History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 130

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

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SAMUEL E. HILLES, president of The Samuel C. Tatum Company, Water, John and Front streets, residence Delaware avenue, Avondale, was born in Wilmington, Del., and is the son of William S. and Sarah L. (Allen) Hilles, the former a native of Wilmington, Del., and the latter of Attleboro (now Langhorne), Bucks Co., Pennsylvania.

William S. Hilles, the father of our subject, was a member of the firm of Hilles & Jones, machine works, now operated as The Hilles & Jones Company, Wilming- ton, Del. In former years the shipyard connected with the works was noted for producing very fast coasting vessels, one of which, the "William S. Hilles," made an unprecedented run from London to Georgetown, British Guiana, but in 1871 was, with some thirty other vessels, destroyed by fire at Riga, on the Baltic Sea. William S. Hilles was also prominent in coal, railroad and banking business, and was for years closely associated with Delaplaine McDaniel, of Philadelphia, a pio- neer in the manufacture of American sheet iron. He died at Nice, France, in 1876; his widow still resides at Wilmington, Del. They had four children: Susan H.," widow of Isaac H. Shearman; T. Allen Hilles, vice-president of the Hilles & Jones.

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Company; Samuel E. Hilles, our subject; and Margaret S. Hilles, all excepting Samuel E. residing at Wilmington.

Samuel Hilles, the father of William S. (whose ancestor, Hugh Hilles, came from Ireland about 1748), was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, and was much interested in education, conducting a very successful school in Wilmington, from which in 1832 he retired with a competency, and lived for fifty years, until his death, in 1873, an active Christian gentleman. He was an avowed Abolitionist, a director of the "Underground Railway" (his barn being one of the recognized "stations"), and an active friend of the Freedmen. His wife, Margaret Hill Hilles, who had shaken hands with and frequently seen Gen. Washington in Philadelphia, was a great-granddaughter of James Logan, the deputy Governor and first Chief Justice of Pennsylvania under William Penn, and also great-granddaughter of Gov. Lloyd, of the same Commonwealth. She died in 1882, a rare connecting link with the past.

Samuel E. Hilles was educated in the private schools of Wilmington, and also at Haverford College, near Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated in 1874. He then entered the pattern shop of the firm of Hilles & Jones, after which he was a clerk in the machinery establishment of Shearman & Hilles, of Philadel- phia, and later with Thomas Baumgardner & Company, miners and shippers of coal at Philadelphia. Removing to Cincinnati in 1878, he became a bookkeeper and cashier for the firm of Samuel C. Tatum & Company, foundry and machine works, which was established in Cincinnati in 1859 and incorporated in 1891, and of which company he is now president. Under his management, and founded upon the high reputation of its founder, Samuel C. Tatum, the business has been greatly widened, and the products of the company, iron castings, copying presses, inkstands, sta- tioners' hardware, office appliances, and mechanics' tools, are favorably known all over North America, and to an increasing extent in other lands. The company ranks as one of the successful concerns of the city, and in some lines of manufacture is the only factory of the kind in the West. Mr. Hilles was married, October 28, 1880, to Miss Amy, daughter of Samuel C. and Eleanor Tatum, who were, prior to their removal to Cincinnati in 1849, also residents of Wilmington, Del. They have one child. William Tatum Hilles.

WILLIAM BROMWELL MELISH, secretary and treasurer of the Bromwell Brush and Wire Goods Company, was born July 28, 1852, at Wilmington, Ohio, and is a son of Rev. Thomas J. and Maria (Bromwell) Melish, natives of Philadelphia and of Ohio, respectively. Rev. Thomas J. Melish is now rector of St. Philip's Protestant Church, North Side, Cincinnati, and has resided in this city since 1845. His father, John Melish, was born at Paisley, Scotland, came to Philadelphia in 1817, and thence to Wilmington, Ohio, where he died in 1852. His wife's parents, William and Sarah (Davis) Bromwell, came to Philadelphia from England in 1819.

