USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 103
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JOSEPH JACKSON.
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MRS. JOSEPH JACKSON.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
born November 8, 1808; Joseph, born December 4, 1809, died May 7, 1866; Thomas, born August 30, 1811; Mary, born March 28, 1815, died September 11, 1850; Amanda, born September 10, 1818, died June 8, 1880. Their third son was Joseph Jackson, the subject of this notice. He was born on the fourth of Decem- ber, 1809, in Morgantown, Monongalia county, Vir- ginia, and accompanied his family in their successive re- movals, learning at home his father's trade of millwright. About the time he reached his majority he left home, taking work at his trade in various places, as he could find it. In 1834, August 19th, upon his bride's birth- day, he was wedded to Miss Nancy Riddle, daughter of Colonel John Riddle, the famous pioneer, near Cincin- nati. For some years they resided at the mills of his father, in Butler county, and then removed, in 1839, to a farm one and a half miles south of Mt. Pleasant, in the neighborhood where the Cary sisters spent their earlier years. Upon this place the remainder of his days were passed in the improvement of a tract originally very poor, but which he made to blossom as the rose. Here he died May 7, 1866, and his remains repose in the beautiful cemetery at Spring Grove, adjoining the city of Cincinnati. He was not an active politician, and sought no public office or prominence of any kind. He was, however, for a number of years, president of the Cincin- nati, Mt. Pleasant & Hamilton Turnpike company, and raised the road owned by it to a high degree of excel- lence and prosperity, so that, for the first and last time in its history, it paid some dividends to its stockholders. After his death Mr. J. F. Wright, an officer of the board of directors of the company, in the course of some re- marks submitting a resolution in tribute to his memory, included the following eulogy, to which the resolution is appended:
He was elected to the presidency of the company in 1853, and con- tinued to serve uninterruptedly in that capacity until his death. For the greater part of the time during the same period he also served as county superintendent of the road. His unanimous annual reappoint- ment to both positions is indubitable proof of the satisfaction given by his official acts. As president I know full well it was ever his desire to be impartial, just, and prompt in the discharge of the duties which his official station devolved upon him. His knowledge of mechanics and human nature, together with his unwavering integrity, eminently quali- fied him and made him the efficient superintendent that induces every voice now involuntarily to inquire: "Who can fill the place made vacant by his demise?"
Only those who were intimately acquainted with the man knew his virtues. He was a man of probity and integrity; he was a lover of truth, kind and merciful in all his relations and intercourse with men, and utterly incapable of practicing deceit. The dishonest man he avoided as he would a pestilence, holding no intercourse whatever with him unless unavoidable. In a word, for I must be brief, the community has sustained the loss of a good citizen and an honest man, its chief ornament. This board has lost an esteemed and valuable member, and an active and efficient officer. The loss to both is irreparable. . . In conclusion, I propose for adoption the following resolu- tion as the sentiment of the board:
"Resolved, That we greatly deplore the death of our late fellow- member, Joseph Jackson, in whom we recognized the honest man, the genial companion, the steadfast friend, and the faithful and efficient officer; and that the family of the deceased have our liveliest sympathy in their deep affliction; and that as a memento of our regard and esteem for the deceased, this resolution be spread upon the minutes of this meeting.
Nancy Riddle Jackson was born at the ancient Riddle
homestead in Mill Creek, oldest daughter of Colonel John and Jane Marshall Riddle. Jane Marshall was the third wife of Colonel Riddle, who had five wives in the course of his long life. Nancy's natal day was August 19, 1811. She resided at home, receiving such educa- tion as was afforded by the schools of the neighborhood (then far out of the city, but now far within it), until she was married as above noted, when she followed the for- tunes of her husband in his several removals. She still survives her consort, and resides in a delightful home in Mount Pleasant, on the Hamilton turnpike. The third year after her husband's death she left the farm, and removed to the residence still owned by her, a little west of the Mount Pleasant station of the College Hill railroad, and in the fall of 1877 took her present place in the village. Her daughter, Miss Nancy Jane Jackson, resides with her. Mrs. Jackson presents a remarkably healthy and vigorous 'appearance for one of her years, and is every way a worthy descendant of the sturdy old pioneer who helped to lay the foundations of civilization in the Mill Creek and Ohio valleys. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were, in order of birth, as follows: Nancy Jane, born May 28, 1835; Sarah Louisa, now ' Mrs. Cary B. Johnson, of Mount Pleasant, born January 10, 1837; George Washington, born January 27, 1839, also residing in Mount Pleasant, in the grocery and dry- goods business for many years; John Riddle, born Au- gust 15, 1841, died August 10, 1859; Mary Maria, now Mrs. George W. Rofelty, of Home City, Ohio, born February 15, 1849; Joseph, born August 17, 1851, died August 2, 1854.
