USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of Dayton, Ohio. With portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneer and prominent citizens Vol. 2 > Part 37
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
One of the most remarkable and thrilling incidents of Colonel Patterson's early life is related at length in Howe's "Ohio Historical Collections." A synopsis of his own account, which was first published in the Ohio National Journal, is inserted here. In the fall of 1776, he was on his way to Pittsburg from MeClellan's Station, now Georgetown, Kentucky, in company with Joseph MeNutt, David Perry, James Wer- nock, James Templeton, Edward Mitchell, and Isaac Greer. At that time the presence of Indians throughout the country made traveling extremely dangerous, and the party agreed that if any disaster befell them they would all stand by each other as long as assistance could be of any avail. On the night of October 12th, having caten their supper and made their last flour into a loaf of bread and put it into a brass kettle to bake, in order to be ready to start on their journey at daybreak next morning, they lay down to sleep. Colonel Patterson and James Templeton lay on the west side of the fire and the rest of the party on the east side. While thus lying asleep they were fired upon by a party
.,
700
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
of Indians. Colonel Patterson felt a ball pass through him, but the wound made was not at first painful, nor could he locate it. He sprang to take up his guu, bat his right shoulder came to the ground. While making a second effort. and while bent in getting up, an Indian sprang past the fire and struck him with a tomahawk, which passed between two of his ribs, just below the kidney, into the cavity of the body. The Indian then turned upon Templeton, and seized his gun, but although he made a desperate struggle was unable to wrest it from bim. In the meantime, Colonel Patterson made an effort to retire from the light cast by the fire into the darkness, and at length succeeded. He then made an attempt to float down the Ohio in a canoe, but found the canoe in
possession of an Indian. He therefore sought the fire to learn what was the fate of the rest of his party, and found Templeton 'alive, but wounded very nearly as he was himself; Wernoek dangerously wounded, two balls having passed through his body; Joseph MeNutt dead, and scalped; David Perry, slightly wounded, and Isaac Greer missing. Wernock finally died, and after several days of exposure and suffering in the woods, David Perry, who had gone for assistance, returned with Captain Jobu Walls, bis officers, and most of his men. After burrying the remains of MeNutt and Wernock, they conducted the survivors to Captain Walls' station at Grave creek.
THOMAS ALEXANDER PHILLIPS was born September 29, 1810, in Cecil County, Maryland. His father, James Phillips, was a carpenter by trade, and moved to Delaware, settling on the Brandywine, near Wilmington, in 1814 or 1815. ITere, while working on a building, he fell and broke his arm, from which accident he died in 1817, doctors of medicine not being so skillful then as now. Thomas A. Phillips was the eldest of a family of six children-two sons and four daughters. He spent his youth and early manhood on the Brandywine, entering a cotton factory when eight years old. He continued thus occupied until 1835, when he came to Pittsburgh, and down the Ohio to Covington, Kentucky. At this place he was made superintendent of the old cotton mill at the Covington end of the suspension bridge. In 1840, during the Harrison campaign for the presidency, Mr. Phillipps came to Dayton, in connection with a political demonstration in Harrison's favor, and he was so well pleased with the place that he then determined to settle here as soon as practi- cable. Accordingly, on May 1, 1844, he came to this city, and made it his home for the rest of his life. He immediately took charge of the cotton mill, located where the Merchants' Tobacco Company's factory now stands, then owned by Buchanan & Phillips. He was soon made a director of the Daytou branch of the State Bank, at present the Dayton
a
I. A. Phillips.
707
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
National Bank, and was one of the organizers of the Cooper Hydraulic Company, and was a member of the board of directors of that company until his death. He was president of the Montgomery Mutual Insurance Company for many years, and was a stockholder and director in the Dayton Gas Light and Coke Company for about twenty-five years. Ho was a member of the First Presbyterian Church for twenty-five years, and when the present magnificent church edifice was erected, at a cost of about one hundred thousand dollars, he contributed one tenth of its cost. Mr. Phillips was a Knight Templar, and in politics was a Republican from the time of the organization of the party.
