History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 77

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

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HENRY PROBASCO, retired merchant, was born at Newtown, Conn., July 4, 1820, and was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia. In 1835 he commenced his mercantile career as a clerk with Tyler Davidson, who was engaged in the hard- ware business in Cincinnati. He was made a partner in 1840, and the same year married Julia, daughter of Abijah Carrington (comptroller of the State of Connecti- cut), and half sister of Mr. Davidson. Under his active personal superintendence the business rapidly grew, and in six years from his being taken into partnership, the firm of Tyler Davidson & Company became the largest hardware business in Cincinnati. In 1851, Mr. Probasco conceived the idea of erecting a handsome store far superior to any then in existence in this city, and he carried out the project on the site where the firm then transacted their business. It was the first store in Cin- cinnati built of freestone. It was an example of the bold enterprise of the firm, and had the effect of enlarging men's ideas as to what business stores and business blocks should be. It was a grand commercial success, for in 1854, three years after the erection of the building, the sales quadrupled those of 1851. In 1856, Mr. Probasco spent about eight months in Europe, and observing that many of the leading merchants and manufacturers of the large cities of England had removed to their suburban resi- dences, he began, on his return to Cincinnati, to consider the plans for building a country house, selecting Clifton as the locality. In 1860 his mansion, known as

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Oakwood, was commenced, and was completed in 1865. It is approached through an entrance which is interesting as a chef d'œuvre of Cincinnati wrought iron work. This was the first attempt that was made to unite limestone and sandstone in the construction of suburban residences. It was eminently successful, and since that time many of the large suburban residences of Cincinnati have been built of these materials. Mr. Probasco is entitled to the credit of having led the van. In Decem- ber, 1865, Tyler Davidson, his brother-in-law, died, and in March, 1866, Mr. Pro- basco disposed of the business to Lowry, Perin & Company, Mr. Lowry having been a partner in the firm of Tyler Davidson & Company for many years. In 1866 he again left this country for Europe, visiting all its principal cities, and returning late in 1867. In October, 1866, while in Munich at the Royal Bronze Foundry, he was shown some designs for a fountain. The idea of a public fountain for Cincinnati had been a topic of discussion between Mr. Probasco and Tyler Davidson. Mr. Probasco resolved to erect a fountain that, while it should be a practical benefit to the people. would be more beautiful than any previously erected in the United States. He commenced negotiations with the director of the foundry, as well as the great artist, Kaulbach, and his son-in-law, Kreling, and the result was the magnifi- cent fountain so widely known as well for its artistic beauty as its useful purposes, which he presented to the people of Cincinnati on October 6, 1871. He has also given a valuable fountain to the village of Clifton, made of granite and bronze. During Mr. Probasco's various travels in Europe, he devoted much of his time to the study of public and private galleries and museums of science and art. His nat- ural taste, cultivated by that education which association with the works of great masters gives, enabled him to assemble one of the finest collections of pictures in the country. His passion for curiosities in literature induced him to collect a splendid library of books and rare manuscripts. Besides indulging his love for the rare in literature, and the beautiful in art, Mr. Probasco has embellished his grounds with choice trees and shrubs imported from Japan, California, France and Eng- land. He has shown a public spirit that the city of Cincinnati is proud of. Mr. Probasco is an Episcopalian having contributed largely to the erection of Calvary church, in Clifton, donating its beautiful tower and stone spire. He has been one of the managers of the Public Library. He is president of the Spring Grove Ceme- tery, in which corporation he has served thirty years; has served for thirty years as president of the Cincinnati Orphan Asylum; for almost twenty years in council in the village of Clifton, and since 1877 as its mayor, until his retirement in 1888. The embellishment of the thirty acres of ground at Oakwood during thirty five years, regardless of cost, is justly to be considered a successful achievement of all that is best in the natural style of landscape gardening, having at last reached the most perfect condition. In 1887 Mr. Probasco married, for his second wife, Grace, eldest daughter of Thomas Sherlock, Esq., and by her he has one son and one daughter.

