History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 142

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

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The subject of this sketch received a public-school education at Hamilton, and at the age of fifteen walked to Cincinnati, where he entered the employ of Griffith, a tea merchant at Fifth and Sycamore. He entered the fruit business with A. F. Bramble & Company, on Front street. In 1875 he embarked in business individu- ally, but a year later admitted his brother to partnership. They occupied five floors, 35x120 feet, and the business aggregated a quarter of a million annually; they bought largely in New York. Mr. Brooks married Celia, daughter of John Mellon, of Pittsburgh, and they have one child: Edna Mary. The family adhere to the

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German Lutheran Church. Mr. Brooks is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Knights of Pythias.

CHARLES LEWIS BROOKS, junior member of the firm of Peter Brooks & Co., and brother of the senior member of that firm, was born at Hamilton, March 14, 1850, and received a public-school education at his native place. In 1875 he became asso- ciated with his brother, and has contributed his full share to the prosperity of their business. He has given special attention to its extension throughout Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and elsewhere, thus establishing a unique feature of the wholesale fruit trade. Mr. Brooks adheres to the German Lutheran Church. He is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the F. & A. M. and the B. P. O. E.

WILLIAM T. PERKINS, of the firm of John J. Perkins & Co., wholesale bakers, confectioners and fancy grocers, was born December 8, 1834, at Xenia, Ohio, son of John S. and Elizabeth C. (Beall) Perkins, natives, respectively, of Xenia, Ohio, and Maysville, Ky. The mother died in 1888, at the age of seventy-four; the father lives with his son, William T., at the advanced age of eighty-three. His father, Thomas M. Perkins, came from Virginia to Ohio in 1800. John S. Perkins was a general merchant at Xenia, Ohio, came to Cincinnati in 1845, and engaged in busi- ness as a boot and shoe jobber, subsequently giving his attention to insurance until his retirement. His family numbered six children, two of whom are living: Will- iam T., and Charles G., a steamboat captain, residing at Henderson, Kentucky.

The subject of this sketch was educated in the Xenia Academy, where he read Cæsar before reaching his twelfth year. April 7, 1845, he arrived at Cincinnati, having travelled by stage coach and railroad, and attended school here for a time. He then entered the dry-goods store of Alexander Stewart, on Sixth street, where he worked for some time for one dollar per week, and then politely but firmly requested an advance to one dollar and twenty-five cents, which his employer declined to make, and he left the store. On the next market day, however, he was sent for, and reinstated on his own terms, but left shortly afterward, and for two years attended the Cincinnati high school. He then entered the employ of Conkling, Wood & Company, white lead manufacturers, as shipping clerk. Three years later, having saved some money, he embraced an opportunity to purchase a partnership in a paint business, but it was immediately thereafter discovered that the firm was deeply in- solvent, and thus his investment was an utter loss. At his boarding-place he had formed the acquaintance of Capt. James Bugher, of the famous Cincinnati & Mem- phis Steamboat Line, who, on the morning after the failure of his firm, offered him the position of clerk on one of his boats, the "Rescue," which was eagerly accepted; it was in the dead of winter, and the river was very low, making the work and exposure severe. He spent one year on the river, then clerked two years in the banking house of Groesbeck & Co., when for the sake of his health he made a long journey into Texas with an Arizona mining expedition. After his return he again entered the bank, and remained until 1862. During the Civil war he marched with the militia to repel the threatened raid of Gen. Kirby Smith. His first appoint- ment was that of regimental quartermaster, but he subsequently became brigade and then division quartermaster, and served in that capacity until the raid was over. In 1863 he opened a banking and brokerage office at Cincinnati under the firm name of William T. Perkins & Co., and a year later transferred his business to Knoxville, Tenn., and established the First National Bank of that city, of which he was the first president. Owing to ill health in his family he disposed of his interest there to the late Judge Baxter and others, and returned to Cincinnati, where, in connec- tion with J. D. Thompson, he established the Central National Bank, of which he was cashier about one year. This institution was subsequently merged into the First National Bank. His next employment was reporting on the editorial staff of the Cincinnati Chronicle, afterward consolidated with the Times, on the editorial staff of which he occupied an important position until 1872. He then went to Phila-

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delphia, to assume charge of the National Publishing Association, but a few months afterward was obliged to relinquish active business on account of nervous prostra- tion, and took a long vacation. Having fully recovered, he entered the office of W. E. Davis, assistant United States treasurer at Cincinnati, and was there with A. M. Stem until 1879, when he entered the employ of the firm of which he became a member in 1890.