Mr. Phillips married Miss. Margaret Jane George, daughter of Augustus George, of Dayton, Ohio, in November, 1844. The children were George L., John Edgar, a son who died in infancy, Charles A., and William Thomas, five sons.
Mr. Phillips died of heart disease November 27, 1877. He had been a prominent, successful, and highly respected citizen of Dayton for thirty- three years. His life was filled with the active cares of business, but he was, nevertheless, always ready to exercise the feelings of benevolence, and always took an active interest in the general welfare of the com- munity. Ile was preeminently a self-made man, and was unselfish, frank, generous, and just in all the walks of life. In business he was always acute and sagacious, and in charitable works he was always liberal. Though surrounded by all that could make life desirable, he was not affected by any fear of death or of reluctance to die. He looked upon that inevitable change with a philosophical composure For three years prior to his death he was affected with the disease which finally terminated his life.
GEORGE LEY'S PHILLIPS was born in Dayton, Ohio, August 22, 1515. He was a son of Thomas A. Phillips, a former, leading business man of Dayton, whose biography is published elsewhere in this work. He was educated in the University of Michigan, being a member of the class of 1867, and himself and his brother, Charles A. Phillips, who was a member of a subsequent class, were members of the local chapter of the Sigma Phi fraternity. George L. Phillips left the university before the completion of his course of study to enter the volunteer army of the Union, joining the One Hundred and Thirty-first Ohio Regiment, com- manded by Colonel John G. Lowe, of Dayton. After leaving the army, he returned to Dayton, assuming a position in his father's mill, and remaining in the city for several years. During this time he organized the American District Telegraph Company of Dayton, and in 1876, he organized the American District Telegraph Company of Cincinnati. Ile
702
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
was principal owner of this latter company, and its president up to the time of his death.
Mr. Phillips organized the first telephone exchange in Dayton, became president of the company, and managed its business until it was merged into the Central Union Company. While his residence was in Day- ton, he was a director of the Dayton National Bank, the Cooper Insurance Company, the Cooper Hydraulic Company, and the Dayton Gas Light and Coke Company. He served several terms in the school board with such success, that at one election there was no opposing candidate, and he was chosen by a unanimous vote. He took the liveliest interest in the Dayton public schools, and devoted a great deal of time to his official duties.
Mr. Phillips' management of the Dayton Telephone Exchange had been so vigorous that he received an offer of a position from the Ameri- can Bell Telephone Company. He went to Boston, and took charge of the Boston Exchange, and of the interests of that company in the vicinity of Boston. In 1881, ho resigned his position, returned to Day- ton, and made this city his home for several years. In the same year, however, he was appointed assistant general manager of the American Bell Telephone Company, with headquarters in Chicago; but he resigned this position, and, with his family, went abroad, and for a year and a half resided in Geneva, Switzerland. Leaving his family abroad, he returned to the United States in 1886, and went to Chicago to take charge of the Central Union Telephone Company, which had been organized in 1883. Of this company he was elected president April 12, 1886, and about the Ist of February, 1888, he was elected president of the Chicago Telephone Company.
It was during his presidency of this company that he had an oppor- tunity of displaying his great exceutive ability and capability for business management. The Chicago council was disposed to interfere with the operation of the company's business in that city, and it was determined to reduce telephone rentals. There was no ordinance authorizing the company to transact business in Chicago, and the council refused to grant a franchise without provisions materially reducing subscribers rentals. This was a critical period of the company's existence, and upon Mr. Phillips, as president, devolved the responsibility of directing the policy of the company to a successful termination of the issne. Ilis work, however, was well accomplished, the result being a substantial victory for the company.
With reference to this contest with the city council of Chicago, the Western Electrician of February 9, 1889, published at Chicago, had the following remarks:
Syp. L. Phicif
703
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
" By the death of George L. Phillipps, the Chicago Telephone Com- pany loses a president of marked ability as an executive officer. He was recognized as one of the most judicious and efficient telephone managers in the country. He was at the head of the corporation but a little over a year, but during that period arose the vexatious controversy between the company and the city officials. There was an extremely bitter feel- ing in the city council toward the company. It was hampered in its business by threats of litigation, and prevented from extending its cir- cuits by the refusal of the aldermen to grant a franchise. Repeated efforts were made to force on the company ordinances which would have reduced very seriously its income. The responsibility of adjust- ing these difficulties fell upon Mr. Phillips. The task was one which required in its excention all his skillful management. He solved the vexatious problem, and seenred a franchise without conceding any of the points for which the company had been contesting. This victory gained for Mr. Phillips the hearty congratulations of telephone mani- agers throughout the country, and added materially to his reputation as a vigorous executive officer."