AMOS SHINKLE. No work purporting to give the history of Cincinnati would be complete without due mention of the man whose name opens this article, and who, as a citizen, capitalist and philanthropist, left the impression of his character and his enterprise upon every local interest. The young tradesman in the retail store, the boatman making voyages down the river, a controlling spirit in great and bene- ficent movements, the founder and representative of large and influential institu- tions, there was something in his manhood which helped other men and made him conspicuous among the best and wisest.

Mr. Shinkle was born on White Oak creek, Brown county, Ohio, August 11, 1818. His parents had come as children to the Northwest Territory from Pennsylvania in 1797. His boyhood was passed amid plain almost primitive surroundings, and he availed himself of such educational advantages as were offered in that then new country, coming to be regarded as enough of a scholar to teach the school in which

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he had been taught. But his natural bent inclined him to a business career, and at the early age of seventeen years we find him in charge of his father's books of account. Not long thereafter he engaged in business in eastern Kentucky, cutting trees and making timber into furniture which he ratted down the river as far as New Orleans where he found a ready sale. Thus he acquired a little capital which he invested in the grocery trade. This venture was unsuccessful on account of the loose credit method then in vogue, and it suspended before Mr. Shinkle had attained his majority. The law would have rendered every device of his creditors un- availing against him, but he took no advantage of that fact, and in due time, and with no little trouble and self-denial, paid to the last cent every dollar of his indebt- edness, thus laying a sure corner stone of integrity in the edifice of his prosperity. From 1838 to 1846 he was a resident of Higginsport. In August of the year last mentioned he located in Covington with a hard-earned capital of $1,500, considerable valuable business experience, and an earnest determination to achieve fortune by all honorable means in his new and broader field of operations. This change opened his real business career, distinguished throughout by wise forethought and spotless honor. He engaged at once in the coal trade, supplying steamers which ran on the river from Cincinnati to New Orleans, gaining in worldly wealth each year until he retired from this trade in 1864, already a capitalist. The Covington & Cincinnati bridge was conceived by him in 1856, and through numerous and almost appalling discouragements he never lost faith in the success of the great project until he be- held it a grand actuality ten years later. He was president of the Bridge and Gas Companies; was the founder and president of the First National Bank and was associated, either as director or president, with other corporations too numerous to mention. Throughout the whole long and useful career he had the advancement of every good interest of the community at heart. Many of the financial enterprises, which eventually contributed to his own fortune, were conceived in a large minded desire to benefit the city of his adoption; and on every hand can be seen substantial proofs of his disinterested, sagacious activity in the betterment of the social and material condition of the people among whom he had cast his lot. His public-spirited endeavor that Covington should take proud position among her sister cities of the "Midway County" was a strong and constant impulse. His connection with the school board inaugurated a change in the architecture of the school buildings in the direction of beauty and utility. As a member of the city council he made his influence felt always for the general good. He was long prominent in Masonic and Odd Fellow circles, and in local politics he was an unostentatious but recognized power. While living in Higginsport during the earlier years of his manhood Mr. Shinkle took an active interest in the military matters of the State, and was commis- sioned, by Governor Shannon, as first lieutenant of artillery in the Eighth Division Ohio Militia. He offered his services, and those of his company, to the United States Government during the Mexican war; but, upon coming to Cincinnati to be mustered in, was disappointed in his patriotic resolve by the fact that no more troops were needed. This training and experience served him happily when afterward, as colonel of the Kentucky Home Guards, he was commandant at Covington during the Kirby Smith raid. At the outbreak of the war his admirable good sense and execu- tive ability manifested themselves. Covington was on the border, and a dominant section of the community believed in the doctrine of State rights, whose consequences would be a broken and bankrupt nationality. At this time, when Kentucky was trembling in the balance, and multitudes were undecided as to which side to espouse, he promptly called for volunteers, raising for the defense of the city the historic "Shotgun Company," which speedily grew into the Forty-first Kentucky Regiment. This challenge to wavering minds defined at once the position of many, and a rally- ing center was provided for the vacillating Union sentiment.

