Great Yarmouth, and was three times chosen chief magistrate of the town. He was twice elected to Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's time, once in 1592, and again in 1596. His second son, Nicholas Felton,

796

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

a distinguished scholar and churchman, was master of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, and a translator of the Bible during the reign of James I. He enjoyed many high preferments in the Church, and died, in 1626, Bishop of Ely.

Mr. Felton's uncle, C. C. Felton, was president of Harvard College in 1869. His father was, for a period of more than fourteen years, perfecting one of the great railroad lines which contribute to the prosperity of Philadelphia, and for more than twenty years his energies were devoted to the advancement of manufacturing as president of the Pennsylvania Steel Company, the earliest establishment in the United States for the manufacture of steel rails, as a business. Mr. Felton, who died in 1889, was born in West Newbury, Essex Co., Mass., July 17, 1809, and was son of Cornelius Conway and Anna (Morse) Felton. When only fourteen years of age he became clerk in a Boston grocery store, sustaining himself by his work, get. ting the rudiments of a practical business education, and devoting his scanty leisure to study, with an idea of entering college later. In 1827 he became his brother's pupil at Geneseo, N. Y., and there completed his preparations for advanced stand- ing in Harvard College, the Freshman class of which he entered in 1830, graduating in 1834. Although having to labor hard to support himself while in college, such were his natural talents and his habits of application, that he distinguished himself as a scholar in a class containing a number of men who became eminent in science and literature. After graduating, he took charge of a select school for boys at Charleston, and at the same time studied law, but, impaired health warning him against this double work of a sedentary nature, he took up the more active profession of civil engineer- ing, for which he was peculiarly fitted. In 1835 he entered the office of Loammi Baldwin, and succeeded to his business upon his death three years later. In 1841 he built a railway from Boston to Fresh Pond, in Cambridge, and in 1843 com- menced the construction of the Fitchburg railroad, followed by the Vermont Central and other connecting lines. He became superintendent of the Fitchburg railroad on its completion, and held that position until 1851, when he was chosen president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore railroad, just then in very poor condi- tion, unprofitable, in need of extensive repairs and of complete reorganization in all its departments. Mr. Felton thoroughly studied the situation, and laid careful plans for restoration of prosperity, and, although he encountered serious opposition in the execution of his plans, and had to overcome obstacles seemingly insurmount- able, he maintained his purpose, and the exercise of his wisdom and energy resulted in making the line a great thoroughfare for travel, second to none in construction and equipment, and a safe and profitable investment for capital. Few men in the country endured a heavier strain than did Mr. Felton during the fourteen years ending abont the close of the war, in which he was the responsible head of this corporation. In 1861 the road, being the only direct means of communication between the north- eastern portion of the country and the National Capital, naturally became an object of attraction to the secessionists, and the president's unslumbering vigilance was demanded at every point. A plot had been formed for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on his way through Baltimore just prior to his inauguration in 1861, and it is a matter of history that this skillfully planned conspiracy was thwarted by Mr. Felton's watchfulness, foresight, skill and promptness of action. One biographer of our subject, while apologizing for the omission of the detailed narrative of this achievement, as we must for lack of space, says: "It deserves and can hardly fail to secure a permanent place in history of the country. Suffice it now to say that no greater service was rendered to the loyal cause during the war, and that Mr. Felton's part in it evinced a keenness of penetration, a command of resources, and an intens- ity of will power, which in a more conspicuous field would have won for him extended and enduring fame." On his mother's side Samuel M. Felton is a de- scendant of John Lippitt, one of the early settlers of Rhode Island, and also of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence plantations.

