USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, Ohio, from the founding of Franklinton in 1797, through the World War period to the year 1920 > Part 60
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Mr. Bareus was made a Mason by Goodale Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, in 1902, and he is one of the active members of this order in Columbus. He also belongs to the Scioto Consistory, the Scottish Rite Masons, Mt. Vernon Commandery, Knights Templar, and Aladdin Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was Potentate of Aladdin Temple in 1914, and in September, 1917, was elected to the thirty-third degree in the Scottish Rite. He is one of the prominent and well known Masons of central Ohio, and, those who know him well, are unanimous in their opinion that he makes an effort to carry the sublime precepts of this time honored order into his private and business life, as his intercourse with his fellowmen would attest. He is also a member of the Colum- bus Athletic Club, Columbus Country Club, and the Ohio State University Association.
Mr. Bareus married Sudie E. Cook, of Zanesville, Ohio, and to this union two daughters have been born, namely: Katharine and Elizabeth.
DAVID SIMPSON GRAY. One of the foremost, and by many regarded as "the forc- most citizen" of Columbus, is David S. Gray, banker and philanthropist and former railway official, who, by reason of his extreme age and residence, is a connecting link between two generations of Columbus men. Coming to this city now nearly seventy-two years ago, what a wonderful experience has been his, what a wonderful era of progress has he witnessed, in which progress he has participated in and promoted and is continuing to do, for though closely approaching his ninety-second year he is still active in business and still takes a deep interest in all the affairs of the community.
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Mr. Gray was born at Broad-Kiln-Neek, Sussex county, Delaware, February 8, 1829, the son of the late Rev. David and Naomi (Lofland) Gray. Rev. David Gray was born in Sussex county, Delaware, March 28, 1800, the son of Frazer and Elizabeth (Lockwood) Gray. Frazer Gray was a native of New Jersey, from which state he removed to Sussex county, Delaware, with his parents, William and Elizabeth Gray. Frazer Gray served as a soklier in the Revolutionary War. In 1839 he removed to Ohio and settled in Marion county. Naomi Lofland, wife of Rev. David Gray, was born in Sussex county, Delaware, September 9, 1799, the daughter of Luke and Elizabeth ( Morris) Lofland. When Rev. David Gray was 14 years old he went to sea and was a sailor for three years. He then learned the blacksmith trade and worked at it in Sussex county. In 1827 he was licensed to preach and in 1829 he removed to Ohio, and from that time until his death, at Findlay, Ohio, October 21, 1887, he was a "eireuit rider" of the Methodist Episcopal Church in this State, holding many charges at different places. His wife died at Findlay April 3, 1876.
David S. Gray was but an infant when he was brought to Ohio by his parents in 1829. His education was limited to the free schools of his time and to a few months at Norwalk, Ohio, Seminary, the principal of which at that time was Dr. Edward Thomson, who after- wards was president of the Ohio Wesleyan University and Bishop of the M. E. Church. He began his railway earcer at Wellington, Ohio, in 1850, first as a elerk and then as agent of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati, now the "Big Four" railway, so ealled, then in course of building. When that road was completed to Columbus in 1851, he was trans- ferred to this eity and appointed chief elerk to the station agent here. The following year he was appointed Master of Transportation of the Louisville, Frankfort & Lexington rail- way, now a part of the Louisville & Nashville railway system, but in February, 1853, he resigned to return to Columbus. He was then appointed station agent and general repre- sentative of the Central Ohio railway at Columbus and later was made Master of Transpor- tation and General Freight and Commercial Agent. In January, 1862, he left the Central Ohio railway to become General Superintendent of the Union Railroad Transportation Com- pany, a Pennsylvania corporation, which company became known as the Star Union Line, and later was acquired by the Pennsylvania railway system and recognized as its through freight line.
