History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 116

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 116

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Mr. Harbison was a man of the strictest integ- rity, retiring and modest to a degree rarely found in a successful business man. He had many friends, but few confidants. He mingled very little in society. Ilis house was the place where he found his greatest enjoyment, for it was there he had the fittest opportunity for training his family in the fear of God, and instilling into their minds those moral principles which make men honored and respected, whether they be rich or poor.

In Mr. Harbison was illustrated in a marked de- gree the fact that a man can be a successful mer- chant and be perfectly honest in all his dealings. He knew nothing of the "tricks of trade" in his business. He dealt as fairly with the unsus-

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pecting as with the sharp man of business. Nothing could induce him to swerve from the path of rectitude. In the latter part of his life he was called to the office of Ruling Elder in the Chestnut Street Presbyterian Church of Louisville, and in that sphere he was just as faithful in the performance of his duty as he had ever been in all his undertakings. From his naturally retiring habits he never rose to any pre-eminence as an officer in the church, but he was always in his place ready to do what he could, and his daily walk and conversation was a strik- ing example to all who knew him of the power of the gospel in his own heart.

Three sons still survive him, and as the father was honored by all who knew him intimately, these sons have reason to be proud of the fact that they are known as the sons of Alexander Harbison.

GEORGE H. MOORE.

George H. Moore was born January 10, 1835, in the Wall Street House, then the principal hotel of the city of Louisville, which stood on Wall (now Fourth) street, between Main street and the river. George J. Moore, his father, was a native of Ashford, Connecticut, having been born in that city in 1810, and removed to Lonis- ville about 1830. In this city he became ac- quainted with and married Catherine Fonda, who was born in Greenbush, near Albany, New York, In 1815, and came with her parents to Louisville in 1833.

In 1847 the family removed to Mount Vernon, Indiana, where the elder Moore had become the owner of a large distillery. They remained there until 1853, when they returned to Louisville.

In 1858, soon after George H. Moore, the subject of this sketch, arrived at manhood, he removed to Jackson, Mississippi, to engage in business. At the outbreak of the civil war he entered the Confederate army as a private, and served throughout, finding himself, at its close, captain of Company I, Thirty-ninth Mississippi Infantry.

Returning to Louisville Mr. Moore engaged in business, and on the 23d day of September, 1868, married Florence A. Deweese, daughter of Cornelius Deweese, Esq., of Carroll county,

Kentucky. His family now consists of four children-a daughter, Jessie, aged thirteen years; two sons, Sherley, aged ten years, and Percival, aged seven years, and a second daughter, Georgie, aged four years.

Few men in Louisville are more extensively en- gaged in business than is Mr. Moore. He has been, since 1867, managing partner of the firm of Jesse Moore & Company, one of the largest whis- key houses in the South. He is also President of the People's Bank of Kentucky and of the Bel- mont Distillery Company, both of Louisville, and a partner in the firm of Moore, Hunt & Com- pany, of San Francisco, California. For five years he served as director of the Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home, of Louisville, the only institu- tion of the kind in the United States. In spite of all these engrossing duties, however, he has found opportunity to contribute liberally of his time and money to the fostering of pictorial art. Possessed of natural taste and appreciation, he has become a purchaser of works of the best foreign and American painters, until he has accumulated a collection second to few private galleries in the United States, and which is the only one in Louisville. In his beautiful home at Fourth and Breckenridge streets he has devoted space to the hanging of these paintings, his gal- lery being arranged and decorated with an appre- ciative taste which makes it a fitting setting for the gems of art upon its walls.

As a collector Mr. Moore has been confined by a passion for no given school of art, but has purchased with no less catholicity of taste than technical appreciation. There is no undue pre- ponderance of foreign or of American works, French, Italian, Flemish, English, and Ameri- can canvases being side by side; landscape, character study, historical, ecclesiastical, and genre paintings, all find their examples; and, in its great variety as in the care and justice of selec- tion, Mr. Moore's gallery contains a thoroughly representative art collection, well fitted not only to delight the connoisseur or virtuoso, but to direct the thought and taste of the student and to educate to true appreciation the ordinary ob- server. Among the artists represented in the gallery are Virgilio Tojetti, Constant Meyer, L. Toussiant, Brenner, Percy, Loudon, William Hart, Sontag, Bierstadt, Bougaraud DeBeul, and Beard.

Samuel Beggeshall.

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Mr. Moore has shown his kindness by throw- ing his gallery open during certain hours of each Thursday, and residents and visitors of Louisville derive much of pleasure and profit from the priv- ilege thus afforded.