Mr. Perkins resides at No. 95 Ashland avenue, Walnut Hills. He was married, May 3, 1859, to Miss Sallie E., daughter of Hiram De Camp, of Cincinnati, and four children have been born to them, one of whom is living, George B., a civil engineer. Mr. Perkins is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Republican. ] He is president of the Manufacturers Association of Hamilton County, and of the Ohio Association of Productive Industries; treasurer of the Young Men's Mutual Life Association of Cincinnati; president and treasurer of the American District Telegraph Company of Hamilton County, and a member of the executive committee of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Cincinnati. He was chairman of the committee of arrangements for the dedicatory exercises of the new city hall in 1893, and the success of that magnificent demonstration was largely due to his efforts. On May 4, 1893, he was appointed by Mayor Mosby a member of the board of fire trustees of the city.

CHARLES F. MUTH, senior member of the firm of Charles F. Muth & Sons, deal- ers in seeds, honey, beeswax and apiarian supplies, was born in Germany April 23, 1834, son of Charles F. and Carolina (Schmith) Muth, who were the parents of three children: Charles F., August, deceased, and Carolina, wife of Ernest Oberheu, of the Eagle Insurance Company, Cincinnati.

Charles F. was educated in the schools of his native land. In 1853, at the age of nineteen, he arrived at Cincinnati, and for three years clerked in the grocery of S. H. Frank, corner of Vine and Canal streets. He then spent two years in Minne- sota and Kansas, engaged principally in land speculation. Upon his return to Cin- cinnati (1860) he established a grocery at Nos. 976 and 978 Central avenue; two years later he bought the property and erected the present buildings thereon, wherein he continued the grocery until 1883, since which date the business has been confined to apiarian products and supplies. In July, 1857, Mr. Muth married Carolina Muth, and they are the parents of ten children, of whom the following are living: August J., who married Annie Nickel, and is associated in business with his father; Carolina, wife of L. W. Sauer, druggist; Henry, also associated with his father; Stella and Nellie. Mr. Muth is a Republican in politics, and was a director of the Cincinnati Workhouse in 1888-91. He is a member of Camp Washington Evangeli- cal Protestant Church; president of the German Protestant Orphan Asylum, and a member of the Masonic Fraternity.

AUGUSTUS EITELGEORGE MUTH, proprietor of Muth's Bakery, was born on the present. site of the Custom House, Cincinnati, December 4, 1848, and is a son of Augustus H. and Caroline (Eitelgeorge) Muth, natives of Germany. Augustus Eitelgeorge, the father of Mrs. Muth, was a baker by trade in his native land, and about 1829 established himself in business where the Custom House now stands. Cincinnati has some bakeries which, in point of mere size, rank with the great ones of the world, but it is safe to say that nowhere can one be found which more truly merits the term "model " than Muth's Steam Bakery. The leading bakeries from all parts of the Union acknowledge the fact, and regard the proprietor as an au- thority in all that pertains to the baker's craft. Muth's is the oldest existing bakery west of the Alleghany Mountains, the business having been in charge of three gen- erations of the same family, beginning in 1829 with the grandfather, continued by the father, Augustus H. Muth, and finally coming to the present owner, Mr. Augustus E. Muth. The original location of the bakery was on the north side of Fifth street near Walnut, where it remained until " Uncle Sam " took possession of

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the ground for his Government building. Since then the bakery has been located on Richmond street near Central avenue, and has been continually enlarging and improving until now it is a substantial four-story brick building, occupying Nos. 87, 89, 91 and 93 of this street, and supplying not only a large part of Cincinnati with bread daily but also shipping to all points within a radius of one hundred miles of the city. . Here we find the most improved bake-ovens and specially constructed machinery for sifting flour and handling dough on a large scale, much of which was devised and has been patented by Mr. Muth. The ventilation and lighting of the building are perfect, and throughout which cleanliness is strictly maintained. Only the best materials are used. Flour is bought by the carload, the upper floors of this large building being covered with tier upon tier of jute bags filled with best patent flour. This is a wholesale house only, and manufactures bread exclusively ; bnt variety is given to the business by turning out some thirty or forty different kinds, to suit all tastes.

