History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 132

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

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Mr. Laidlaw was married December 29, 1871, to Miss Bessie, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Paton) McDougall, all natives of Edinburgh. He and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Walnut Hills, of which he is an elder. He is also interested in the Calvary Presbyterian Church, which was built and equipped by Thomas McDougall. He is a director of the Young Men's Christian Association, and was a member of the committee who built the present excellent structure. He is treasurer of the John D. Coffman Mission, and of the City Evan- gelization of the Presbytery of Cincinnati. In 1892 the Ohio Mechanics' Institute appointed him a member of the World's Fair Committee, and in the same year he was appointed by the Chamber of Commerce a member of the smoke committee. He has taken an active interest in the Republican party, and is a member of the Lincoln Club; but close attention to business, to which may be largely attributed his high degree of success, has prevented him from accepting any political honors from his party.

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

JOHN WESLEY DUNN, secretary and treasurer of the Laidlaw & Dunn Manufac- turing Company, was born in Lockland, Ohio, March 23, 1854, and is the son of Elnathan and Nancy (Friend) Dunn. Charles Howard Friend was born in Virginia,. July 5, 1789, and died in Lockland, Ohio, January 23, 1868. His wife, Elizabeth Scratch, was born in Gosfield, Canada, July 25, 1793, and died in Lockland, Ohio, July 7, 1853. They were married in her native place May 31, 1809, and had nine children, of whom Nancy was the eighth. She was born in Beavertown, Penn., November 15, 1821, and died in Lockland, June 25, 1892. Elnathan was born in Lockland, Ohio, May 17, 1815, and died September 7, 1876. Elnathan Dunn and Mary Friend were married September 6, 1838, and the issue of this marriage was children as follows: Andrew M., of Springfield, Ohio; George F., in Detroit, Mich. ; Silas S .; John Wesley; Sarah E. (Mrs. Alexander Wigle) and Emeline A. L.

Our subject was educated in the public schools of his native town, and then for twelve years was employed in a paper mill. In 1882 he engaged with the John H. McGowan Company as traveling salesman, he also having some stock in the com- pany, and in 1887, in joint action with Robert Laidlaw, organized the present com- pany, Mr. Dunn being secretary and treasurer. Mr. Dunn was married October 14,. 1880, to Miss Fannie, daughter of G. G. and Mary (Bachelor) Palmer, of Lockland. They have five children: Mary, Harry A., Elsie, Robert, and Bessie. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Lockland, in which town they reside. He is a 32° Mason; a Republican in his political views, and has served two terms as president of the Lockland board of education.

SANFORD S. HOLBROOK, lumber dealer, was born in Windham county, Vermont, February 4, 1829, the youngest son of Freeman and Sylva (Smith) Holbrook. His father, who was also a native of Vermont. was born May 8, 1785, and died July 29, 1843, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He was a farmer and live stock dealer, which occupation he followed successfully during his residence in Vermont. In the summer of 1829 he removed with his family to Waterborough, N. Y., where he engaged in the manufacture and sale of lumber, for a time in partnership, and then on his own resources, until within about two years of his death. His wife, Sylva, was also a native of Vermont, born August 14, 1786, and, in the faith of the Baptist Church, died March 20, 1870. at the home of her son, Sanford S., in Columbia. She attained a much greater age than her husband, being in her eighty-fourth year at the time of her decease, having outlived him twenty-seven years. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom died in infancy. Those who grew to maturity were: Clesta, born October 9, 1808, died January 7, 1860; Laura Ann F., born October 20, 1818, died January 1, 1848; Galutia F., born March 10, 1822, died. September 24, 1841; Wales F., born February 7, 1827, resides in New York, and. Sanford S., the subject of this sketch.

Sanford S. Holbrook received his literary education in the schools of Poland, N .. Y., and his business education in Jamestown, same State. At the early age of four- teen he went to clerking in a general store, where he remained a number of years. In 1852, at the age of 23, being imbued with the laudable ambition of achieving something higher in life, he turned his face westward, finally landing in the glorious. land of California, whither so many young men were bending their steps at that time. After working successfully for four years in the gold mines, he gathered together his savings, and returned to Jamestown. In December, 1856, he bought. an interest in a sawmill and valuable timber lands in Forest county, Penn., where, with two others, he entered into the manufacture of lumber, the title of the firm. being Allen, Morris & Holbrook. Sometime afterward Morris sold his interest to. Allen and Grandin, and the firm did business until 1864, when Mr. Holbrook pur- chased the equal shares of Dascum Allen, and Allen & Grandin, and one year later he sold his entire interests in this Pennsylvania property. In the fall of 1866 he. came to Cincinnati, and in 1867 engaged in the lumber business. In a short time.