SAMUEL COGGESHALL,

of Beil & Coggeshall, steamboat cabin builders, Nos. 16, 18, 20, and 22, Clay street, Louisville, was born on the 21st day of September, 1821, in Washington county, Ohio. His father, Job Coggeshall, was born in the State of Rhode Island, in 1783, and came to Ohio with his parents and landed at Point Harmon on the 7th day of April, 1788. The family-consisting of Daniel Coggeshall, his wife Elizabeth (Pendleton) Coggeshall, and the four boys, Felix, John, Philip, and Samuel-had crossed the mountains in a wagon, and after a long, tedious journey, reached the river at Pittsburg, where they took passage on a flat-boat for Marietta.

Upon reaching their destination they went into the stockade on Blennerhassett Island, where they remained until after the Indians left that part of the country, or about three years. Dan- iel Coggeshall, the father of Job, was an En- glishman, and came to America about 1735. He was an Indian fighter, and his two sons Philip and John were killed at Fort Wayne, north of Cincinnati. Job was an Indian spy, and Daniel was in the War of 1812.

The Coggeshalls were intimate friends of Burr and Blennerhassett, and were frequently their guests. Upon their leaving the island Mrs. Coggeshall was present, and "cast the line" for good luck to their undertaking.

After leaving the fort the family settled upon a fertile tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land, six miles below. About 1812, Job, the father of Samuel, married Miss Weatherbee. Her grandfather was the owner of Rhode Island, but being a Tory the lands were confiscated. A family of nine children were raised, three of whom are dead. On this farm Samuel Coggeshall was born and remained until sixteen years of age; went to Marietta to learn the carpenter's trade, where he staid two years with Mr. Morton. Then he went to Cincinnati with Daniel Morton and his brother, where he remained until 1844.

He took a trip through the Northwest, and landed here during that same year with $75 in pocket, and in 1846 started in business where Dennis Long's pipe foundry now is, in building steam- boat cabins, in which business he has been very successfully engaged ever since, and has built some of the finest cabins on Western waters. In 1847 Thomas Bell became a partner, and in 1856 moved to Clay street, where they had erect- ed several large buildings, in which they put all improved machinery, and where they are now do- ing a business of $200,000 annually.

Mr. Coggeshall was married to Miss Martha A. Bell in 1844. Her parents emigrated frow Wheeling, Virginia, in 1825, and settled at Ship- pingport, then the home of some prominent men of the day. This marriage was blessed by four children, Charles, Otlena, Blanche, and Harry. The oldest is now carrying on the stock business in Kansas. Blanche is the wife of the well-known Dr. B.C. McClure, physician, of Jeffersonville, In- diana. Harry is with his father in business. Or- lena is at home also; she made a delightful trip to · Europe lately, for recreation and pleasure.

Mr. Coggeshall eschews politics wholly, has been a strict business man, and as such is prom- inently known everywhere. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

CHAPTER XXIII. SOCIETIES AND CLUBS.

The Polytechnic Society-The Free Masons-Knights Tem- plars-Odd Fellows-Knights of Pythias-Order of the Golden Cross-Ladies' Industrial Guild-Louisville Fair Association-The Helvetia Society-Notes of Other Or- ganizations-The Colored Societies.

THE POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.

This is easily foremost among the societies of Louisville not distinctively religious. It was organized December 9, 1876, for the avowed object of "publishing papers or works illustrative of the history of Kentucky," and for certain minor ends. Meetings were held from time to time; but the society did not assume much importance in the community until the Public Library of Kentucky fell into dangerous straits in the spring of 1878, when, May 22d of that year, the Poly-

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technic accepted as a trust the entire property of the library. The story has been sufficiently told elsewhere. The names of the Executive Com- mittee of the Society at this time, upon whom fell the earlier responsibilities and burdens of this difficult business, should, however, be here permanently recorded. They were Dr. Theodore S. Bell, J. W. Chenault, Thomas E. Jenkins, A. McDonald, Major W. J. Davis, M. S. Belknap, J. D. O'Leary, S. G. Stevens, and Professor J. Lawrence Smith.