Mr. Muth entered the shop wlien a young boy and grew up with the business. He is thoroughly familiar with and personally supervises every detail of his business, thereby keeping the quality of his product up to the highest standard and making his name and trademark a household word among Cincinnatians for a good whole- some loaf of bread.

MRS. MARGARET DORN, baker, was born in Bavaria, Germany, and was reared and educated in the public schools of that country. In 1852 she emigrated to the United States and settled in Cincinnati. On October 22, 1853, she married G. F. Dorn, who was a baker by trade, and followed that business, in which he commenced for himself in 1854 at No. 303 Freeman street. The fruits of their marriage were six children, five of whom are living: Katherina, who married William Spearing, and resides in Cincinnati; Amelia; William; Annie, married to G. W. Seaver; Tillie, married to George Kennedy. Mr. Dorn was a member of Company G, One Hun- dred and Thirty-eighth O. V. I. He also belonged to the Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Bakers' Association and the A. P. A. He was a member of old St. Peter's Church, Cincinnati, as is also his widow. He died in 1870. His widow now carries on the bakery business at No. 1650 Eastern avenue.

J. CHARLES MCCULLOUGH, one of the best known seedsmen of the West, was born in Pleasant Ridge, Ohio, and is a son of J. M. Mccullough, whose name is unri- valed in the seed business in this country. He passed his boyhood and early man- hood associated with his father in the seed business, thus becoming perfectly familiar with every detail, both horticultural and commercial. In 1887 he engaged in business for himself, and met with universal success from the start. The rapid increase of his business soon necessitated his removal to his present more extensive quarters, at the corner of Second and Walnut streets. His stock includes every kind of seed and implement necessary for the farm and garden, and no pains are soared to make it complete. During the holiday season he carries a full variety of holly and evergreen wreaths and branches and Christmas trees, in the choice and preparation of which he has acquired an enviable reputation. Mr. Mccullough also deals in buggies and harness, and is connected with the Mccullough Buggy Company, whose "High Grade " vehicles and harnesses have become very popular all over the United States. He is a member of the Lincoln Club of Cincinnati, and resides at Pleasant Ridge, Ohio, within a hundred yards of the place of his birth.

WALTER ST. JOHN JONES, president of the Miami Valley Insurance Company, was born at New Haven, Conn., September 2, 1850, son of John D. and Elizabeth (Johnston) Jones. He attended the public schools of Cincinnati until the age of twelve, and then spent one year at Mt. Pleasant Military Academy, Sing Sing, N. Y., and the same length of time at Chester Military Academy, Westchester, Penn. In 1869 he entered Yale College, and graduated in 1873, immediately thereafter com-

Engraved by J R Rice & Sons Philada

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

mencing the study of law with Perry & Jenney, and entered the Cincinnati Law School, graduating in 1875. He practiced in the State and United States courts until 1890, after which he devoted himself entirely to the management of property for non-residents and legal collections. In November, 1891, he was elected vice- president of the Miami Valley Insurance Company, of which he became president in February, 1892. This Company was chartered as the Portsmouth Insurance Company, of Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1837; in 1860 the name was changed to the present style, and the offices were removed to Cincinnati. Mr. Jones is also secre- tary and treasurer of the Lewis & Talbott Stone Company, of Centerville, Ohio, and president of the Dayton, Lebanon & Cincinnati Railroad Company.

On October 5, 1861, he married Jean, daughter of David and Agnes (Clark) Ross, of Louisville, Ky., natives of Scotland, and one child. Agnes, was born to them. Mrs. Jones died April 15, 1885, and on April 13, 1888, he married Martha B., daughter of Henry Lewis, of Cincinnati. To this union one child, Elizabeth St. John, has been born. Mr. Jones united with the Protestant Episcopal Church while a student at Westchester, Penn., and has been a member of the vestry of the church at Glendale for fifteen years. He was also actively identified with the building of the Lyceum at that place. In politics Mr. Jones is a Republican.