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

thereafter, in the same year, T. D. Collins was admitted to a full partnership, and this firm also purchased the mill and timber lands formerly owned by Allen, Morris & Holbrook. They continued to conduct these enterprises in Cincinnati and Penn- sylvania until 1879, when Mr. Holbrook sold the mills and lands to Mr. Collins. Mr. Holbrook, however, continued to sell lumber at Columbia until 1885, when he abandoned that and gave his attention to cultivating a fine farm in Spencer town- ship, which he had purchased in 1866, and which he still owns. In 1890 he bought his present mill on Eastern avenue, which was erected about 1880 by James Mack. It is a well-equipped circular-saw mill, having a capacity of six million feet per year. Mr. Holbrook manufactures, principally, oak and poplar lumber, and gives employment to from twenty-six to thirty men. Mr. Holbrook was married Decem- ber 23, 1868, to Florence E., daughter of Samuel Phillips, of Cincinnati, and the union has been blessed with four children: Wales H., Walter Leroy, Sylva Grace, and Freeman C., all of whom reside with their parents. Samuel Phillips, the father of Mrs. Holbrook, removed to Cincinnati about 1860, and engaged in the lumber trade with his brother, Asa Phillips. Some three years later he died.

Mr. Holbrook is a member of the Masonic Order; politically, he is a Republican. He is the artificer of his own fortune, his success in life having been achieved by industry, economy and frugal dealing, and a strict adherence to the principles of the golden rule. Socially, he is a gentleman highly respected by all who know him. He has always given his means and influence to everything tending to build up the community in which he has so long resided.

HENRY THOMAS OGDEN, superintendent of the printing department of the Robert Clarke Company, was born March 31, 1824, near Augusta, Bracken Co., Ky., a son of Henry Ogden and Lucy C. (Metcalfe) Ogden, by birth of Maryland and Virginia, respectively.

Our subject received his education at Lexington, Ky., and here at an early age began to learn the printing business in the office of Finnell & Zimmermann, pub- lishers of a semi-weekly newspaper known as the Observer and Reporter, one of the early publications of that commonwealth. In 1841-42 he was engaged as a com- positor in Louisville and Cincinnati, and in 1843 was associated with Basil Cruik- shank in the publication, at Maysville, Ky., of a Democratic campaign sheet, The Spirit of ' 44. In 1845-46 he was variously employed in Missouri, and in June of the latter year, at the beginning of the Mexican war, he enlisted in the First Regi- ment of Missouri Volunteers, during this service being promoted to a lieutenancy. In 1848 he returned to Cincinnati, and engaged in the printing business with that veteran printer of Cincinnati, Ephraim Morgan; for some years he operated a printing office of his own, and was for a time identified with the Elm Street Print- ing Company. In 1868 he accepted the superintendency of the printing depart- ment of the Robert Clarke Company, in which capacity he has since been employed. For nearly thirty years Henry T. Ogden has been a most earnest and active advocate of temperance, giving freely of his means and devoting much of his time to advancing the interests of that cause. Up to 1883, he was a zealous Democrat, but in that year renounced his allegiance to that party, becoming identified with the Prohibition party. He has been tendered various nominations by the Labor and Prohibition parties, having been upon the ticket of the former for mayor of Cincin- nati, and member of Congress from the Second District, and upon the latter for member of Congress and lieutenant-governor of the State. In November, 1850, Mr. Ogden was married in Cincinnati to Nancy, daughter of Britton and Susan Ross, who were among the pioneers of the city. Of the children born of this mar- riage three survive, viz .: Harry Martin Ogden, of the Cincinnati Enquirer ; William Britton Ogden, a merchant of Milford, Ky., and Mrs. Lutie Ogden Tingly, wife of Edward P. Tingly, bookkeeper for the Citizens National Bank of Cincinnati.

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

Both of Mr. Ogden's sons have been actively identified with the Labor party, the latter having, in 1892, been its candidate for Congress from Campbell county, Ken- tucky.

JOHN OMWAKE, treasurer of The United States Printing Company, and manager of the playing-card branch of their business, factories on Eggleston avenue and Fifth, Sixth and Lock streets, was born in Pennsylvania in 1855, a son of Henry and Eveline (Beaver) Omwake, both of American nationality and residents of Penn- sylvania.