In February, 1869, Mr. Gray was elected Second Vice-President and General Manager of the Pittsburg, Cineinnati & St. Louis Railway Company and its leased lines. The fol- lowing year he resigned as operating manager, but continued as viee-president in charge of the general freight and commercial relations of the company until the organization in 1872, of the Pennsylvania Company, which took over the management of the P. C. & St. L. railway and its leased lines and removed its headquarters to Pittsburg, when he resigned and was made General Manager of the Star Union Line, and in addition he was appointed general agent of the Pennsylvania Company, charged with special duties as assistant to the First Vice-President. When the Central Traffic Association was formed he was tendered the office of Commissioner, but because he did not want to leave Columbus and go to Chicago, he deelincd. On January 1st, 1896, Mr. Gray was cleeted by the Pennsylvania Company and the Pennsylvania Railway Company as their representative on the Board of Managers of the newly organized Joint Traffie Association, with headquarters in New York City, a position he held until 1900, when the Association was dissolved by the United States Supreme Court, it being decided to be inimieal to the Sherman anti-trust law.
Mr. Gray was quite active in encouraging the building of the Columbus & Hocking railway and of the Columbus & Toledo railway, of which latter he was a member of its board of directors and executive committee until its consolidation with the Hoeking Valley and sale and transfer of its ownership. He was officially instrumental in the incorporation and eon- struction of what became the Columbus, Shawnee & Hoeking railway until its sale and trans- fer to the Pennsylvania & Hocking Company. It now forms the line from Columbus to Sandusky and the Zanesville, Shawnee end of it became a part of the Hoeking Valley system. Mr. Gray was largely concerned financially and otherwise in the building of the Midland Pacific and the Brownville & Kerney railroads, later consolidated into the Nebraska rail- way which was soll on transfer of ownership to the Burlington & Missouri and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads.
In 1901 Mr. Gray retired from active railway life, under the rules of the retiring system of the Pennsylvania Company.
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In 1892 he was elected president of the Clinton National Bank, of Columbus, and he was instrumental in bringing about the merging of that bank and the Hayden National Bank into the Hayden-Clinton National Bank, of which latter bank he was vice-president and chairman of the board of directors until the Hayden-Clinton took over the Deshler National Bank, when he resigned as vice-president, but continnes as chairman of the board of directors.
Mr. Gray has also been active and useful in civie, educational, religious and philan- thropie work for many years. For more than thirty years he has been a member of the board of trustees of The Ohio Wesleyan University and for the last twenty-five years he has been president of the board and gave $100,000 to that institution for the purpose of the building of University Hall and Gray Chapel, which was named in honor of his father. Ohio Wesleyan conferred on him in June, 1912, the degree of LL. D. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the Protestant Hospital from its organization in 1881 and president of it sinee 1894. He has been president of the Home for the Aged since its organization in 1887. He was one of the originators of the Associated Charities of Columbus in 1900, and was president of the board until 1909, when he resigned, and sinee which he has been its treasurer. He was for a number of years a member of the board and president of the Woman's Educational and Industrial Union (now the Y. W. C. A.) He is a member of and chairman and auditor of the Association for the Prevention and Cure of Tuberculosis; is a member of the Central Philanthropie Conneil. He was a member of the M. E. General Conference of 1900, 1901, and 1908.
On December 27, 1858, Mr. Gray was united in marriage with Mary Louise Jackson, who died Mareh 3, 1860, after having given birth to a twin son and daughter, who died in infaney. On October 12, 1865, Mr. Gray married Eugenia Doolittle, of Columbus, who died December 23, 1907, leaving the following children: (1) Louise; (2) David Richard; (3) Meldrum : (4) Eugene.
CHARLES T. WARNER. The biographer never attempts to prove himself in the right, but where a long contaet with the personage of whom he writes exists, the labor of arrangement, synopsis and production becomes more simple, and this is quite equally true to those who have been performers whether in front of the curtain or otherwise, through the shorter or longer years. And yet in business, financial and professional avenues, we discover "age lagging superfluously on the stage," side by side with the thrifty fruitage of aetors in their spring, or zenith-time of endeavor. One of the lawyers of Columbus who is now in the prime of life and its activities is Charles T. Warner.