The subject of this sketch is the second in a family of ten children. He attended the public schools, and graduated from Dennison University, Granville, Ohio. In 1869 he embarked in his present business, as clerk and bookkeeper; four years he represented the interests of the firm as traveling salesman; he was then admitted to a partnership, and is now one of the largest stockholders, having been secretary and treasurer since 1885. His father is president of the company. Two factories are operated at Camp Washington, Ohio, one at Dayton, Ohio, and one at Jeffersonville, Ind. While a successful business man, Mr. Melish has also risen to prominence in social and Masonic circles. In 1873 he was initiated as a Mason at Milford, Ohio; his advancement was rapid, and three months later he was a Scottish Rite Mason, and is past grand commander of Knights Templar in Ohio. In the A. A. S. R. he stands prominently noticeable. As a ritualist, it is questionable if a man lives who is his peer in the esoteric working of the thirty-second degree of that branch of speculative Masonry. In the city of Cincinnati his labors have been prodigious-

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relieving the distress caused by the great floods of 1883-84, and in the restoration of the Scottish Rite Cathedral, destroyed by fire in 1884. He instituted Syrian Tem- ple, N. M. S., in the city of Cincinnati, and was also largely instrumental in estab- lishing temples at various other points. In 1886 he was elected imperial director for three years; in 1889 imperial chief rabban, and in 1892 imperial potentate, the highest position in the order, in which capacity he presided at the great annual con- clave at Cincinnati in 1893. He is also grand standard bearer of the Grand En- campment, Knights Templar, of the United States, and one of the three highest officials of the Grand Lodge of Ohio Masons. On September 16, 1873, Mr. Melish married Sallie H., daughter of Capt. Francis M. and Selina (Barber) Gatch, of Clermont county, Ohio. They are the parents of two children: May E. and Thomas G. Mr. and Mrs. Melish are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

CAPTAIN JAMES W. FOLEY, senior member of the firm of J. W. Foley & Co., one of the leading foundry and iron manufacturing institutions of Cincinnati, was born October 24, 1837, in Pittsburgh, Penn., and is a son of James and Catherine (Bridle) Foley. His parents, both of whom were natives of Ireland, emigrated to the United States about 1825, when they were children, and were married in this country. His father, who was a contractor in the construction of railroads and canals, chiefly the latter, removed to Cincinnati in 1842, and died in Memphis, Tenn., in 1846, while engaged in business in that vicinity. The family consisted of three sons, of whom James W. is the only survivor.

He was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati, and at the age of thirteen years began working in a rope walk, where he remained about six months, after which he found employment in a candy factory. One year later he entered the music-printing establishment of Peters & Son, where he worked at that trade for over two years. In 1854 he entered the business in which he was destined to achieve success, and which he has since followed. He began as a moulder in the foundry of Adams & Williams, located at Second and Central avenue, but one year later, when that firm discontinued business, he entered the employ of Bird Hollibird & Co., where in the succeeding two years he completed his apprenticeship. His first . position as a journeyman was with Lane & Bodley, where he remained from 1859 till the outbreak of the Civil war, when he was among the first to answer to his country's call for troops. He enlisted, April 18, 1861, as private in Company A, Tenth O. V. I., was made first lieutenant May 25, 1863, and mustered out July 17, 1864. He then assisted in organizing the One Hundred and Eighty-first O.V. I., and was commissioned captain of Company D, in which capacity he served until the close of the war. His regiment was made a part of the Army of the Cumberland, with which he was connected during his entire army service. He participated in the battles of Perryville, Ky., Stone River and Chattanooga, Tenn., and Chicka- manga, Ga., and all the other numerous and terrible conflicts in which that noble army was engaged. When peace was restored he returned to Cincinnati and entered the employ of Cordesman & Dierker for a short time; then worked one year in the Charles Kilgour Foundry, and was five years in the employ of Hand & Whitehouse, after which he became an employe and later a stockholder of the Eureka Foundry Company. Two years later, in March, 1873, he sold his interest in the Eureka Company, and with several other gentlemen established a general foundry business on Elm street, above Second, which was removed in November, 1878, to its present location, Nos. 331-339 West Front street. Mr. Foley is the only one of the original firm still connected with the business. The plant covers a space 100 by 300 feet, and is four stories high; the pay roll numbers from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty men. The concern does a general jobbing business, and makes a specialty of pulleys, drop and post hangers, journal boxes, and so forth.

Mr. Foley was married, November 10, 1867, to Miss Bridget Donehue, daughter .of Patrick Donehue, of Cincinnati. They have seven children: James J., superin-

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

tendent of the foundry; John W., time-keeper; Leo E., a student at St. Xavier Col- lege; Edward; Charles; Marie, and Veronica. Mr. Foley and family are members of the Catholic Church, and reside at Home City, Ohio. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Loyal Legion, and the Society of the Army of the Cumberland. Politically he is a Democrat, but he has given his attention exclu- sively to business, and has never sought public office.