797

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

Mr. Felton was educated in the English branches at the private schools of his native city, and at the age of sixteen was appointed rodman on the Chester Creek railroad. In 1870 he was appointed leveler and assistant engineer on the Lancaster railroad, and the following year entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, graduating in 1873. In that year he was made chief engineer of the Chester & Delaware River railroad, and in August, 1874, was appointed general superintendent of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis railway, by Col. Thomas A. Scott. During the railroad riots at Pittsburgh in July, 1877, Mr. Felton was in personal charge of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis railroad, and by his coolness, daring and promptitude saved a large amount of property. After removing the office records and all other movable property, he organized a guard to protect the remain- der, and by his display of personal bravery and cool judgment inspired themajority of his men with loyalty, succeeding in restoring order at Pittsburgh, the influence of which was immediately felt in other directions. He held the position of general superintendent of this road until 1882, and during this period the Cincinnati, Mus- kingum Valley and the Little Miami railroads were added to his charge. The great improvements in the physical condition, and in the results of the operation of these roads, were largely due to his intelligent and efficient work. In 1882 he became general manager of the New York & New England railroad, and soon after was made assistant to the president of the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, with special charge of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio railroad, and in 1884 was chosen general manager of the latter. On January 15, 1885, he was

elected vice-president of the New York, Lake Erie & Western railroad, was placed in charge of the traffic of the Erie lines, and on October 15, following, was made vice- president of the entire system. During his administration the traffic has largely in- creased, and it is now one of the best equipped and best managed roads in the country. In November, 1890, he severed his connection with the Erie railroad to accept the presidency of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia, and the Cincin- nati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific railroads. He is a man of great personal pop- ularity, beloved equally by his associates and subordinates from the highest to the lowest. Mr. Felton was married October 21, 1880, to Miss Dora Hamilton, daugh- ter of George P. Hamilton, who previous to his decease was a prominent member of the Pittsburgh bar.

HENRY HAMMOND TATEM, secretary and treasurer of the Cincinnati, New Or- leans & Texas Pacific Railway Company, and secretary and auditor of the board of trustees of the Cincinnati Southern railway, was born in Cincinnati February 6, 1841, and is a son of Henry Lea and Sarah Ann (Hall) Tatem.

His father, who was a descendant of an old Virginia family, was born in Trenton, N. J., August 12, 1802, and came to Cincinnati in 1812. From the beginning of his business life he was for many years associated with his father, Charles Tatem, in the iron foundry business, but for several years previous to his death, which occurred August 10, 1853, he was in the plumbing business at No. 157 West Fifth street. When Miles Greenwood came to Cincinnati he brought a letter of introduction to Charles Tatem from a mutual friend in Pittsburgh, and through this medium became established in the foundry business, which for so many years was among the most prominent of the manufacturing industries of the city. The mother of our subject was of Maryland ancestry, and was born in Cincinnati March 19, 1809; she died in the city of her birth, March 31, 1893. Thus it will be seen that the Tatem and the Hall families were both prominent among the first settlers of Cincinnati, and were of that class of citizens who by their social standing and business ability gave an impetus to the growth and development of the Queen City during its infancy and days of trial. Charles Tatem and his son, Henry L., commanded the highest respect of their fellow-citizens, and were both at various times elected to positions in the municipal government. Prominent among the founders of the Methodist Protestant

798

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

Church of Cincinnati was Ezekiel Hall, the maternal grandfather of our subject; nor was his good wife Elizabeth lacking in doing her share of a work which was to ben- efit all the coming generations of her city. She was one of the founders of the Cin- cinnati Orphan Asylum, and a member of its board of managers from its organiza- tion until the date of her death. James C. Hall, son of the venerable couple men- tioned immediately above, was for four years postmaster of Cincinnati; he was also a member of the State Senate, and the first president of the Ohio & Mississippi Rail- way Company. The immediate family of which H. H. Tatem is a member consisted of four sons and two daughters, two of whom are living. Three died in infancy, and Ezekiel H., who was for years prominently connected with the editorial staff of the daily morning journals of Cincinnati, yielded his life for his country's cause in the war of the Rebellion as captain of Company D, Sixth O. V. I. The other surviving child is Miss Janet Ridgeway Tatem, of Cincinnati.