HON. JOHN MORROW COCHRAN.
This gentleman, one of the most distinguished and useful citizens of Springfield township, resides one-half mile north of Glendale, upon the Glendale and Port Union turnpike. He was born near Gettysburgh, Adams county, Pennsylvania, June 18, 1808, son of William, grandson of James C., and great-grandson of William Cochran. The Cochrans are of English stock. The great-grandfather was born in 1699, and died in 1771; his wife, Sarah, born 1702, died 1785. The grandfather was born July 8, 1732, died December 8, 1810. The dates of birth and death of Jane, his wife, respectively, are November 14, 1742, and January 4, 1815.
Mr. Cochran's mother was Rebecca, daughter of John Morrow, from whom the subject of this notice was . named, and sister of the late Governor Jeremiah Mor- row, of Warren (formerly Hamilton) county. In 1814 his parents, with their young family, in wagons, with a five-horse team, and a saddle-horse for the mother, who would not trust herself upon the water, and hence in- sisted upon the land journey throughout, made the long trip across the country, still very much a wilderness, arrived in June at the residence of Governor Morrow, Twenty-miles Stand, on the banks of the Little Miami, eight miles north of Montgomery. After resting here a short time they then pushed westward, crossing the fer-
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
tile valley of Mill creek, and settling finally two miles west of Sharonville, and just east of Mr. Cochran's present residence. The elder Cochran here purchased one hundred and sixty-nine acres, to which his son John has made important additions by successive purchases of fifty, seventy-five, and twenty acres. The latter attended the subscription schools of that day, at Springfield, now Springdale, and later the Miami university, at Oxford, where he numbered among his fellow students, these talented young men who were afterwards known as Lieu- tenant Governor Charles Anderson, the Hon. Robert Schenck, and Professor Freeman Cary, founder of Farm- ers' college, at College Hill. He spent seven years in all in Butler county, as a student at Oxford and a mer- chant at Millville, where his father owned and for some time conducted a mill property. In this county he was married June 28, 1832, to Miss Martha J., daughter of Joseph Wilson, of Rossville, now a part of Hamilton. Her mother was Elizabeth Dick, daughter of the old pioneer, Samuel Dick, who is celebrated in one chapter of McBride's Pioneer Biography. In the spring of 1839 they removed to Springfield township, and settled tem- porarily at Springdale, removing afterwards to the valu- able property where they have since resided. About the same time he became president of the Hamilton, Spring- field & Carthage turnpike company, which had just built the fine sixteen mile road from Hamilton to Carthage- the best paying turnpike, it is said, in the State. He has been continuously in this position for forty-two years, except during a very brief interval caused by his resig- nation. For four years in his young manhood he was township clerk, and consented in his later life to serve for three years as township trustee. He is naturally ambitious, was an ardent Whig and afterwards Republi- can, and easily turned to the active pursuits of politics and official life. In 1840, when but thirty-two years old, he was called into conspicuous service as a representative in the legislature from Hamilton county. Young as he was, he bore an influential part in securing the election of his candidates for judges of the court of common pleas in Butler county; and the friends of the defeated ones, in derision and chagrin at his success, gave him sixteen votes for judge, although his residence was not in that county.
Mr. Cochran again served in the lower branch of the legislature in 1864-7, two terms (the Fifty-sixth and Fifty- seventh houses), during which he was chairman of the important committee on corporations other than munici- pal, and member of the joint committee on enrollment. In the latter session he was also on the penitentiary committee. In the little volume of Biographical Sketches prepared for members of the legislature, it is said of him: "He is known as one of the strong Union members of the house, faithful, prompt and efficient."
For the sessions of 1872-3 he was again summoned to service in the house by his fellow-citizens, when he acted as chairman of the committee on public printing, and member of that on public benevolent institutions.