John Omwake was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania. In 1889 he was married to Carrie A. Brough, daughter of Governor John Brough and Caroline A. (Nelson) Brough, all of American ancestry. One daughter, Evelyn Brough Omwake, blessed this union. Mrs. Omwake died in the summer of 1893. Mr. Omwake is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a Republican in his politi- cal views.

JAMES E. MOONEY, president of the American Oak Leather Company, and the Cincinnati Coffin Company, was born in Shelby county, Indiana, May 4, 1832, son of Edmund and Mary (Nicholson) Mooney, of North of Ireland ancestry on the paternal side. His father was born in Fayette county, Penn., and in his youth he migrated to Kentucky where he served an apprenticeship to the tanner's trade. His wife, Mary (Nicholson), a lady of Welsh descent, was born in Culpeper county, Va., and soon after their marriage, in 1818, they removed to the wilderness of Indi- ana, locating near the present site of Waldron, Shelby county. About 1838 they located in Shelbyville, where the education of our subject was begun, and continued for five years in the seminary there, when it was interrupted by the last removal of the family to Edinburgh, Johnson Co., same State, where it was resumed and continued about two years with such facilities as the schools of the vicinity afforded. The sharp struggle for the comforts of life, at that time in a new and undeveloped country, rendered it necessary that the children by their services should become healthful contributors to the family welfare, at as early an age as possible; hence, in this case the young man's studies were continued in the shop, store, office and factory, as time and opportunity permitted. About the age of twelve he became an assistant in the sale of leather, harness and saddlery manufactured by his father and older brothers, and in keeping the accounts, also as an apprentice in the harness department, for a year or more. His preference for a commercial career receiving consideration, he became clerk in a neighboring general store, the proprietor of which was a well-trained methodical merchant of high character and sound business principles, which largely contributed to the development and proper direction of such abilities as nature endowed him with. In 1849, soon after the first railroad in Indiana (the Madison & Indianapolis) was completed, he secured employment in the first exclusively wholesale store established in the latter city; and, notwithstand- ing his youth, he advanced in position, being detailed for lengthy collection winter tours on horseback, the only available means of communication through the west- ern portion of the State, then a comparative wilderness. From 1851 to 1853 he held the responsible position of accountant and cashier with an important pork- packing establishment at Madison, Indiana. In the autumn of 1853, with his first employer as non-resident partner, and with savings from a salary then small com- pared with the present day for similar services, as his contribution to the capital, he established a general store at Edinburgh, Indiana. The firm had a prosperous career of five years. At the beginning of 1858, he returned to the leather business destined to form a large portion of his future notable career, by purchasing his father's interest in the tannery establishment, and with his elder brother form- ing the firm of W. W. & J. E. Mooney, which soon after built an extensive tannery at Columbus, Indiana. The firm continued fifteen years, and on his retiring from it he was succeeded by his nephews. Later in the same year (1858) he established the

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firm of Mooney & Company at Indianapolis, as wholesale leather dealers, in which his interest continued for about thirty years, he making that city his home a portion of the time. In 1866, he organized a successful leather and jobbing business at Louisville, Ky., from which he retired five years later to give attention to the large leather manufacturing interest which he had in the meantime organized there; he continued the chief stockholder, and exclusive officer of the Ohio Falls Oak Leather Company, which has recently greatly enlarged its works. His first investment in this city was recognized through a subscription to the capital stock of the Mount Adams & Eden Park Inclined Railway Company, organized in 1872. Previous to that time, during his occasional visits to the city, he had observed that the trend of improvement and population was to the west and northwest, into Mill creek valley, while the territory north and northeast, magnified in its extent and natural beauty, was, on account of its inaccessibility by cheap and quick transit facilities, compara- tively neglected. He there readily responded to the solicitations of a friend to become interested in the proposed enterprise, not expecting to give it personal atten- tion. The intervention of the panic of 1873, however, changed these calculations, and it became necessary that he should give it much personal attention during sev- eral years, and largely increase his investment in fully developing and carrying the system to a practical success, safely reached in the spring of 1880. His frequent visits to the city, during the period covered by the development of the railroad enterprise, led, in 1876, to an investment in the Cincinnati Coffin Company, then a new and comparatively weak corporation which has since greatly enlarged its busi- ness and capital, and now furnishes employment to several hundred operatives. In 1880, he organized, and has continued the chief stockholder and executive officer in, the American Oak Leather Company of Cincinnati, and during that year its exten- sive works were constructed on two and one- half blocks bounded by McLean and Dalton avenues, and Kenner and Flint streets. Notwithstanding its disastrous experience with two destructive floods and the destruction of its works twice by fire, the company has achieved success, and furnished employment to over five hundred men. The products are sold through its branches located in Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and No. 144 Main street, Cincinnati.