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On November 10, 1842, Mr. Shinkle was married to Miss Sarah Jane Hughes, and in 1846 his only child, Bradford Sbinkle, was born. It was the division of opin- ion at the time of the war that made Mr. Shinkle a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, though he had all along been an occasional attendant upon public worship, and had for some years been a pew holder in several prominent churches. The churches, generally, showed the prevailing feeling as to the great question of the day, and he was not satisfied with their attitude; but the Methodist Episcopal Church on Greenup street, unpretending in appearance, and limited in resources, represented unhesitating loyalty to the nation, and to this church Mr. Shinkle was drawn by patriotic considerations as well as by the attraction of some strong personal friendship among its members. He threw himself unreservedly into the work of building up the organization and its interests. A new and stately edifice replaces the old one. That there might be no question as to the loyalty of those who wor- shiped therein, its windows and woodwork were painted red, white and blue, and by common consent it was called the Union Church. From a helpful business connec- tion with this church he grew almost imperceptibly yet rapidly into a positive spirit- ual relationship. He soon established a family altar. The Sunday-school invited him, almost as soon as he entered the church, to become its superintendent, and he continued in its active charge until his death. His piety was a primary and in- wrought conviction, and he consecrated to the church and to his fellowmen not only himself but that which was his.

It would be contrary to his desire, if it could be expressed, and a violation of the modesty of those who bear his honored name, to enumerate the gifts to various causes which signalized the period of his religious life; but it is simple justice to his memory to state that, always munificent in his benefactions, he in some years disbursed to charity sums which many an ambitious man would regard as an ade- quate fortune. The Protestant Children's Home, a costly edifice devoted to useful purposes, was a gift for a home for the Protestant children of Covington. He was actively engaged in the preliminary movement which led to the introduction of lay representation in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1872, and at each succeeding session, he was a member of the General Conference. His addresses in that body always commanded respect because they expressed the views of a man fearlessly, honest and intelligently conversant with the subjects under discussion. Devoted to the interests of the Book Concern, watching its growth with a peculiar pride; thoughtful of the Freedman's Aid Society, and its wide benevolent work in the South; busied with schemes for the poor preachers of the Kentucky Conference;

the pillar and pride of the local church; he was a noble specimen of a devout God- fearing, diligent Christian, and those who have been his pastors best know the fine fiber of his personal loyalty. The same clear perception of the thing to be done and how to do it, the same appreciation of principles and details, characterized him in the Church as elsewhere, and he found himself, without any seeking on his own part, at the front in the management of general interests. The gift of insight and the skill of executive control blended perfectly in the mental structure. His thoroughness was a marvelous trait of his character, and he attributed much of his success to the fact that he tried to do everything well, even small things. A man of strong will, frank, honest, outspoken, of wonderful mental versatility, he ap- proached all matters for decision from the ethical side, and those who knew him best were never in doubt as to his invincible inclination to do right under all circumstances. His useful life ended at his beautiful home in Covington, November 13, 1892.

DEWITT C. COLLINS, president of the Farmers' and Shippers' Tobacco Ware- house Company, was born near Boggstown, eight miles north of Shelbyville, Shelby Co., Indiana, July 15, 1827, and is a son of Amos and Priscilla (Swing) Collins, natives of New York and Kentucky, and of Scotch-Irish and German origin. His paternal grandfather was Stephen Collins, a Revolutionary soldier, who came to

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Campbell county, Ky., in 1801. His maternal grandfather was David Swing, one of the first settlers of Campbell county, Ky., who built the first boat at Cincinnati to make the river voyage to New Orleans. The family connections include the Swings of Batavia, Ohio, ex-Judge Swing of the United States Superior Court of Cincinnati, and Prof. David Swing, of Chicago. Amos Collins was a tanner and mason by trade, and built the first brick house within the present limits of Kenton county, formerly embraced within Campbell county, Ky. His family consisted of four sons and two daughters, five of whom are living.