During the war of the Rebellion he performed impor- tant duty as a member of the military committee of
Hamilton county. While the great struggle was in pro- gress, in November, 1863, he visited his childhood's home, but as an official representative of the State of Ohio, by appointment of Governor Tod, to attend the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburgh, where one of the greatest battles of the war had been fought a few months before.
The confidence reposed by the community in Mr. Cochran has been shown most abundantly, not only by his repeated calls to official station, but by the frequent de- mands upon him to administrate upon estates, of which he has had as many as twenty-three in charge, settling all with thorough efficiency and integrity. He is uni- versally regarded as an able and very useful citizen, in public and in private life. Mrs. Cochran also still sur- vives. They have had thirteen children, as follows:
William Arman, born April 14, 1835; October 14, 1856, married Julia Ann Lewis; now a farmer near De- catur, Illinois. Joseph Wilson, born December 29, 1836, married Mattie H. Cox June 18, 1862; an attorney at Peoria, Illinois, and for six years circuit judge. Infant son, born September 29, 1838, died unnamed October 24, same year. John Morrow, born December 13, 1839, residing with his parents. Samuel D., born February 13, 1842; married Marie Fitzgerald November 8, 1876; a bookkeeper and local manager in Cincinnati for the Champion Reaper company, of Springfield. Eliza W., born November 15, 1843, married October 12, 1871, to the Rev. W. H. James, pastor of the Presbyterian church at Springdale. Jeremiah Morrow, born November 20, 1845, now an editor and proprietor of the Daily Freeman, Peoria, Illinois. Rebecca, born November 20, 1845, residing at the old home. Nannie A., born De- cember 3, 1849, also at home. James Marion, born December 21, 1851, at home; Louisa D., born August 20, 1853, died April 12, 1854. Lewellyn, born May 20, 1855, died December 10, 1859. Martha Ella, born September 16, 1857, died April 12, 1854.
CAPTAIN GEORGE W. WALKER.
Joseph Walker was a native of the isle of Guernsey, born in 1774 of an English-French family. Hettie Stibbs was born in New Jersey, United States, 1780, of Holland stock. She became Mrs. Walker after the im- migration of her husband to New York city in 1806 -- probably about 1807 or 1808. He labored as a house carpenter, and also, under the direction of his friend the renowned Robert Fulton, he shaped at his shop by night, after the labors of the day were over, the model for the Clermont, the first steamer to navigate the Hudson river. The family, comprising then but two children, with the parents left the Atlantic coast in 1811, prompted thereto by the prospect of war with Great Britain and the consequent danger to him as still a British subject, and started for Cincinnati. From New York to Phila- delphia they journeyed by ocean vessel, thence three weeks' travel took them by wagon across the mountains to Pittsburgh, where they embarked upon a flatboat for
RES. OF JOHN L. RIDDLE, SPRINGFIELD TP. HAMILTON COUNTY, O.
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JOHN L. RIDDLE.
385
HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
the river trip. Arriving at the young Queen City he reentered upon the pursuits of his trade, and in a short time became a prominent builder, being much in the employ of John H. Piatt, the enterprising speculator of that day. After a useful and honorable career Mr. Walker died in Cincinnati in June, 1838, and his wife in December, 1859, at the age of seventy-nine. Five chil- dren were born to them in the city, among them the subject of this sketch. George W. Walker was the fifth child and fourth son, born January 28, 1817, near the corner of Third and Sycamore streets, which neighbor- hood was then mainly devoted to dwellings. His fath- er's house was just at the brow of the "Hill," which had not then been graded down. George was educated in the city schools, which were then almost exclusively private, and somewhat costly. Among his early teachers were Caleb Kemper, Mrs. Williamson, Mr. Wringlet, and other well-known early pedagogues. Following the ex- ample of his father and an elder brother, he learned the business of house-carpentering, to which he afterwards added the trades of ship-carpenter and steamboat-joiner, and practiced them all for some years. When about twenty-three years old his savings enabled him to invest in a steamer, the Mail, jointly with Captain Thomas J. Haldeman .- Thus early, in 1840, did the business asso- ciation of these two gentlemen begin, which continued almost unbroken in steamboating and paper manufactur- ing until the death of Captain Haldeman in October, 1874. The company with which Captain Walker is now connected, still bears from him the name of the Halde- man Paper company. On their first venture with the Mail, Mr. Haldeman went out as captain and Mr. Walker as carpenter. Selling this vessel at the end of a year, they, with others, built a fine new steamer called the Express Mail, for the New Orleans trade. It proved a profitable investment, and was run by its owners four years, when they sold it to build the more costly steamer Yorktown-a powerful vessel built for the rapid transit of passengers rather than for freight, and bearing also on the wheel-house the designation of "Fast Mail." Cap- tain Walker continued to serve as carpenter of the steamers; but when Captain Haldeman retired to take the post of inspector of steamboats at Cincinnati-the first appointment there under a law of Congress which he had been largely instrumental in securing-Mr. Walker assumed the captaincy of another vessel pur- chased by them-the Norma. In a short time this became a total wreck by snagging at Choctaw Bend, on the Mississippi, the cargo, worth about three hundred thousand dollars, being mostly saved. For a year he was then engaged at Cincinnati and Madison in super- intending the lengthening of steamers for the Peo- ple's Line to Louisville, of which Captain Haldeman was president. He then engaged in real estate operations and house-building in the city, also making purchase of a farm in Clermont county and taking stock in a National bank in New Richmond. In 1866 he removed to his farm, nine miles from that place, but was called away from it in three years to accept a superior opportunity for investment in the paper-making business at Lockland.