GIDEON BURTON was born August 11, 1811, in Sussex county, Del., son of Robert and Betsey (West) Burton, both of whom were natives of Delaware and of English descent. Gideon spent his boyhood days upon his father's plantation, receiving a meager education, and at the age of fourteen went to Philadelphia, where he found employment in the wholesale dry goods house of Johnson & Tingley, with whom he remained as an employe, being advanced step by step, until 1833, when he became associated with the firm as a junior partner, his net profits during the first year being $5,000, while his expenses aggregated but $350. In 1848 he came to Cincin- nati and established a silk store, conducting it successfully until 1851, when the parent establishment in Philadelphia failed, causing the suspension of the Cincin-

nati branch. In 1853 Mr. Burton, together with Thomas Quigley, invested $35,000, and so successful was Mr. Burton's conduct of the business that his special partner realized $100,000 therefrom in nine years. For the past thirteen years Mr. Burton has been engaged in the fire insurance business in Cincinnati. He was married, December 1, 1835, to Catherine M., daughter of William Torbert, of Bucks county, Penn. Of the five children born to this marriage, four survive. Robert Bedell Burton, the eldest son, was engaged in the shoe business with his father until his death in 1878; he married Clara, daughter of the late B. F. Brenan, for many years president of the Franklin Bank, of Cincinnati. The surviving children are: Capt. W. T. Burton, Rev. John Henry Burton, K. Mitchell Burton and Martha Siddons (Burton) Morris, wife of Joseph S. Morris, of Louisville, Ky. Capt. William T. Burton served throughout the war of the Rebellion, being mustered out in command of Company B, Seventh O. V. C., of which company he was in command for nearly three years, serving in the army of the Tennessee. He is now engaged in the in- surance business in Cincinnati. He is married to Jennie, daughter of the late Solo- mon Langdon, and they reside in Clifton. Rev. John Henry Burton is rector of a Protestant Episcopal Church in Lansdale, Montgomery Co., Penn .; he married Fanny, daughter of - Merrick, of Cleveland, Ohio, and has five children. K. Mitchel Burton is secretary of the Cincinnati Barbed Wire Fence Company; he married Effie, daugliter of Robert Johnson, a manufacturer of Springfield, Ohio, and of the children born of this marriage five survive.

From childhood Gideon Burton has been an active member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1849 James C. Hall and Gideon Burton, believing that another Episcopal Church should be established in Cincinnati, raised within a few days the sum of $2,500, rented Melodeon Hall, and installed Rev. William M. Nicholson as rector of the new Church, which subsequently was known as St. John's, and is now

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known as St. Paul's, the present edifice being located on the southeast corner of Plum and Seventh streets. This is now the leading church of the denomination in the community. Of the twelve original vestrymen of this church, Mr. Burton alone survives. He also assisted in establishing the Church of the Messiah, Clinton street, and was one of the four to establish the mission, which is now St. Luke's Church. He has been prominently identified with the work of the Union Bethel, was for years one of its directors and teachers, and has been engaged in Sunday-school work con- tinuously for sixty-five years. He is a member of the Church of Our Saviour. He resides on Mt. Auburn.

ENOCH T. CARSON, president of the Knights Templar Insurance Company, was born September 18, 1822, in Green township, this county, and is a son of William J. and Margaret (Terry) Carson. His maternal ancestors came from Virginia, and were among the first settlers in Cincinnati.

Our subject remained with his father on the farm until his twenty third year, when he served three years as collector of tolls on the Cincinnati and Harrison turnpike, during which time he largely made up the deficiencies of his early educa- tion by systematic reading during his leisure hours. In 1848 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Hamilton county, and served for two years. He then entered the employ of the Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Company, where he remained two years, and became their first depot master at the Sixth Street Depot, Cincinnati. In No- vember, 1852, he was appointed chief deputy sheriff of Hamilton county, the duties of which office he faithfully executed for four years. Two years after the expira- tion of his term of office he engaged in the lamp and gas business, which he fol- lowed until 1861, when President Lincoln appointed him United States repository and collector of the Port of Cincinnati, an office which, with the outbreak of the Rebellion, developed from a minor position to one of vital importance. Cincinnati being the distributing point for the armies South, questions arose of the most per- plexing nature, and requiring the soundest judgment to correctly adjust. During his administration ten million dollars were sometimes received in a single day, and the amount on deposit upon one occasion reached the enormous sum of thirty mill- ions. To stand keeper of such vast stores almost within hearing of the famished Confederacy's cannon certainly required great courage, but he remained in the posi- tion until the close of the war, when he retired from office, and the following year made an extensive tour of the Old World.