He was born on the home farm in Fayette county, Ohio,' October 6, 1871, and is the son of Samuel and Ara (Armstrong) Warner. The father was born in Chillicothe, Ross county, Ohio. November 20, 1840, the son of William Warner, a native of Germany; and who settled in Pennsylvania, from which state he came to Ross county, and was one of the early settlers at the town of Chillicothe. later removing to Pike county, Ohio, where Ara J. Warner was born. Samuel Armstrong was one of the Virginia settlers. In 1861 Samuel Warner enlisted in Company C, Thirty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served four years in the Union army, taking part in many important engagements. Returning home after his military career he married Ara Armstrong, who was born near Waverly, Pike county, Ohio. the daughter of Samuel Armstrong, who was of English descent. The young couple settled on a farm in Fayette county, where the death of Samuel Warner occurred on May 8, 1914. His widow survives, residing in Piekaway county, this state.
Charles T. Warner spent his boyhood on the home farm in Fayette county, where he assisted with the general work when he became of proper age, and in the winter time he attended the village schools in his neighborhood. He then entered National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, after which he taught school for a period of seven years, during which his services were in great demand, for he was regarded as a painstaking in- structor with progressive ideas and he introdneed many new and improved methods in the schools where he was employed.
During these years he read law at home and, upon abandoning the teacher's pro- fession he entered Ohio Northern University where he took the law course. . He finished his law studies in the office of Judge Joseph Hidy, of Washington Court House, and Judge Samuel Courtright, of Circleville, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar in 1898, and in
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that year began the practice of law in Columbus and has built up a very satisfactory prac- tice, standing well among his fraternal brethren at the local bar. He is also president of the Shaw Undertaking Company of Columbus, one of the leading firms of its kind in the eity.
Mr. Warner has for a number of years been prominent in the civic life of the Capital City. He has always been an earnest advocate of the "merit system" in public affairs, and was one of the organizers of the city's first civil service commissions, of which he was appointed a member. He has also been identified with the Ohio State Civil Service Com- mission since its organization, and at the present time he is a member of the Columbus Board of Education. He has performed his duties in these capacities in a faithful and com- mendable manner.
Mr. Warner belongs to the Franklin County Bar Association, of which he is now presi- dent. The fact that his professional brethren have honored him with this responsible position would indicate that he stands high in their ranks and that he has their confidence and respect. He is past master of York Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Sons of Veterans, the Young Men's Christian Association, and the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On August 26, 1897, Mr. Warner was united in marriage with Victoria E. Thompson, a daughter of Samuel Thompson, of Williamsport, Ohio, and to this union two children have been born, namely : Agnes A. and Mabel M. Warner.
Mr. Warner is regarded by all classes as one of the useful and public-spirited citizens of Franklin county.
CAPTAIN MITCHELL CAMPBELL LILLEY. It will always be a badge of honor in this country to have known that a person's father, or even his uncle, enlisted in the service of his country when the great war of the rebellion broke out, to assist in saving the Union and in eradicating slavery from our soil and doubly great is the honor if the same person helped add California and the great Southwest to our national domain by overthrow- ing the implicable Mexicans, back in the forties. Just as to this day we boast that our progenitors served under the great Washington in the Revolutionary War to gain indepen- dence, so the descendants of the gallant officers and men who saved the Union of states in the sixties will boast through coming years of the bravery and self-sacrifice of their fathers or other relatives. It is a pleasure to write of Captain Mitchell Campbell Lilley, a gallant officer in the Union army who did valiant service in the salvation of the country during its gravest crisis, and who also bore arms against the Mexicans. But he was more than a man skilled in military affairs; he was one of the leading business men and representative citizens of Columbus during its earlier years of development.
Captain Lilley was a Virginian of a lineage extending far back into the earliest his- tory of the "Old Dominion," having been born in Augusta county, July 18, 1819. His parents, John and Elizabeth (Doak) Lilley, both of English descent, were the children of families who had taken a prominent position in the social and governmental eireles of the early nineteenth century history of Virginia, both having been representatives of the house of burgesses while the colony of Virginia was yet under British rule. His ancestors had proven their love of liberty by active participation in the Revolutionary War, and both fam- ilies retained their old time social prestige after the ravages of that prolonged struggle.