Dewitt C. was reared principally by a bachelor uncle and maiden aunt, William and Minerva Collins, his father having died when he was a year old, and his mother when he had reached the age of six. He received his education principally at Mor- gan Academy, in Burlington, Boone Co., Ky. At the age of seventeen, he opened a private school, which he continued four years; he also taught at Milton, Trimble Co., Ky., one year. At the breaking out of the Mexican war, he enlisted in Com- pany G, Sixteenth Infantry, and was in the service eighteen months, rising to the rank of quartermaster-sergeant. Thus he is one of the venerable few surviving pensioners of that war which is fast receding beyond the memory of the living. In March, 1848, he returned and taught in the private schools of Cincinnati nearly three years, part of which time he was connected with R. M. Bartlett's Commercial College. His business career he began as bookkeeper for the Farmers' Bank of Cov- ington, where he was employed nearly two years; then entered the office of Ellis & Sturgis, bankers, Third street, Cincinnati, the largest banking house in the West at that time, their individual accounts sometimes aggregating four million dollars. Here he was superintendent and bookkeeper two years. He then organized the banking house of Fallis, Brown & Company, composed of D. J. Fallis, J. M. Brown and D. C. Collins, which was subsequently merged into the Merchants' National Bank, of which Mr. Fallis was president, until a few months ago. Mr. Collins retired in 1856, owing to ill health, and was next employed by the directors of the Covington & Lexington Railroad Company to adjust the accounts of S. J. Walker, treasurer, with whom there had been no settlement for several years. In 1860 he established a bolt and nut factory at Covington, but, owing to the unsettled condi- tion of the country and the business, he sold it in the following year. In 1866 he entered the Northern Bank of Kentucky, in Covington, as bookkeeper; from 1870 to 1881 he was cashier, and from 1881 to 1887 vice-president; he still retains active connection with the institution as a member of the board of directors. In 1888 he retired to his country residence, five miles below Covington, and was not again in active business until 1893, when he organized and became president of the Farmers' and Shippers' Tobacco Warehouse Company. This company was incorporated with a capital stock of one million dollars, and its officers and directors are of the best business talent of Cincinnati and vicinity. It is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and the already phenomenal success of the undertaking is largely due to the wise management and ·keen business foresight of Mr. Collins. He has occupied many positions of public trust. As a member of the city council of Covington at a time when the city was being robbed by its trusted officers, he, by his unflinching integrity and determination, brought the guilty to justice and reorganized the financial system for the city, bringing her finances from a condition of chaos, and almost bankruptcy, to one of safety and first-class credit. He was later selected as the representative of the city of Covington to build a highway from Covington to Ludlow, and also chosen as president of the Dry Creek & Covington Turnpike Road Company-when it was and had been in a state of bankruptcy for forty years-and by his business tact and economy he soon relieved the company entirely from debt and placed it in first-class condition, both physically and financially.

On August 28, 1851, Mr. Collins married Rachel, daughter of Washington Cleveland, of Kenton, Ky., and to them were born six children: Lelia, who married

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George D. Ebbert, who died March 6, 1893, leaving three children: Louisa, Rachel and Sprig; Edgar, who died of consumption at the age of twenty-six; William Dewitt, bookkeeper and buyer for the Cincinnati Leaf Tobacco Company; Stella, wife of E. S. Lee, cashier of the Northern Bank of Kentucky, whose children are Shackelford, Collins, Lucy Lee, and Joseph Lee; Amos C., manager of his father's farm, and Cleveland C., associated in business with his father. Mrs. Collins died April 5, 1885, and May 11, 1886, Mr. Collins married Mary, daughter of Jacob Litley, of Kenton county, Ky. Two children have been born to this union, Minerva and Calhoun. Mr. Collins is connected with the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church of Covington, in which he has been an active elder more than a score of years. In politics he is a Democrat.

SIMON STEVENS DAVIS, ex-mayor of Cincinnati, was born December 19, 1817, in Rockingham, Vt., on the farm of his father, who was a native of the same place, born in 1790. His mother, whose maiden name was Melinda Stevens, was a native of Cambridge, N. Y., born in 1796. The Davis family were of Welsh, and the Stevens family of English, extraction.