Mr. Phillips married Miss Mary Adele Brouson, daughter of Charles Bronson, of Chicago, in Dubuque, Iowa, May 15, 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were the parents of five children, four of whom are living. Their names are Margaret J., Isabel B., Jeannette T., and Mary Adele. The second daughter, Mary Golden Phillips, died in New York in Jan- . uary, 1889. Early in that month, Mr. Phillips accompanied her to New York, where she was attending school, and on his way home to Chicago he was taken ill with malignant typhoid fever. In the meantime news came that his daughter was seriously ill in New York of the same disease. and Mrs. Phillips left Edgewater immediately for the metropolis. Within a week the daughter died and was taken to Dayton for burial, where Mr. Phillips' brother had just lost two of his children by sudden death. Mrs. Phillips and Mr. Phillips' brother harried to Edgewater, reaching there Jannary 25th, and found Mr. Phillips in such a precarious condition that they thought it best not to inform him of his daughter's death. He grew rapidly weaker and on the 29th of the month passed away. Mr. Phillips had inherited a strong constitution, and was a man of magnificent physique. His great love of home and family, perfect unselfishness, and benevolence were his marked characteristics. On setting out for his eastern trip, he was, to all appearances, in perfect health, and his death was a great surprise and shock to his family and friends. He was a member of the Union League, of the Chicago Club, of the Dayton Lodge, F. A. M., and of the Cincinnati Consistory Scottish
704
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
Rite. He was also a member of the First Presbyterian Church, of Day- ton, whose pastor, Rev. Prentiss de Veuve, preached the funeral sermon, paying an eloquent and deserved tribute to the character and virtues of the deceased. The body was buried in Woodland Cemetery, and at the entrance thereto the funeral procession was met by a hearse bearing the body of Mr. Phillips' daughter, whose death had occurred but shortly before in New York.
LOUIS H. PoocK was born March 19, 1839, at Wahsendahl, Arnt Hamelu, Hanover, Germany. His father, Frederick Ludwig Poock, was a carpenter and inspector of buildings of his county (Arnts-Zimmer- meister, as this office is called in Germany). His mother's maiden name was Fredericka Katz.
The subject of this sketch was the youngest of a family of eight children, five of whom are still living, one in Germany, and the others in this country.
The father died in 1842, when Louis II. was but three years old. In 1854, the widow and three sons came to the United States, two sons and one daughter having come previously. , She came directly to Dayton and remained here until the time of her death, which occurred in March, 1873.
Louis II. received his education at the schools in Germany, and after reaching Dayton, in 1854, worked for some time at anything he could find to do. Ile entered the factory of Blanchard & Brown as an apprentice, when, in the winter of 1857, he met with a serious accident, sawing his "left hand in such a manner that he was unfitted for any manual labor. This changed his course of life. While suffering from his wound he again resumed his studies, attending the public schools and then the high schools of Dayton, in order to acquire a better knowledge of the English language.
On leaving school he took a course in Grier's Commercial College; then served for a short time as a substitute deputy in the office of the county auditor, and subsequently became book-keeper in the office of the Dayton Empire.
In September, 1862, he was appointed teacher of German in the Twelfth District school, which position he held seven years. He then accepted the position of German instructor in the Sixth District school, where he remained until he resigned in December, 1874. While engaged in teaching, he also organized a night school, teaching a number of young men who assembled at his house in winter evenings, and afterward taught in the public night school in the Pacific Engine House, which served at that time as a school room belonging to the Fifth District.