SAMUEL CANBY TATUM, one of the leading manufacturers of Cincinnati, was born in Wilmington, Del., May 13, 1827, a son of John W. and Mary (Canby) Tatum. When a boy his parents removed to a farm near Wilmington, where for many years they were engaged in agricultural pursuits. Our subject began his education in the schools of his native town, completing it at Haverford College. After one year passed at the liome of his childhood, he apprenticed himself with J. Morton Poole, on the Brandywine, to learn the machinist's trade. Here the system and thorough- ness which characterized his whole life was inaugurated by his serving four years time in order that he might become complete master of his trade. In 1849 he came to Cincinnati-the regular trip then consuming a week's time-and engaged in the foun- dry and machinerybusiness, giving special attention to the latter. After ten years of persistent effort, being dissatisfied with the results, he relinquished this enterprise and established a foundry at the corner of John and Water streets. Here he was eminently successful, and the business soon grew to be one of the most extensive in the city. Earnest and untiring in his business, and thoroughly honest in all his dealings, his patronage rapidly grew; and when sudden death came, June 16, 1887, the institution which he had founded was left upon a sound financial basis, and his family in good cir- cumstances. The business, still in full operation, was incorporated in 1891, as The Samuel C. Tatum Co. They are large manufacturers of specialties for the hard- ware and stationery trade, the territory over which they operate including all North America; they also have a large export trade.

One of Mr. Tatum's predominant characteristics was the strong sympathy which he had for the destitute and afflicted. This was shown in an effective way by many deeds of charity, which were of a strictly private and unostentatious character and can never be recorded in this world; but it is known that many a crying babe was hushed to peaceful slumber; and in many an humble home there blazed a cheerful hearth, by the food and fuel that were of his giving. In 1869 he was a member of the "Strangers' Home Committee" of the Young Men's Christian Association, who rented a large building which they provided with means of gratuitously feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless, it being a time of great destitution. An active support of this association, and also of the Children's Home, was continued by him for many years. While his natural and well-known modesty prevented his seeking conspicuous prominence in the community, he was always found among those who had the true welfare of the city and its people at heart, and was willing at any time to use his time and means to that end. As a director of the building committee of the Art Museum, much work was efficiently and quietly done by him, and, well posted as he was in many branches of art, scarcely any other interest was, in the closing years of his life, given more of his attention, wise judgment and good coun- sel. He was one of the founders and a director of the Hall Safe & Lock Company; he was also a director of the J. A. Fay Company. the Egan Company and several other important concerns. Mr. Tatum was married May 19, 1849, to Miss Eleanor Bardsley, of Cincinnati, by whom he had four children, two of whom and his widow survive him. Mr. Tatum and his family were members of the " Society of Friends," and attended the church of that denomination at Eighth and Mound streets, even after they had removed to their beautiful home which crowns, perhaps, the highest point of the fashionable suburb of Avondale.

WILLIAM CARROLL GHOLSON, manufacturer of iron and wire fence, new designs and patents of his own, place of business No. 140 Gilbert avenue, residence No. 455

Engraved by J.R. Rice & Sons, Philada.

Fredk Danner

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Gilbert avenue, was born December 11, 1837, in Wayne county, Mo., son of Arustus and Rebecca Kelly Gholson, both of whom were natives of Kentucky, the former born in 1807 in Pulaski county, the latter born in 1806 in Wayne county, both of Virginia parentage. He was a farmer and trader by occupation. In 1841 he left home with a servant to sell a drove of horses in Mississippi, and after disposing of the property nothing reliable was ever heard from him. Mrs. Gholson died in 1851. They were the parents of six children, of whom Benjamin F. is a farmer in Parker county, Texas; George W. died in 1870. There were three daughters, of whom two died in childhood, and Mary J. died at the age of sixteen in Newton county, Missouri.