The career of such a man as Mr. Mooney exemplifies the possibility of our pro- gressive country, aids to build up its industries, and serves as a useful lesson to the- rising generation. To succeed was to apply ambition of a worthy kind, persever- ance, and all the honorable qualities which go to make up the really first-class busi- ness man. While giving close attention to his private business, lie has not been unmindful of public interests, and he has come to be regarded by his fellow citizens as eminently public-spirited and helpful. He has brought to bear on every impor- tant interest, which he has directed or assisted, a broad-minded and comprehensive influence which has marked him as one of the progressive men of his time.

JULIUS ENGELKE, a native of Germany, born in the Province of Hannover, Aug- ust 9, 1834, was the youngest of four sons born to Henry and Henrietta (Koch). Engelke. They were natives of Herzberg, a manufacturing town situated at the foot of the Hartz Mountains, where the father for many years followed the vocation of gunsmith, until his death, which occurred in June, 1834; here, also, the mother died in June, 1842. Of our subject's brothers, Frederick (the eldest) is at present one of the leading bakers of Cincinnati, located on Central avenue; Charles died in Germany, and William is a prominent farmer near Ghent, Kentucky.

Our subject received a good education in the common schools of his native town, and when fourteen years of age was apprenticed to his uncle in Herzberg, to learn the trade of harness making. Here he remained five years, at the end of which time he came to this country, arriving in Cincinnati just forty years ago. Here he began working at his trade, and continued until March, 1863, when he began the. harness business for himself on Vine street, near Fifteenth, remaining at this loca-

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

tion twenty years. He then removed to Main street, continuing in the same busi- ness until in August, 1891, when he removed to the southeast corner of Sixth and Main streets, where the Engelke Saddlery Company is at present located. On Octo- ber 17, 1857, he was married to Charlotte Ehrhardt, a native of Germany, by whom he had twelve children, five of whom are living: Frederick, at present foreman in his father's factory; Augusta, who resides with her parents; Henrietta, the wife of Henry Morrison, residing on Mt. Auburn; Minnie, also living at home, and William, bookkeeper in his father's office. Mr. Engelke is a consistent member of the Prot- estant Lutheran Church; politically, he is a Republican, and at present is reg ster of elections. He has been a member of the German Turners Society for thirty-five years and is now its president; was one of the founders of the Turners' Building Association, and has for twenty years been one of its officers. In 1858 he became a member of the I. O. O. F., and in 1885 united with the Masonic fraternity. In 1873 he was elected a member of the common council of Cincinnati, and served with credit till 1881; was a member of the "Old lively twos" fire company from 1855 until 1862. In 1864 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-fifth O. V. I., in the one-hundred-day service, under Col. Bolander, and served until the close of the war. For a number of years Mr. Engelke has been identified with the financial interests of the city, and he is at present a director of the Atlas National Bank. In 1883 he visited his boyhood home in Germany, and traveled many thousand miles viewing the wonders of the Old World. The Engelke Saddlery Co. has grown from small proportions to be an immense concern, and one of the most prosperous in the city.

JOHN PHILLIP THOMPSON, proprietor of the Hilltop Carriage Company, located at Nos. 635 and 637 Gilbert avenue, No. 645 Gilbert avenue, was born at Pontefract, Yorkshire, England, and is the younger of two living children who were born to James and Catherine (Saul) Thompson, both natives of England.

The father, who was a hotel keeper, died in 1856; the mother died in 1858. A sister, Mary, wife of Henry Marcum Cooke, resides in St. Louis.

Our subject was educated in the public schools of Yorkshire, and after leaving school went to sea as cabin boy for about one year. He then served seven years at the carriage-making business in York, after which he went to London and for about two years worked at carriage ornamenting. In 1867 he came to the United States, arriving in New York, where he joined the United States navy, in which he served five years as ship painter. After being honorably discharged from the navy he went to St. Louis, where he remained about six months, removing from there to Cincinnati. He worked for James Kidney a short time, afterward, until 1891, was foreman for J. W. Goselin, and in that year entered into partnership with T. J. Orr, whose interest in the business he purchased in 1892. Mr. Thompson was married July 7, 1874, to Annie J., daughter of George and Catherine (Mintchin) Kidney, and to them have been born three children, two of whom, George and Arthur, are yet liv- ing. Our subject is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the Knights of Workmen; the family attend the Episcopal Church. Mr. Thompson is recognized as one of the most expert carriage painters in the city. He gives his personal attention to the business, and the quality of the carriages manufactured being of a superior grade, he has succeeded in building up an extensive and rapidly increasing business.