A reconstruction of the company of Decamp, Haldeman & Parker had become necessary by the death of Mr. Parker, who was killed in one of the mills January 31, 1867. It became the Haldeman Paper company, with Captain Haldeman as president, who invited his old friend and associate to an interest in the new company. For a time Captain Walker employed his mechanical talent in the improvement and repair of the mills, and superintended the construction of the new mill in the summer of 1877, upon the site of the old mill where Mr. Parker was killed. Upon the death of Captain Haldeman, Mr. J. C. Richardson was promoted from the vice-presidency to the vacant place, and Captain Walker became vice president, in which capacity he has since served the company He has made his home in Lockland ever since his connection with the mills; is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian church at that place, which holds the faith of his fathers; and an un- compromising Republican since the outbreak of the late war.
In 1858, February 28th, Captain Walker was married to Margaret, daughter of Judge Robert Haines, of New Richmond, Clermont county. She is still living. They have two children, daughters-Hettie May, born May 10, 1859, in Cincinnati, now at home with her parents; and Alice Quinlin, born in Newport, Kentucky, Decem- ber 28, 1863, and residing at home.
JOHN L. RIDDLE.
John Riddle, jr., was born in New Jersey in 1789, and in the fall of the next year was brought by his parents to Cincinnati. As he grew toward manhood he assisted his father, Colonel Riddle, in clearing and work- ing the section owned by the colonel in Mill Creek val- ley, one corner of which was near the Brighton house, and all of which is now far within the city. He went out as a volunteer in the War of 1812-15, and served faithfully and safely during his term. In April, 1814, at the age of twenty-five he was married to Catharine Long, of whom and of whose father some notice is given below. Mr. Riddle and wife settled on a quarter-section west of the site of Glendale and handsomely overlooking it, where the remainder of their lives was spent. He died suddenly of hernia at about seventy-seven years of age; and she at the age of eighty-five, from the effects of a fall which rendered her unconscious and took her life in seven hours. They had never in their married life known sickness severe enough to confine them to their rooms; had been hard workers all their lives, and were each performing their usual duties until struck down by the icy hand of death.
Catharine Long, wife of John Riddle, jr., and mother of John L. Riddle, was born December 13, 1788. She was a daughter of Michael Long, an immigrant from Penn's Valley, Pennsylvania, in 1794, and among the first to break the dense forest west of the present site of Glen- dale. He settled about twelve miles north of Cincinnati and two miles west of the former place. With him came
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO.
his aged father and a number of relatives, among them some of the Longs, the McCormacks, the Smalls, the Sterretts, the Lowes, and many others, all of whom settled within a radius of four miles, and who were never driven out by the Indians. Long soon cleared land and from the first became self-supporting. He soon built a saw-mill on a small stream running through his farm, which for simplicity as well as capacity is a marvel to men yet living, who delight to relate the simplicity of the mechanicism as well as the enormous amount of work accomplished by it. During the entire life of Long it con- tinued to cut lumber for the building up of the neighbor- hood, as well as to furnish quantities to Cincinnati boat- builders. Mike, as he was called, was a farmer, black- smith, tanner, mechanic of all work, shoemaker of even- ings, and for the first three years his own tailor, tanning skins and making clothes of them for the male portion of his family, but the first patch of flax raised relieved him of that necessity, and he lived to be able to procure for a wedding dress for his oldest daughter, calico, which then was considered the height of style in those parts. Michael lived to the age of sixty-five, when he died and was buried in the cemetery near Springdale. Since that time all his children have been laid by his side except two, and in the language of an old settler who knew him well, we know of no person, living or dead, who has con- tributed so much to improve and benefit: the township of Springfield as Michael Long. The father of Michael was an emigrant from Holland, as was also his wife's father. Michael was born February 14, 1756, and died July 13, 1822.