In April, 1875, he was elected a member of the board of education,
705
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
reelected in April, 1878, and chosen vice-president of that body in 1879. He had meanwhile gone into business with one of his brothers, who then owned the Stone mills, as they were called, now the Banner mills. In this relation he remained one year; then became deputy county treasurer, serving in that position five years under Treasurer HT. HI. Laubach, and four years under Stephen J. Allen. In the fall of 1883, he was himself elected county treasurer, and was reflected in 1885, thus serving two terms his last term expiring in September, 1888.
In January, 1868, he was elected secretary of the Dayton Building Association, Nunber 1, the first association of the kind established in this city. He held this secretaryship until Angust, 1873, when the society wound up and settled its affairs. In January, 1869, Mr. Poock was elected secretary of the Concordia Building and Loan Association, which posi- tion he held until said corporation liquidated and wound up its affairs in April, 1875.
In April, 1873, he, with others, started the Germania Building Asso- ciation on the permanent Philadelphia plan. Mr. Poock has been its secretary ever since it was established, and also its treasurer since Jan- uary, 1888.
In February, 1883, he became connected with the Dayton Saving's Bank as stockholder and director, and on January 7, 1885, he was elected president of the bank, retaining the office until its affairs were wound up in the spring of 1889, when he, with others, established the Teutonia National Bank, and was elected its cashier March 29, 1889.
Mr. Poock is a member of several beneficiary associations, as well as of social, military, and musical societies. Ile is also a member of the German Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul's Society, of which he was seere- tary, and then treasurer, for a number of years.
Louis II. Poock was married March 26, 1863, to Miss Minnie Lucking, daughter of Frederick Lucking. of Dayton. Mr. and Mrs. Poock are the parents of thirteen children, six of whom are still living. The oldest son, Albert II. Poock, was well known in connection with the Dayton Savings Bank, of which he was assistant cashier; with the New Franklin Building Association, of which he was secretary; and also with the Germania Building Association. He was a member of the Uniformed Rank of Knights of Pythias, of the Dayton Gymnastic Club, of the German Lutheran St. Paul's Beneficiary Society, and of several musical clubs. He died January 13, 1889. The children still living are: Ida D., Bertha C., Oscar M., Minnie M., Ella A., and Anna F. Poock.
JOHN ROUZER, one of Dayton's foremost contractors and builders, was born in Clark County, Ohio, June 29, 1822. His father was of German
.
706
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
descent, but was born in Frederick County, Maryland, and lived to the great age of eighty-four years. His mother was of Scotch ancestry, but was a native of Virginia, and died at the age of eighty-five. Both were of strong constitution and of simple and industrious habits. They raised a family of twelve children, seven sons and five daughters, all of whom they lived to see well settled in life.
The subject of this sketch came to Dayton with his father's family in 1832. His educational advantages were quite meager, being such as a primitive village of those times could afford. The public school system, now the pride and shield of the commonwealth, had not then been de- vised; but though the public school system did nothing for Mr. Rouzer, he has done much for the public schools of Dayton, the city being in- debted to him for some of the most convenient and handsome school houses of which the citizens feel justly proud. Previous to locating in business for himself, Mr. Rouzer was of a somewhat roving disposition, believing that to know what was going on in different parts of the business world would better prepare him for success when he should thus settle down. In 1844, he worked as a journeyman in Cincinnati, and afterward in other places. In 1846, he and his brother Daniel erected the first buildings ever put up at White Sulphur Springs, on the Scioto River. From that time on for several years he was engaged in fitting up distilleries in the Miami Valley, his home being in Dayton. He was thus engaged until 1861, when he established himself in business . as a practical contractor and builder in this city. Here he soon acquired for himself a reputation which has been of immense value to him during his entire career. His main object from the first has been to give satis- faction to his patrons by the excellence of his work. His business soon grew to such large proportions that it became necessary for him to sup- ply himself with all modern improvements adapted to his peculiar line of work, and he has thus long been able to execute the largest contracts that can be given either by private or publie parties. In Dayton he has erected a large number of the finest private residences, as well as some of the best school-houses. Outside of Dayton he erected the fine court- houses at Tiffin, Sidney, Springfield, and Columbus, Ohio, and he also creeted the new board of trade building at the latter place. He has also recently been largely engaged in building various kind of structures in Indianapolis, and is, and has been for years constantly engaged in ship- ping building material to different parts of Ohio, as well as to many of the other States of the Union.