Our subject was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati, and was graduated from Hughes High School in the class of 1857. All of his business life has been passed in Cincinnati. His first position was in the fish, oyster and game store of D. Greene, after which he became chief clerk to Mahlon H. Madeira, blank agent of the Cincinnati Post Office Department during the postmastership of Dr. John L. Vattier. He then became shipping clerk and afterward bookkeeper for the grain and flour commission house of Foulds & Campbell, and their successors, Thomas H. Foulds & Company, and Foulds & Wright. His next position was entry clerk, and later book- keeper for the wholesale hardware house of McAlpin, Hinman & Company; was then, for a time, clerk at the works of the Cincinnati Gas Light and Coke Company. He was then elected auditor of Cincinnati for two successive terms of two years each, after which he was elected secretary of the Board of Trade, and on July 6,1869, he was elected secretary of the board of trustees of the Cincinnati Southern railway, a posi- tion he still holds. In the meantime he had been secretary and treasurer of the Cin- cinnati, Rockport & Southwestern railway. At the time of the lease of the Cincin- nati Southern railway to the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Com- pany, October 11, 1881, he was elected treasurer of the company, and May 29, 1882, was in addition elected secretary, which position he still holds. He is also treasurer of all the roads which constitute the "Queen and Crescent Route," except the Ala- bama & Vicksburg, of which he is secretary and treasurer. Mr. Tatem was first lieutenant of Company D, " Benton Cadets" (infantry body-guard of Gen. John C. Fremont), from September 15, 1861, to January 8, 1862, and captain of Company H, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh O. V. I., from May 10 to August 20, 1864. Mr. Tatem was married September 17, 1867, to Miss Anna Dionecia Cohan, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Sullivan) Cohan, of Dayton, Ohio, natives respectively of Miff- lin county, Penn., and Dayton, both being of American parentage. The issue of this marriage was one daughter, deceased, and three sons, living: Harry Hall, trace clerk in the local freight office of the C. N. O. & T. P .; Clifford Ross, who gradu- ated from Hughes High School in 1892, and now in the second year of the electrical course in the University of Michigan; and Lea Brandon, now attending the inter- mediate school of Hartwell, Ohio. Mr. Tatem and family worship at the Protes- tant Episcopal Church, of which he is a generous supporter. He is a past grand commander of the Knights Templar of Ohio, and honorary member of the Supreme Council Thirty-third Degree A. A. Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U. S. A .; is also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine, and is a member of the G. A. R. and Loyal Legion. Mr. Tatem is a Republican, and, in ad- dition to the public offices already mentioned, was from 1867 to 1891 a member of the union board of high schools of Cincinnati, and twice president of the board. He has been, since 1866, a trustee of the estate of Thomas Hughes, by whom Hughes High School was endowed; was appointed a director of Longview Asylum, October 5, 1889, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Theodore Marsh, and in April,

799

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

1891, was reappointed for a regular term of five years; he was the president of the board in 1890, and has since been its secretary. On June 22, 1885, he was elected a member of the first board of education of Hartwell, where he resides, by whom the present school edifice was erected, and retired from the board April 16, 1888, having served it as clerk and president.

MAJOR FRANK JOHNSTON JONES, president of the Little Miami Railroad Com- pany, was born at Cincinnati April 22, 1838, in a house that occupied the location of his present office No. 59 West Fourth street. His father, John Davies Jones, was a native of Berks county, Penn., whose immigrant ancestor, John Jones, came to Penn- sylvania in 1703. John Davies Jones came to Cincinnati as clerk in 1819, and sub- sequently engaged in the dry-goods business, from which he retired in 1867. He died in August, 1878, at the age of eighty-one years, and three months later his widow, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Johnston, died at the age of seventy-one. Her father, John Johnston, who was of Huguenot descent and a native of the North of Ireland, was born March 17, 1775, and came to America in 1793. While a young man, he was a clerk in the War Department under Gen. Dearborn, and later he was for forty years in the government employ as Indian agent and factor, traveling ex- tensively among the Indian tribes, with whose languages he had a wide familiarity. When the peace commission met at Washington, in 1861, he went thither, and was found dead in his bed at the "Clay Hotel, " Sunday, February 18, 1861, at the age of eighty-six. John D. Jones married Elizabeth Johnston, who was born at Ft. Wayne, Ind., in 1807, and they were the parents of thirteen children, of whom two survive, Frank Johnston, the subject of this sketch, and Walter St. John, presi- dent of the Miami Valley Insurance Company of Cincinnati.