In 1868, in connection with Mr. John E. Bell, he engaged in the development and sale of a large tract of land in Mill Creek Bottom, which they subdivided into building lots. Three years later he returned to the gas fixture and lamp business, in which he continued some two years. In 1870, being the nominee of both par- ties, he was almost unanimously elected member of the State Board of Equalization, in which position he rendered signal service to the tax-payers of Cincinnati. The following year he was appointed commissioner of costs and fees of Hamilton county; also a member of the board of park commissioners of Cincinnati. Mr. Carson be- came a member of the Masonic Order in 1845, was elected grand commander of Knights Templar of Ohio in 1871, and about the same time lieutenant-commander of the Northern Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, thirty- third degree. Mr. Carson has one of the largest private libraries of English, French and German works on secret societies in the world; it is also especially rich in illustrated Shakespearean literature.

CHARLES E. LOGAN, general agent of The Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, was born in Cincinnati, March 17, 1852, son of Adam A. and Mary (Smith) Logan, the former a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish descent, and the latter a native of Scotland. Adam A. Logan came to Cincinnati from Pennsyl- vania in 1828, and was for many years, and until his retirement from business, a leading merchant tailor. He is still living. His wife died in 1877.

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Charles E. Logan completed his education at Hughes High School in 1868, learned the trade of stone-cutting, and engaged at same until 1881, when he be- came chief clerk in the engineering department of the Cincinnati Southern road. In 1887 he resigned this position to accept the general agency of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is a member of the Cincinnati Life Under- writers' Association, and has been president of that organization. He is past emi- nent commander of the Cincinnati Commandery, Knights Templar, and is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Logan was married, in March, 1891, to Clara, daughter of Charles Balser, transfer agent of the Cincinnati Southern. He has one child, Charles E. Logan, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Logan reside on Oak and Melrose ave- nues, Walnut Hills.

JAMES WILKINS IREDELL, JR., was born in Norristown, Montgomery Co., Penn., June 17, 1841. He is a son of Robert and Teressa (Jones) Iredell, both natives of Montgomery county, of English descent, and both lineally descended from associ- ates of William Penn in the first settlement of the Keystone State. Robert Iredell, the father of the immediate subject of this sketch, was for more than forty years the editor and proprietor of the Norristown Herald and Free Press, a newspaper that was established in 1799; it was one of the leading Whig papers in the State, and one of the original Republican papers. He was born in 1809, and still resides at Norristown, near the place of his birth, and where his great-grandfather located in 1700.

James W. Iredell, Jr., was educated at the Tremont Seminary, an institution presided over by the famous abolition-leader, Rev. Samuel Aaron. At the age of seventeen he began to learn watch-making, and was thus employed for two years. He then learned the business of conveyancing and title examining, and this occupa- tion he was following at the time of the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted in Company I, Fifty-first Pennsylvania Infantry, Col. Hartranft (afterward major- general and governor) commanding. Shortly after his enlistment he was detailed to the Commissary, afterward to the Quartermaster's department, and was serving in the latter capacity at the close of the war, at headquarters of the Ninth Army Corps, Gen. A. E. Burnside commanding. One of the important duties devolving upon him was the fitting out of the expedition transporting the Paymasters and several millions of dollars from Camp Nelson to Knoxville. In this expedition Maj. McDowell was ranking Paymaster.

After the war he became identified with the Cincinnati Home Fire Insurance Company, with headquarters at Detroit, Mich. In 1867 he became general agent of the Cincinnati Mutual Life Insurance Company, of which Hon. William P. Nixon was president, and Hon. C. D. Robertson, ex-judge of the Common Pleas Court of Hamilton county, was vice-president. In 1869 Mr. Iredell was made sec- retary of the Home Mutual Life Insurance Company, with headquarters at Cincin- nati. When the three Cincinnati Life Insurance Companies consolidated under the name of the Union Central Life Insurance Company Mr. Iredell was appointed Superintendent of Agencies for the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Phila- delphia, and organized the territory from Pittsburgh to California. On January 1, 1887, he entered upon the duties of the position which he has ever since filled, that of general manager for Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. Mr. Iredell has been engaged in the life insurance business in Cincinnati for twenty-six years continuously.

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 142

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