S. S. Davis began his schooling at Rockingham, and completed it at the academy at Chester, Vt. After leaving school he assisted his father in the summer seasons, and taught school during the winter months for several years. In 1840 he went to Howell Works, N. J., where he was for one year engaged in teaching. From there he returned to the farm, upon the request of his father who was in failing health. In 1843 he came to Cincinnati, and was engaged in business here and in New Orleans until 1847, when he went to New York, where for six years he was engaged in mer- cantile pursuits. In 1853 he returned to Cincinnati and established a banking and brokerage business under the firm name of S. S. Davis & Co., on Third street, on the site of the Masonic Temple. In 1858 he was elected to council from the old Second Ward, having, as his colleague from that ward, the late ex-Governor R. M. Bishop. The city council of that day was notable both because of the high charac- ter of its members, and the importance to the development of the city in the meas- ures that were enacted. Among the councilmen of that period were such represent- ative citizens as Benjamin Eggleston, Henry Mack, John F. Torrence, Henry Pearce, William F. Flagg, Fred Hassaurek, F. Mayer, J. C. Baum, Joseph Ross, Theo. Marsh, Thomas Wesner, and many others of equally high character. During the war Mr. Davis, in cooperation with C. W. Starbuck, raised a large fund for distri- bution by the Relief Union to the needy families of soldiers. This Union ultimately absorbed other like organizations, and gave assistance to worthy objects generally. It is still (1894) in operation. With the Relief Union Mr. Davis continued in active identification until 1884. In 1860 he became a trustee of the Woodward High School fund, and a member of the Union Board of High Schools, which position he still holds. He is also a trustee of the Home of the Friendless and Foundlings. In 1871 he was elected mayor of Cincinnati, on the Republican ticket, over ex-Mayor Col. Len A. Harris. The duties of the mayoralty at that time involved all police appointments and discharges, the appointment of sanitary and market-house officers, wharf-master, city engineer, four assistant street commissioners, superintendent of the street cleaning department, and ex-officio chairman of the Board of Public Works. The multifarious duties of the mayor engaged his entire attention. In the faithful discharge of this high, but poorly paid, trust, he was compelled to neglect his private banking business to his very considerable pecuniary loss. During his term of office, the city was redistricted, the number of wards increased from seven- teen to twenty-five, and the corporate limits extended to include Cumminsville.

Mr. Davis was married, in 1850, to Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Sayer, a farmer of Orange county, N. Y. Mrs. Davis died in Cincinnati in 1879. Of the children born of this marriage there survive: Mrs. Alla, wife of the late J. Garry Knight, of Philadelphia; Mrs. Blanche, wife of George A. Spicer, manufacturer, of Chicago;

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Mrs. Adelia, wife of Charles P. Kelly, silk manufacturer, of Boston; Miss Edith, who resides with her sister, Mrs. Spicer, and Simon Stevens Davis, who is identified with the United Shirt & Collar Company, of Chicago. Mr. Davis has been prom- inently identified for forty years with the I. O. O. F., is past grand master of the A. O. U. W., and past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias. He resides at the "' Dennison Hotel."

JOHN D. JONES. Among those who were prominently and intimately identified with the progress, growth and development of the commercial and mercantile inter- ests of Cincinnati, the memory of John D. Jones is justly entitled to the respect of his fellow-citizens.

He was born near Morgantown, Berks Co., Penn., December 9, 1797, and was the son of John and Elizabeth Jones, being paternally of Welsh descent (as his name would indicate), with a mixture of Scotch- Irish blood derived by maternal descent. His great-grandfather, David Jones, came to this country from Wales, about 1720, and settled in Berks county, whither a large number of his native people emigrated, becoming inhabitants, for the most part, of what is now known as the Conestoga Valley; and built the pretty little villages of Morgantown and Church- town, in the vicinity of that beautiful range of hills known as the Welsh Mountains. They were mostly Episcopalians by faith and education, coming to this country as zealous members of the Church of England. The father of our subject was a native and resident of the Keystone State, and died January 14, 1816, at the Reading Forge, in Chester county, at the age of fifty-two years; at the time he was a farmer, and a recently-elected member of the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania, but died before taking his seat in that legislative body. His wife having preceded him to the grave, dying January 13, 1814, ten orphan children were left to mourn the loss of parents whose exemplary character as ardent Christians was worthy of the highest consideration.

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 77

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