Captain Lilley spent his carly boyhood amid the same scenes that had been familiar to his forefathers for several generations. His father was a planter and was credited with having handled the first tobacco from that country to the markets of Richmond and the East. However, our subject was not destined to follow up the earliest teachings of his young life. His parents dying suddenly he was left an orphan at the age of ten years and he was reared in the home of Judge and Mrs. Eleanor Doak Campbell, who lived at that time in Brown county, Ohio, the boy making the long overland journey from the old home- stead in Virginia on horseback, with much privation and a surprising display of endurance. He grew up amid pioneer conditions and developed a strong body and mind, becoming self- reliant, courageous, independent in thought and action, this early training fitting him for life's later struggles. His adopted parents were people of education and refinement and the natural manliness of the youth was quick to assert itself and he gave carly promise of the many commendable qualities that so happily marked the entire course of his later life. When
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Judge Campbell was appointed district judge of the United States Court of Ohio in 1831 and removed to Columbus, young Lilley accompanied him. Here the better opportunities for education were eagerly embraced and at the Capital University the completion of his educa- tion was finally attained, after he had completed the courses in the Columbus private sehools In 1835 he took up the work of bookbinding, which he thoroughly mastered in a comparatively short time, and he continued to be more or less interested in this line of work the rest of his life and attained notable success in the same. In this eonneetion may be mentioned his origination of the idea of a state bindery and later equipment of the institution which he superintended with marked ability and ever growing sueeess for a period of thirty-five years. He was an expert in the use of the sign language, having held the position of foreman of the State bindery at the Deaf and Dumb Institution for over three decades. He had a host of friends among the mutes of the institution to whom he was uniformly kind and considerate, most of whom he knew personally. He was ever their friend, and to him many who were long employed in the bindery owed their appointment and means of livelihood. And he was always kind to the humblest of beings, and no one who came to him was turned away empty handed; neither in his charities, and they were many, did he bestow with sounding trumpets. He sought to give quietly to all who needed aid, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to know that he had rendered aid in a substantial way to some poor fellow wayfarer.
The Franklin Park Floral Company was another creation of Captain Lilley's genius and until his death he retained the responsibility of secretary and treasurer of that eon- eern, which prospered through his able management. He was one of four men who or- ganized the Regalia Company, now known as M. C. Lilley & Company, in 1865, which has enjoyed a prosperous career for fifty-four years. The family still retain their interest in this big and widely known eoneern. As manufacturers of regalia it is now the largest house in that line in the world, and its products, which are universally recognized of superior quality and workmanship, find a ready market over a very wide territory. In all his business ventures and investments Captain Lilley attained and preserved a most remarkable reeord for sueeess. This was due not only to the keen business foresight for which he was always commended, but also to his sterling honesty and the general esteem in which has was ever held by all with whom he came in contact or who knew him only by reputation, the business world and the publie fully appreciating and never failing to recognize his unswerving integ- rity, spotless honor and relentless industry. In all his commercial associations his record of upright and eonseientious dealings was paramount. A careful and rigid financier in details of business, he was ever liberal and considerate to a degree. His word was regarded as good as the bond of most men.
In support of beneficial public improvements, educational measures and charitable move- ments he was ever enthusiastie and contributed freely of his time and means, although often veiled from publie knowledge through reasons of a naturally modest and retiring nature. Intense loyalty to the government marked his long and useful career, and in both the Mexi- can and Civil Wars he served with honor and distinction, winning the confidenee and trust of his superior offieers and the admiration and esteem of his troops. Throughout the con- fliet with the Mexicans he served as captain of Company E, Fourth Ohio Regiment, of which he took charge at the organization in May, 1847, and retained the responsible position with marked efficiency until the honorable discharge of the company in July, 1848. His military talents during the Civil War were displayed even in more stirring and conspienous manner, and in several fiercely contested engagements with the Confederates victory was won with heavy eost. Ill health finally forced his retirement from active duties at the front in 1863, just after taking successful part in the great battle of Shiloh, where he gallantly commanded Company H, Forty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
Although interested in public affairs and well qualified to be a leader of men in such matters, he was never aetive, nevertheless a true Democrat. Once when he was indueed by the urging of friends to make the raee for city councilman, fearing that he might be elceted he worked assiduously for his opponent's success. Religiously, he was a member of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church, and for many years served on the board of trustees. He was a sincere Christian and in manner modest and retiring. He was a great home man, his own fireside holding for him, in the quiet enjoyment of home happiness, far more than could possibly any distinctive worldly honors.