HENRY JOHNSON REEDY, president of the H. J. Reedy Elevator Company, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, March 22, 1842. His parents came to this coun- try during his early childhood, and at the age of twelve years, Henry started out to earn his livelihood, becoming the " devil " in the printing office of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He abandoned this employment, however, to learn the trade of carpenter, in which he was engaged, after learning his trade, until his twentieth year, when he established a small factory for the building of hand-power elevators, inventing and patenting the various devices which entered their construction. He conceived the

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

idea of a valve for the operation of hydraulic elevators, which he patented, then entered into the manufacture of these elevators on an extensive scale. He next invented and patented a safety device to enter into the construction of steam ele- vators, the manufacture of which he then added to the business. His latest inven- tion, known as the Climax Steam Passenger Elevator, combines the greatest safety, the smoothest operation, and the highest rate of speed thus far obtainable in elevator construction, and embodying the best features of his own inventions, and a number of valuable devices invented and patented by other experts in the same line of work, and purchased by him. The company is now incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio.

Mr. Reedy is a Republican, and has held but one office, that of member of the board of aldermen, to which he was returned by a handsome majority from that historic Democratic stronghold, the Fourth Ward. Mr. Reedy introduced the original motion for the building of new City Hall. He has been twice married, his first wife being Mary, daughter of Ennison Shea, a wholesale grocer of Newport. Of the children born of this marriage, four survive. The eldest, Daniel V. Reedy, completed his education at the Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, in 1890, and is now associated with the H. J. Reedy Company; the remaining children are Bertha, Charles and Henry J., Jr. Mrs. Mary (Shea) Reedy died in 1878, and in 1884 Mr. Reedy married Miss Josephine Burke, daughter of Christopher Burke, of Cincinnati. The living issue of this marriage are: Howard, Henrietta, Laura and Jeannette. The family resides on Harper avenue, Norwood; they are members of St. Xavier's Church.

MICHAEL ANGELO MCGUIRE, trunk manufacturer and dealer, was born near Thurles, Ireland, on September 29, 1839. His parents, who were also natives of Ireland, as were their ancestors for many generations, came to this country in 1844, and located at once on Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, where they conducted a dairy.

Our subject received but little schooling, and at twelve years of age was indentured to learn the trunk-manufacturing business with Hise & Williams, remaining with them five years. He was employed in various trunk-making establishments in Cin- cinnati until the breaking out of the war. On April 25, 1861, he enlisted for three months in the Tenth O. V. I., and re-enlisted in the same regiment June 10, 1861, for three years or during the war. In August, 1862, he was, upon the recommenda- tion of Col. Wm. H. Lytle, promoted, receiving a commission to recruit a company in Cincinnati, which he did, the company so recruited being Company B, assigned to the One Hundred and Eighth O. V. I., of which he was commissioned second lieutenant, and afterward became first lieutenant, then captain. Capt. McGuire was wounded four times during his service, the last time at the battle of Resaca, Ga., in 1864. When this last wound had partially healed he resumed duty; but the wound proving obstinate, and breaking open no less than five times, he was in November, 1864, compelled to resign. After leaving the service he was commis- sioned as brevet major " for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Resaca." Capt. McGuire has been three times reported dead. In September, 1861, the news- paper accounts of the battle of Carnifex Ferry, Va., contained his name as among the killed, and in 1864 he was named in the official report as one of the dead upon the field of battle at Resaca. In November, 1885, while duck hunting on the Ten- nessee river near Chattanooga, the boat containing himself, two companions and a colored boy was overturned. Capt. McGuire, who was the only one of the party who could swim, saved one of his companions, J. L. Shannon, who had been his comrade in the Tenth O. V. I .; the other succeeded in gaining shore, and the colored boy was swept down the stream clinging to the overturned boat. Capt. McGuire, divest- ing himself of some of his clothing, succeeded in reaching the boy, and after a pro- tracted struggle effected a landing several miles below, after nightfall, in a thoroughly prostrated condition. Meantime his companions, unable to find any trace of him,

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 132

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