The subsequent history of the Society is mainly the history of the library, as related in Chapter XVIII. Not only by the purchase and control of a valuable and varied collection of books, but by the addition of the museum and ample apparatus for scientific illustration, and the institution of courses of lectures upon scholarly topics, the society has come to deserve very fully its name "Polytechnic," and may be accounted a great and influential force in Louis- ville and Western Kentucky. Of the invaluable lecture feature of its work the following just remarks were published in the Louisville Daily Commercial of February 26, 1882:

The Polytechnic free lectures were inaugurated November 26, 1880, by Professor T. W. Tobin. The first subject was Oxygen and Fire, which was entertainingly illustrated by ex- periments, and made a decided impression. There were only about forty persons present, principally males. The audiences increased rapidly, however, at once, and during the winter the hall was not large enough to accommodate those who applied for admission. The subjects were all of a seientific and practical character. During December they were on Hydrogen and Water, Nitrogen and Air, Carbon and Food, and Combustion and Life. Dr. Stuart Robinson paid a high compliment to Professor Tobin's lectures during tbe month, and called attention to the growing interest among the people. In January, 1881, a specially interesting popular lecture on The Science of Magic was given to a crowded audience, and it was interpersed with many amusing experiments in legerdemain. Dr. Robinson intended to lecture that month, but his failing health prevented him. A course of lectures on Mineralogy and Geology was given by Professor Tobin, which included such themes as The Early Ages of the Earth and Assaying Minerals, in the latter of which a real diamond was burned and caused much interest. Professor C. Leo Mees gave two lectures on the Microscope; Dr. Grant one on Heat; Professor Dudley S. Reynolds one on The Eye. Professor Tobin then took up a new course on The Forces of Nature, illustrated by Harmony and Dis- cord, How Light and Sound Travel, Optical Illusions, Light and Darkness, and assisted by Mr. Klauber, the artist, concluded the course with one on Photography, during which a photograph of the audience was taken by means of magnesium light. The average attendance was about five hundred. The Earth and its Envelope, by Professor Tobin, was the last subject of the winter season.

The second season of lectures were inaugurated by Colonel Bennett H. Young. Professor Tobin began a course of five lectures on Chemistry, with an average attendance of over five hundred. On November 7th he lectured on Captive Sunshine, introducing Balmani's Luminous Paint. Prof. Elroy M. Avery treated Electric Light. It is estimated that over one thousand people were unable to gain admission to the hall on this occasion. A course of lectures by Professor Tobin on Mineralogy and Geology was again inaugurated in December, the attendance averaging five hundred. The Control of the Weather, by Dr. Woolfolk, of Danville, was also an interesting subject.

In January, 1882, Magic was treated by Professor Tobin, who illustrated it by a beautiful set of apparatus from the cabinet of Robert Houdin. Dr. J. W. Pratt gave an ex- ceedingly entertaining lecture on the Rosetta Stone, illus- trated by colored views and a fac-simile of the celebrated stone. Professor Tobin then gave a new course of lectures on Physical Science, which are still in progress. The capac- ity of the hall, about five hundred, has been exhausted, and numbers have been turned away on each occasion of the re- cent lectures.

In addition to these popular scientific entertainments, in the academy room regular courses of lectures have also heen instituted for the accommodation of the girls' schools of the city. By special request any lady may be admitted to them. At present two courses by Professor Tobin, one of ten lec- tures on Chemistry, and one of ten lectures on Physical Science, have been given or are in progress. These have proved exceedingly entertaining and valuable. Professor A. B. Stark, of Russellville, is also giving an interesting course of lectures on The English Language. These, like the Monday popular lectures, are given to audiences that find inconvenience of accommodation. The society is looking forward to the time when it can have its theater, now the Opera House, for these lectures.

One of the most interesting academies in the Polytechnic Society is the Academy of Art, which meets every Tuesday afternoon, and numbers in its membership many cultured ladies of the city. Is is hoped that out of this academy many new and important features of the society may be de- veloped. Among these an art gallery and a school of design may be mentioned-two useful institutions that have been for some time in contemplation in the society.

THE FREE MASONS.

The formation of the first lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Louisville, the Clark Lodge, in 1809, with many other items of local Masonic history, has been given in our annals of the city. We add here a few items not elsewhere reported:

The Falls City Lodge, No. 400, was chartered October 18, 1865. David T. Monsarrat was the first Master; W. E. Woodruff, S. W .; W. W. Clemens, J. W.

The Louisville Lodge, No. 400, was chartered October 18, 1865. William Kendrick, first Master; Henry B. Grant, S. W .; George Kil- patrick, J. W.

The new Lodge of Antiquity, No. 113, suc- ceeding the old society of the same name and

W. W. Hulings.

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

number, was chartered October 22, 1868. Hiram Bassett, W. M .; L. E. Bartlett, S. W .; W. S. Magens, J. W.

Kilwinning Lodge, No. 506, at the northeast corner of Main and Seventeenth streets, dates from October 18, 1871. W. W. Crawford, W. M .; D. F. C. Weller, S. W .; George W. Barth, J. W.

KNIGHTS TEMPLARS.