In the early days Mr. Rouzer was a Whig, and since the re-organiza- tion of parties has been a consistent Republican, although not so rigidly
707
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
a party man as not to support Democratie candidates for office occasionally when in his judgment public policy would be better conserved by their success than by that of the candidates of his own party. He is a member of but one society, Dayton Lodge, Number 147, F. and A. M., and he has taken all the degrees in Masonry. He was married January 1, 1850, to Miss Martha J. Diehl, daughter of Henry Dicht, one of Dayton's carly pioneer citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Rouzer have been the parents of seven . children, five of whom died in infancy. The two now living are Mrs. Kate Humphrey, of the Arlington Hotel, Richmond, Indiana, and Mrs. Mattie Justice, of Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Rouzer, in point of mechanical ability, business enterprise, and personal integrity of character, may well be regarded as one of the most reliable and worthy of the representative contractors and citizens of Dayton.
E. FOWLER STODDARD, whose untimely death resulted from a most remarkable accident on the Ist of June, 1887, was one of the most prominent and meritorions of the younger class of representative busi- ness men of Dayton. He was a native of this city, born on the 16th of July, 1845, the youngest son of Hon. Henry Stoddard, for many years an able and eminent member of the original Dayton bar, who emigrated from Connectient as early as 1817, and permanently located in Dayton. Henry Stoddard's second wife, Miss Susan C. Williams, daughter of John II. Williams and sister of Harbert S. Williams, was a woman of charming character and rare personal gifts. She bore him four children -- Henry, now resident of Santa Barbara, California; John W., the president of the Stoddard Manufacturing Company; Eliza, wife of Samuel B. Smith, and Ebenezer Fowler, the subject of this sketch.
After a youth passed under the tutelage of a pions and gifted mother, and under the most refining family influences, be entered Vale College, from which he was graduated in the year 1867 at the age of twenty-two, and upon his return home, having come into possession of quite an ample patrimony, he chose to enter at once upon an active business life. IIe was married, in 1868, to Miss Bessie W., daughter of Colonel John G. Lowe, who, with three children, survive him.
A somewhat varied business experience of several years finally located him in the manufacturing establishment of his brother, John W. Stod- dard, among the most extensive and prosperous industries of the city, where his superior capabilities, mechanical aptitude and excellent prin- ciples soon became of inestimable value and promoted him to the position of vice-president and general manager of the concern.
He was an active participant in everything that tended to promote the general business interests of the community, and was a highly
708
HISTORY OF DAYTON.
esteemed and valuable member of the Dayton Board of Trade. Ho was in attendance at one of its regular meetings on the evening of Tuesday, May 31, 1887, and after the adjournment, at about nine o'clock, when passing down the east stairway from the City Building to Jefferson Street, paused for a few minutes, under the shelter, in conversation with a fellow-member of the board, before passing out upon the sidewalk, to await the cessation of a heavy shower. He had been standing but a few moments when a flash was suddenly reflected from the water on the pavement, accompanied by the report of a pistol. A young man at the same instant was seen running by in the rain, who in a few minutes afterwards hurried back to pick up the pistol, which had accidentally fallen from his pocket in his haste, and upon striking the stone pavement had exploded. The ball, thus driven from its chamber, unaimed by any human hand or eye, by one of those inserntable mysteries, which some- times connect the most tragie consequences in human life with the most trivial causes, and for which no rational solution seems possible, struck Mr. Stoddard, some twenty feet distant, immediately below and in the rear of the left ear, and ranging upwards lodged in the base of the brain. ITe was sufficiently conscious to realize the probably fatal character of the the injury. His first thought was that his wife should be spared the shock; his next, that his brother should be called to his side. His last coherent words were, that he had " tried to live square with the world." Ile was quickly removed to his home, where the blow fell heaviest of all ' places on earth. The most skillful surgical aid was at once in attendance, but could give scarcely the shadow of hope of his survival. He gradually became unconscious, and before morning breathed his last upon the same spot where forty-two years before he was ushered into existence.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.