Frank Johnston was educated at the classical school of E. S. Brooks, and at Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1859. He then entered the law office of Rufus King of Cincinnati, and in September, 1860, became student at Harvard Law School. At the outbreak of the Rebellion, he returned to Cincinnati, and enlisted in Company A, Sixth O. V. I., as a private. In June, 1861, he was appointed second lieutenant in the Thirteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was in active service in West Virginia that year. His regiment was a part of Gen. Hill's command at Cheat Mountain, in West Virginia, crossed the mountains and was in the battle o of Gallia Bridge under Gen. Rosecrans in September, 1861. In November, Lieu- tenant Jones was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and made adjutant of his regiment, which was in the campaign against General Floyd in December, 1861, after which it be- came a part of General Mitchell's division of Buell's army called the army of the Ohio. After the capture of Nashville the regiment was transferred to Crittenden's division, with which it participated in the battle of Shiloh. During this engagement, however, Lieutenant Jones was detailed as acting assistant adjutant on the staff of General Will- iam Sooy Smith. He was in active service in the campaign that resulted in the fall of Corinth, after which he was detailed as assistant adjutant on the staff of General Lovell H. Rosseau, commanding the Third Division, army of the Ohio, with whom he served until October 9, 1862, when he was taken prisoner at the battle of Perryville. Three months later he was exchanged, and joined the army after the battle of Stone River. In February, 1863, he was promoted to captain and aid-de-camp by President Lin- coln, and assigned to duty on the staff of General A. McDowell McCook, command- ing the Twentieth Army Corps, army of the Cumberland. In this capacity he served through the summer of 1863, participating in the battle of Chickamauga. In Aug- ust, 1864, he resigned his command and returned to Cincinnati. May 10, 1866, he was appointed, by President Johnson, brevet-major of United States Volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious service during the war. He also had two brothers in active service, Colonel William G. Jones, a graduate of West Point, who was killed at Chickamauga, and Charles D. Jones, a graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy, who served under Admiral Farragut, and was found dead

800

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

in his bed at the "Tremont House," Boston, Massachusetts, in December, 1865, after returning from a long cruise.

After the close of the war, Major Jones resumed his legal studies under Mr. King, and attended the Cincinnati Law School, from which he was gradu- ated in 1865, and was at once admitted to practice. In 1869-73, he was associated with Samuel Fosdick in the manufacture of cotton, and subsequently, in 1874, resumed the practice of his profession. In 1878, he entered the directory of the Little Miami Railroad Company, of which he became vice-president in 1885, and president in 1889, and is at this time the president of said company. He is also a director of the Dayton & Michigan Railroad Company, and of the Spring Grove Cemetery Association; a trustee of the Ohio Medical College, the Cincinnati Orphan Asylum, and the University of Cincinnati, and a director of the National Lafayette Bank, the Niles Tool Works, of Hamilton, Ohio, the Cincinnati Street Rail Road Co., and the Jones Brothers Electric Supply Company. May 30, 1866, Major Jones married Frances Dearing Fosdick, daughter of Samuel and Sarah A. (Wood) Fos- dick, natives of New London, Connecticut, and of Maryland, respectively. Five chil- dren have been born to them: Anna F., wife of E. H. Ernst, secretary and treasurer of the Fred J. Myer Manufacturing Company of Covington; Charles Davies, a recent graduate of Yale College; Samuel Fosdick, Frances L'Hommedieu and Edmund Lawrence. The family is connected with Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, of which church Mr. Jones is junior warden; also is member of the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion, and in politics is a Republican.

HENRY C. URNER, secretary and treasurer of the Little Miami railway, was born in Cincinnati January 30, 1830, and is a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Keyser) Urner. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, where the families were early settlers, and were of Holland and Swiss origin. He is a descendant of Leonard Keyser, who was burnt at the stake for heresy. Benjamin Urner, who was a mer- chant, removed from Pennsylvania to Maryland, where he remained a short time, and thence in 1825 came to Cincinnati. He continued merchandising and gave some of his time to the insurance business until his death, which occurred in 1857, when he was at the age of sixty-two. His widow lived until 1878, reaching the age of eighty years. The family consisted of seven children, three of whom are living: Henry C., Benjamin, a publisher in New York City, and Lathaniel D., a literary and poetical writer, also residing in New York City.