A few Sir Knights in Louisville, Wilkins Tan- nehill, O. Montcalm, John McDougal, A. D. Ehrich, Charles B. Allen, Rev. John R. Hall, and Philip Tomppert, vouched and recommended by the Cincinnati Encampment, received a dispen- sation from the Grand Encampment of the United States January 2, 1840, to open an En- campment of Knights Templars and the append- ant orders, by the name of Louisville Encamp- ment, No. 1. Mr. Tannehill was appointed Grand Commander, O. Montcalm Generalisimo, and John McDougal Captain-General. It was regularly chartered September 9, 1841, and like- wise received a charter from the Legislature Feb- ruary 17, 1866. The Commandery (so called for now many years) has made many public appear- ances, notably at the unveiling of the Clay statue in the rotunda of the court-house. The follow- ing is a list of Eminent Commanders from the beginning: Wilkins Tannehill, 1840; Nathan- iel Hardy, 1841-44-45-46-47 ; John R. Hall, 1842-43 ; William F. Colston, 1848-49 ; S. K. Grant, 1850-51; Jacob Owen, P. G. C., 1852-56; John H. Howe, 1853 ; Samuel Griffith, 1854; Henry Hudson, 1855 ; Guerdon Gates, 1857-58; Frank Tryon, 1859 60 ; William C. Munger, P. G. C., 1861-62 ; Charles R. Woodruff, P. G. C., 1863-64; J. L. Anderson, 1865; W. A. Warner, P. G. C., 1866 67 ; Samuel S. Parker, P. G. C., 1868-69-70; H. H. Neal, 1871 ; Henry C. Court- ney, 1872; Charles F. Billingsley, 1873; J. Moss Terry, 1874; Samuel Casseday, Jr., 1875 ; Thom- as H. Sherley, 1876; J. L. Beeler, 1877; Charles E. Dunn, 1878; Colin C. W. Alfriend, 1879-80; John H. Leathers, 1881 -.

De Molay Commandery, No. 12, was char- tered in 1867, and incorporated by the Legisla- ture at the session of 1882. Its most notable public appearances were in the parade in this city St. John's Day, 1881, and at the Garfield funeral in September of the same year. At the competitive drill of Commanderies in Chicago

August 8, 1880, De Molay took the second prize. Its Eminent Commanders have been : R. G. Hawkins, 1867-69 ; James A. Beattie, 1870-71; William Ryan, 1872; A. H. Gardner, 1873 ; R. B. Caldwell, 1874; W. J. Duncan, 1875 ; C. H. Gardner, 1876; W. H. Meffert, 1877; J. F. Grinstead, 1878 ; Edwin G. Hall, 1879; Leonard Varalli, 1880 ; George W. Northrup, 1881-82.

INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS .*

The first subordinate lodge of this Order was instituted in Louisville on the 7th day of Febru- ary, 1833, by the founder of the Order in Amer- ica, Past Grand Sire Thomas Wildey, under the name and style of Boone Lodge No. 1, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, in honor of the hardy old pioneer, Daniel Boone, and is looked upon and regarded as the pioneer of the order in the State of Kentucky, and is the first lodge of this order established in the Western or Southern States, except Ohio.

The Rev. H. A. M. Henderson, D. D., in the Historical Sketch of Odd Fellowship, in Collins's History of Kentucky, adds the following interest- ing details :

Nathaniel Eastham, Sidney S. Lyons, Thomas H. Bruce, and Joseph and Stephen Barkley, met at the house of M. C. Tallmadge, on the east side of Fourth street, and selected a committee to invite Thomas Wildey, Grand Sire of the Grand Lodge of the United States, to visit Louisville and in- stitute a lodge. Mr. Wildey. being en route to New Orleans, stopped at Louisville, and directed the committee to apply immediately for a charter. The petition was signed by Na- thaniel Eastham, Sidney S. Lyons, Stephenson Walters, Thomas H. Bruce, W. Sutcliffe, George G. Wright, Joseph Barkley, John G. Roach, and Thomas Mayberry. The fol- lowing was the first cast of elective officers of Boone Lodge No. I: Sidney S. Lyons, N. G .; Stephen Barkley, V. G .; W. Sutcliffe, Treasurer; George G. Wright, Secretary; and John G. Roach, Recording Secretary.

The first few meetings were alternately held at the resi- dences of Brothers Eastham and Tallmadge; but on the 20th [January] it was reported that a suitable hall had been pro- cured of Rupert & Company, on Main street. The formal institution of the lodge took place [February 7! 1833, Grand Sire Wildey (on his return from New Orleans) officiating and installing the officers. -

About one thousand members have been admitted to Boone Lodge since its inauguration forty years ago [written in 1873]; of these over three hundred now remain in full fellowship. Its total receipts in money aggregate more than $50,000, of which $35,000 have been spent in the relief of brothers, strangers, widows, and orphans, and in burying the dead.