John L. Riddle is one of eight children of John and Catharine Riddle. The others were William, Jacob, Mary, Emeline, Andrew J., Nancy, and Adrian A. Of these only Jacob has died. John was born in the old log cabin home, west of Glendale, January 5, 1821; spent his earlier years at home, getting such education as the primitive schools of the region afforded; was married in 1843 to Elizabeth J. Hitts, of Springfield township, and is the parent of eighteen children-five sons and thirteen daughters-Catharine A., Elizabeth J., Cornelia, Frank A., Harriet H., Clara, Julia, Margaret, Mary, John L., Henrietta, Jacob N., and six others who died infants un- named.
Mr. Riddle has acquired a handsome property-partly by his very fortunate sale of parts of the site of Glen- dale, and is an extensive landholder in the northwest part of the township. He has never aspired to political honors, but has occupied numerous positions of trust, and is often employed to settle estates. Himself and wife have long been influential members of the church at Springdale. They occupy a pleasant home west of the village, and are spending their declining years in all honor, peace, and prosperity.
GEORGE H. FRIEND,
proprietor of the large paper mills of Lockland and Car- rollton, Ohio, was born in Miami county, Ohio, Septem- ber 12, 1816.
His father, Charles Howard Friend, was born in Vir- ginia July 5, 1789. - He removed to Cincinnati with his family in the year 1825 ; was a common day laborer, and, having a large family to support (nine children), it be- came necessary for his son, the subject of our sketch, to earn his own living, and, accordingly, when ten years of age, became employed in the Graham paper mills, then located at the foot of Water street-Central avenue. He began work as assistant lay-boy at a salary of seventy- five cents a week, but being apt in his work was advanced in his position, also in his salary, receiving one dollar and twenty-five cents a week. He continued in Mr. Graham's employ until the year 1832, when the mills were moved to the Black bottoms, below Hamilton, where he began work in the same business for Mr. Spears, whose mills were located near the foot of Smith street. He received there two dollars and twenty-five cents per week, but about this time his parents moved from the city, and young George, desirous of trying his adventures on the waters, left for the south on a flat-boat, having for his cargo a load of lard and bacon. He was to receive for the round trip the munificent sum of twenty dollars, which was not a fortune considering the two months' time required to go to New Orleans and back. About this time the cholera broke out and the captain of the boat had much difficulty in retaining the services of his crew, as they either would get sick or leave through fear of the epidemic. At Madison, Indiana, all left the cap- tain but young George, and at Louisville the whole force had again to be reorganized. At this last named place a German was employed, who, in consequence of idleness and refusal to work, the captain, in an enraged fit of pas- sion threshed him off the boat, but evil consequences followed. As soon as the cargo landed in New Orleans the German was also there with officers and arrested the captain, detained his stock of goods, leaving Mr. Friend in a strange land without money and in critical circum- stances. He next goes to Natches and engages work on the levee, but, changing his mind, accepts a position in a brickyard across the river, some miles above, at a sal- ary of one dollar a day, and stayed that winter and part of the summer. He had formerly worked at the same business in the summer season at Cincinnati, and, as he understood it, made a useful hand in making brick and erecting a large court house. This work being done he set out for Natches, but the distance of fifteen miles through thickets and low marshes being impossible to make in any reasonable time, quietly shifted himself into an Indian boat lying at the water's edge, and about dusk of evening set out. As it happened the night was dark, a heavy fog overspread the river, and not the faintest glimmering of any star could be seen. He thrust his little boat into the middle of the river, let it take the cur- rent, and in the face of all danger from collision with snags and steamboats, glided down the rapid stream at the rate of about six miles an hour, reaching Natches about eleven o'clock that night.
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