William Carroll Gholson received his education in the public schools of Missouri and Kentucky. He followed farming until 1866, then moved from Kentucky to LaGrange, Ga., engaged in general merchandising, dealing in heavy groceries and plantation supplies until 1880, when his warehouse and stock were destroyed by fire, without insurance. He then engaged in the general brokerage business for a liveli- hood, during which time he conceived the idea of the improvement in fences, which he has since patented, and came to Cincinnati in 1882 to manufacture them. He was married February 22, 1861, to Sarah Ann Dodson, daughter of Raleigh C. and Elizabeth (Burnett) Dodson, natives of Wayne county, Ky., of Virginia parentage. They are the parents of eight children: Laura C., wife of Rev. A. C. Cantrell; Genevra, wife of Rev. F. D. Cantrell, educated in LaGrange Southern Female Col- lege, LaGrange, Ga .; Charles, educated in LaGrange high school; Georgia Lee, Willie May, Marquis C., in the schools of Clifton, Avondale and Cincinnati; Benja- min Hill and George Lenard, now pupils of Windsor street school, Walnut Hills. The family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Gholson is a Prohibi- tionist; having been convinced from early childhood that intoxicating drink would destroy the vitality of the American people and government, he grasped the first op- portunity to vote for their redemption, and resolved to never cast a vote that did not result in a point in that direction.

THOMAS LEE, manufacturer of tin and ornamental galvanized iron specialties, was born April 9,1852,in New York City, and is a son of Patrick and Julia (Lee) Lee, natives of Tuam, County Galway, Ireland. His parents came to America in 1848, and in 1856. removed from New York to Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Three years later they moved to . Bourbon county, Ky., and in 1860 to Cincinnati. The elder Mr. Lee was a con -. tractor in the construction of turnpikes, and died in 1886 at the age of seventy-seven. years, having survived his wife two years, who died at the age of fifty-six. The- family consisted of eight children, three of whom are living: Thomas and Michael, who are engaged in business together, and John, who was engaged with his brother until recently.

Our subject's education was limited to one year in the public schools, but he added largely to his store of knowledge by individual study and reading, while learning the trade of general sheet metal worker with Mr. Michael Lalley at No. 29 Race street. He began his apprenticeship when but thirteen years of age, and has followed the business ever since. In 1879 he engaged in business for himself at. No. 57 Race street, in 1883 removed to Nos. 46 and 48, and in 1888 to his present location at Nos. 79-81. The plant occupies a space of 40 by 100 feet, and is part three, part four, and part five stories high. Mr. Lee has had about twenty patents issued him, and a majority of the articles which he manufactures are of his own in- vention. Mr. Lee was married October 10, 1872, to Miss Whilemenia Louise, daughter of Henry Brockman, of Cincinnati. This happy union was blessed with children as follows: Matilda L., Julia, Walter H., Robert E., Elsie, Martha, who. died in infancy, Irene, and Whiloemenia. Mr. Lee is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the K. of P. In his political views he is a Democrat, and has served five years as a member of the board of education, and three years as a member of the board of

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managers of the Public Library. He was also alderman in the Eighth Ward one year, and in the Second District one year, and is at present mayor of Home City, where he resides.

VICTOR KNECHT, iron founder, office and place of business Nos. 195-197 Wade street, residence No. 152 York street. This well-known moulder and foundryman was born February 2, 1833, in the city of Nancy, department of Meurthe, France, a son of John Adam and Katherine (Salsman) Knecht, the father a native of Bavaria, Germany, and the mother of Lorraine, France. They had five children, viz. : Mrs. Amelia Pfefferkorn, of Leavenworth, Kans. ; John M., varnisher, inmate of the Sol- diers' and Sailors' Home, Sandusky, Ohio; Victor; Mrs. Natalie Mayor, of North Springfield, Mo., and Joseph, deceased.

Our subject was educated in France, and came to this country at the age of twelve years, accompanied by his parents and the rest of the family. At the age of fifteen years he entered the foundry of Mr. Gardner, as an apprentice to the iron moulding business, and finished his apprenticeship in the foundry of Mr. Latrapp. He continued to work as a journeyman in the moulding business up to 1866, when he, with a number of others of like progress, started the foundry known as the Eureka Foundry. After being connected with this company for a year, he retired and bought an interest in the Phoenix Iron Foundry, of which he is now sole pro- prietor, and which gives employment to at least one hundred men. He married, April 13, 1857, Miss Katherine, daughter of Frederick and Louisa (Windt) Boos, of Bavaria, Germany. Six children blessed this union, all of whom survive, and some of whom are holding positions of trust and responsibility, viz .: Victor E., superin- tendent of the Phoenix Iron Foundry; John A., manager for the Cincinnati Screw and Tap Company; Peter J., bookkeeper in the office of the Phoenix Iron Foundry; Charles J., machinist; Arthur E., student, and Katherine H., also a student. The wife of our subject died January 9, 1891. Mr. Knecht spent a year in the army, and was in several engagements. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company K, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Captain Lane, commanding, and was honorably discharged by the regimental surgeon for disability. He is a member of the French Mutual Aid Society of Cincinnati, and his political views are Republican. In religious faith he and his family are Roman Catholic.