The lodges in this city now number sixteen, and represent a membership of between two and three thousand, embracing all ranks and profes-

* By the kindness (except the extract) of Mr. E. E. White, Grand Secretary of the Order for Kentucky.

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sions of life. The Grand Lodge of the State was organized and instituted in Louisville Septem- ber 13, 1836, by the Past Grands of Boone Lodge No. I, Chosen Friends No. 2, Washing- ton Lodge No. 3, and Loraine Lodge No. 4, and W. S. Wolford (the brother, now dead, of the present Treasurer of the city), chosen at this meet- ing the first Grand Master. The meetings were then held quarterly, and continued to be held thus for a number of years, when they were changed to semi-annual meetings, and in 1853 annual meetings were adopted and continue until the present. The subordinate lodges then numbered four; they now number two hundred and seventy-six, and represent a membership of between nine and ten thousand, with an average income or revenue of over $39,000, with an ag- gregate wealth, in 1880, of over $446,000; dis- tributing for the aid and relief of their members, widows, and orphans, over $22,000 per annum, and for burying the dead over $4,000, and in in- cidental charities over $1,300; and the total amount annually expended for benevolent and charitable purposes is over $27,000.

Of the Encampment or Patriarchal branch of the Order, the first subordinate Encampment was organized or instituted in Louisville April 15, 1835, under the style and title of Mount Horeb Encampment No. 1, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and it is the pioneer of the Patriarchal branch of the Order in Kentucky. The En- campments in the city now number six and rep- resent a membership of between seven and eight hundred. The Grand Encampment of the State was organized and instituted in Louisville No- vember 21, 1839. The meetings were then held, like those of the Grand Lodge, quarterly, then semi-annual, and now annually. The subordi- nate encampments then numbered two; they now number seventy, and represent a member- ship of over two thousand, with an annual in- come or revenue of over $5,000, with an aggre- gate wealth of over $30,000; distributing for the and and relief of Patriarchs, their widows and orphans, over $4,000 annually, and tor burying the dead over $500, and for incidental charities over $200 ; and the total amount annually ex- pended for benevolent and charitable purposes is between $4,000 and $5,000.

The Order in the city consists of sixteen sub- ordinate lodges, as before stated ; six subordi-

nate Encampments, three degree lodges, one working in the English and the other two in the German language, two Rebecca degree lodges, a benefit association under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of the State, that has distributed in the last four years to the widows and orphans, and legal representatives of its deceased mem- bers, near $60,000; and the Patriarchs of the va- rious Encampments of the city are now organiz- ing a Patriarchal or Encampment Drill Corps, in which quite an interest is felt and manifested among the Patriarchs, and the Order, both in the city and State, in both branches, seems to have taken a fresh impetus in the work.

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.

The pioneer society of this order in Louisville, or in the State, was instituted on the 7th day of May, 1869, as Clay Lodge, No. 1, with a mem- bership of twenty-nine. It was closely followed, the same year, by the institution in the city of Daniel Boone Lodge, No. 2, Damon Lodge, No. 3, Uhland Lodge, No. 4, and Washington Lodge, No. 6 (in July). Pioneer Lodge, No. 8, on the corner of Seventh and Green streets, was next formed here, September 28, 1869. The Grand Lodge for the State was organized at a meeting in this city September 6th and 7th of the same year, and was officered chiefly from Louisville, C. A. Brown being made Grand Vice Chancellor, W. A. Borden Grand Recording and Corres- ponding Scribe, A. Rammers, Grand Banker. The growth of the Order in the city was thus very rapid during its first half-year. The report of the local societies, made at the first annual session of the Grand Lodge in Louisville, January 17 and 18, 1870, was encouraging in all respects. Mystic Lodge, No. 11, was instituted in Louis- ville May 11, 1870, and Excelsior, No. 12 (Ger- man), July 2, 1870, at Seventeenth and Main streets. Another German lodge, Barbarossa, No. 23, dates from November 27, 1872 ; and still another, Zenith, No. 25, from January 7, 1873. Crusader Lodge, No. 28, was instituted March 18, 1873, with forty " Pages " initiated. The of- ficial year 1876-77 was somewhat disastrous to the order in the city. Zenith Lodge ceased to exist, by informal disbandment ; Barbarossa was consolidated with Washington Lodge ; and Da- mon Lodge surrendered its charter, but was re- vived in about a year and is now flourishing.

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 116

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814