Our subject was educated in the old Cincinnati College, and in the boarding school of M. Hazen White. In the spring of 1849 he went to California, where he remained four years, and engaged in digging gold, merchandising, etc. Upon his return to Cincinnati he was elected president of the National Insurance Company, which position he filled for thirty-seven years, and in March, 1892, accepted his present position. He was a member of the committee who built the Chamber of Commerce, and was twice president of that institution. After the burning of the courthouse in the riot of 1884 he was appointed by Gov. Hoadly to rebuild it, which he did with entire satisfaction. He served four years as United States Marshal under Cleveland's administration, and was once a member of the tax committee. During the floods of 1883-84 he was first president, and later treasurer of the relief committee which succeeded in raising in all nearly four hundred thousand dollars for the relief of the destitute. Mr. Urner was married, February 13, 1872, to Miss Maria, daughter of John P. and Emily (Kimball) Harley, natives of Pennsylvania and New York, respectively. The issue of this marriage was three children: Eloise Stettinius, Henry and Martin H. This gentleman is a thirty-third degree Mason, a Democrat in his political views, and was for many years president of the Queen City Club.

IRA G. RAWN, general superintendent of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railroad, was born August 20, 1855, at Delaware, Ohio, son of Peter and Sarah

Engraved by J P .. Rice & Sons. Philada

Henry tofs

801

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

(Huston) Rawn, natives of Pennsylvania. His father, who was a general merchant, has reached the advanced age of eighty; the mother died in August, 1892, at the age of seventy-four. The family is noted for longevity.

Our subject received a public-school education, learned telegraphy in his native town, and entered the service of the old "Bee Line." In 1871-72 he was at Pitts- burgh and Columbus in the employ of the " Panhandle," and in 1872-87 was train dispatcher and trainmaster on the " Bee Line" between Cincinnati and Delaware. He was then master of transportation on the Kentucky Central until January, 1889, and superintendent of the Cincinnati division; and was superintendent of transpor- tation on the Chesapeake & Ohio until February, 1890, when he entered upon the duties of his present position. Mr. Rawn resides at Madisonville. He married, October 5, 1880, Florence, daughter of William W. Willis, of Delaware, Ohio, and they have three children: Bessie, Katherine and Florence. The family is connected with the Episcopal Church. Mr. Rawn is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Knights of Pythias and F. & A. M.

DANIEL DAWSON CAROTHERS, engineer maintenance of way of the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern railway, was born August 21, 1860, in Cutler, Washington Co., Ohio, and is the son of Reason and Elizabeth Baine (Dawson) Carothers, natives of Pennsylvania, the former being of Scotch-Irish origin and the latter of English ancestry. The family emigrated first to Maryland, and later to Pennsylvania. His father, who was a millwright, and later a contractor and superintendent of railroad construction, still lives in Cutler. His family consisted of nine children, eight of whom are living, and of whom Daniel D. is the sixth.

He was educated in the public schools of his native town and the Bartlett Acad- emy of Washington county, completing his education by taking a special course in engineering at Lebanon College. Before entering Lebanon College, however, he had taught three years in the public schools of Washington county, and had acted as rodman and assistant engineer in the engineering corps of the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad for nearly a year. Soon after he left college he went to Columbus, Ohio, as assistant engineer of the Columbus & Cincinnati Midland railroad, where he remained until 1885, when he was made chief engineer of that road, to which the duties of trainmaster were added in 1889. In June, 1890, he accepted his present position. Mr. Carothers was married, September 20, 1888, to Miss Carrie E., daughter of Charles E. Leland, of Lewiston, Maine. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Madisonville, where he resides. He is a Republican in his political views, and was a trustee of the board of water works of said village during the construction of its water works in 1892.

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 127

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