His father and mother came with their family to this country from France in 1845. The father followed the business of a carpenter and millwright, in which he continued up to the time of his death, which took place in 1883. The mother of our subject died a number of years before her husband. Our subject is well and favorably known in this community, and through thrift and integrity he has built up a reputation, in a business and social way, which is an example for the rising generation to follow.

REUBEN E. CHAMPION, superintendent of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, was born November 24, 1832, in Savannah, Ga., and removed with his parents, in 1834, to Columbus, Ohio, when that city was but a village. In 1847 he entered the book- store of Joseph H. Riley & Co. (who succeeded H. W. Derby), remaining with them until 1850, when he entered the service of the Columbus & Xenia railroad, at that time not yet completed to Xenia. When the Little Miami railroad leased the Columbus & Xenia road, Mr. Champion continued with the new organization under the late W. H. Clement until 1854, in which year he went into the coal business at Columbus, Xenia, Dayton, Springfield and other points. He was the first coal dealer in Columbus, and controlled the principal mines in the Hocking Valley and on the Central Ohio railroad. In 1857, during the coal famine in Cincinnati, he, at the solicitation of W. H. Clement, then president of the Little Miami railroad, arranged with the railways to run special coal trains from Columbus to Cincinnati, throwing into the city in a brief space of time several million bushels of coal when it was selling at sixty cents a bushel, selling to those who could buy, and giving to

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the poor many entire trainloads of the precious fuel. In 1858, leaving his business in charge of his brother, Mr. Champion left Cincinnati with twenty-one other young men of this city for the "Gadsden Purchase," now known as Arizona and New Mexico. The United States had just purchased that portion of our domain from Mexico, and on the map it was a blank space, marked "unexplored and unknown." The record of the Santa Rita Silver Mining Company is a part of the history of our country, and the newspapers of that date tell of the fights with Apaches and Comanches, and the suffering of the Cincinnati boys on that famous trip across the continent. But few white men had ever been in Arizona, and they were the first to make known its wonderful mineral wealth. Mr. Champion was one of the three survivors of that expedition, and bears the scars of Indian arrows on his person. Returning from the West, Mr. Champion enlisted in the army, April 18, 1861, was commissioned captain and quartermaster, and did faithful service for his country in the Civil war. After the war he engaged in planting and steamboating in the South, made a fortune and lost it. He then, in 1869, returned to Cincinnati and again entered the service of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati & St. Louis railroad, as secretary of the general superintendent, remaining there eight years, and then accepting an offer from John R. McLean to start and edit the railway column of the Cincinnati Enquirer. At the expiration of his engagement with the Enquirer he entered the service of the B. & O. Express Company, remaining with that company between five and six years. Upon leaving he took charge for the receiver of the J. F. Shumate Company, and on March 1, 1887, resigned his duties in that connection to assume those of assistant secretary of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, from which he has risen to the office of superintendent. Mr. Champion's services in behalf of this time- honored institution have been of such a character as to make him well and favorably known, not only to the educators of Ohio, but to every man in the State who takes an active and helpful interest in human progress and educational advancement.

LOUIS G. FREEMAN, machinist, of the firm of Freeman & Weiland, machinists and millwrights, was born in the city of Cincinnati, and is the youngest of two surviving children born to William and Minnie (Willing) Freeman. Having lost his parents early in life he was reared to manhood by his relatives, and was educated in the pri- vate schools of Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio. In 1878 he returned to Cincinnati and learned the machinist business, which he has worked at ever since. For a number of years he was foreman and superintendent of the Ross, Moyer Manufacturing Com- pany, and early in 1893 went into business, in connection with Frank M. Weiland, at Nos. 12 and 14 Ninth street, their present location. He was married, in 1883, to Elizabeth, daughter of Charles and Annie (Gelthaus) Brodfuehrer, residents of West- wood, and they have had born to them five children, three of whom survive, viz .: Annie Louise, Charles Frederick and Benjamin William. The parents of our sub- ject were of German origin, and his sister Frances is a Sister of Charity. The gen- tlemen comprising the firm of Freeman & Weiland are well and favorably known; they are thorough masters of their business, and, having given a careful study to all its branches, are prepared to give accurate estimates on all matters relating thereto. All work is done under the personal supervision of one of the members of the firm, and their success during the short time they have been in the business is one of the proofs of their excellent work.

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 130

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