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Captain Lilley was twice married, first, on September 4, 1849, at Paris, Illinois, he was united with Amanda C. Brooks, and to this union thirteen children were born, five of whom died in infancy, those reaching manhood and womanhood are, Mrs. Eleanor Nutt, late of Urbana, Ohio, is deceased; Thomas M. Lilley lives in Columbus, where also reside Mrs. Kate M. Haller and William A. Lilley; Alexander S. Lilley makes his home in San Fran- cisco, California; Mitehell C. Lilley, jr., who lived in Ft. Myer, Fla., is now deceased, Mrs. Harriett L. Pace, who was a resident of Oxford, North Carolina, is also deceased; Mrs. Anna L. Willard lives in Columbus. The mother of these children died July 21, 1887, and for his second wife the Captain married, in 1889, Katherine E. McConnell of Columbus, who died April 19, 1918. No children were born of the last marriage.
The death of Captain Lilley occurred on June 22, 1897. Those who knew him well describe him as a man who, in his home life, was a model husband and father. In the peaceful midst of a happy family aspirations and ambitions for leadership or earthly promi- nenec, if ever entertained, were never solicited. In disposition genial, kind and uniformly pleasant, he numbered his friends as legion and retained their never-swerving respect and admiration, in fact, few men of a past generation in Ohio's capital city so strongly held the general respect and veneration.
DANIEL WILLIAM MCGRATH. No business man of Columbus is better known or has done more for the material development of the city than Daniel William MeGrath, whose early life was none too promising, but resolutely facing the future he gradually surmounted the difficulties in his way and in due course of time rose to a prominent position in the industrial circles of his home city, besides winning the confidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact and for many years he has stood as one of the representative citizens of the section of the Buckeye commonwealth of which this volume treats.
Mr. MeGrath, who is a general contractor, has been identified with the building inter- ests of Columbus and Central Ohio for a period of thirty-five years, during which time he has erected perhaps two-thirds of the buildings of Columbus, including the largest office buildings, banks, industrial plants, school houses, churches, and the finest dwellings. He was born in Livingston county, New York, September 13, 1851, son of the late Patrick and Mary ( Maher) McGrath, both natives of Ireland, the father born in 1829 and the mother in 1834. The father came to America in 1849, locating first in Livingston county, New York, near the Genesee county line. In 1856 he removed with his family to Ohio, settling in Madison county, where he made his home until 1892, in which year he removed to Franklin county, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring in 1904, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1902.
Daniel W. MeGrath received a common school education and worked on his father's farm until he came to Columbus in 1874, and here he learned the bricklayers' trade, working as a journeyman and foreman for ten years. He began as a brick contractor in 1884 and in 1891 he branched out as a general contractor and his business has grown from that time on, uni- formly and continuously until he is now recognized as the largest contractor in Central Ohio. He built his business on the rings of ability, reliability and integrity, always doing his work promptly and well, and he has ever insisted on conscientious and high grade work on the part of his employes. He has a modern, full and complete equipment for all kinds of building and engineering projects, such as buildings, concrete bridge and viaduct construc- tion, filtration and sewage disposal plants.
Mr. McGrath was the pioneer of fire proof construction in Columbus, having built here the first seven skyscraper buildings, namely: the Wyandotte, Schultz, Spahr, Outlook, Brunson, the New First National Bank and the Central National Bank buildings. He was the first contractor in Columbus to use a material elevator operated by steam power and later by electric power. He built and patented in 1899 the first mortar mixer that was used here, also introduced the first concrete mixer and the hanging scaffold to Columbus.
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