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 61
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The firm has built in addition to the work already enumerated, the masonry work of the Carnegie Steel Company; the American Rolling Mill Company's plant at Columbus and their east plant at Middletown, Ohio; the Buckeye Steel Casting Company, also the original buildings of the Federal Glass Company, and several buildings of the Jeffrey Manufac- turing Company ; the Kilbourne-Jacobs Company; the Ralston Steel Car Company; the M. C. Lilley Regalia Company and the Crystal Ice Company; the department store of F. & R.
D. Wildworth
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Lazarus & Company; the Columbus Dry Goods Store; the Boston Store; Tracy-Wells Co .; C. C. Higgins Co .; Teachout Sash & Door, and the Hanna Paint Company; the Crestview, Roosevelt, and several other school buildings; St. John the Evangelist Church on South Ohio avenue; St. Dominics, and many others; the Pirrung, Ferdinand Howald, Dr. W. D. Ham- ilton and the John G. Deshler residences; Hayes Hall, Physics, Brown, Engineering Labo- ratory, Library, Horticulture and Forestry buildings at the Ohio State University, and the Chapel at St. Marys of the Springs Academy. In the way of railroad work the firm built all of the terminal buildings in Columbus of the Norfolk & Western and several of the build- ings at the Pan Handle railroad shops. The Citizens Trust and Savings Bank building and the Columbus Athletic Club were constructed by this progressive concern, who also had charge of the construction of the Mound street and Fourth street viaducts; the Williams concrete bridge over Scioto river at Marble Cliff; the improved sewage disposal plant; the garbage disposal plant and the municipal electric light plant. The firm is now engaged in con- structing all concrete masonry in connection with the Scioto river channel improvement and has completed the additions and extensions to Camp Sherman at Chillicothe.
Mr. MeGrath is a member of St. Francis parish, and a trustee of the Knights of Colum- bus. He is a life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, also a member of the Columbus Athletic Club, the Scioto Country Club, the Columbus Automobile Club, and the Buckeye Lake Yacht Club.
On April 17, 1883, Mr. MeGrath married Mary Jane Hunter, daughter of William Hunter, of Sidney, Ohio, and to this union three sons and three daughters have been born, namely: Edward H., Frank J., and Jolm A., who are associated in business with Their father; Marie, deceased, Lillian and Anne.
BERIAH E. WILLIAMSON. Hard work and not inconsiderable genius for organiza- tion has characterized the career of Beriah E. Williamson. former newspaper man and at present United States internal revenue collector for the Eleventh Ohio District.
He is a native of the old Keystone state and is descended from one of the old families of the Shenango valley of that state, the Williamson family having settled on the Shenango river in Mercer county at the close of the Revolutionary War. His paternal grandfather, John Williamson, was born on the old Williamson farm, and he operated one of the very early water-power grist mills of Mercer county. John Mercer Williamson, son of John, and father of Beriah E. Williamson, was born on the old homestead, in the same log house in which his father first saw the light of day. He was a school teacher in his carlier life, also engaged in farming. In 1876 he was elected prothonotary, an office corresponding to that of Probate Judge in Ohio, of Mercer county. He married Susan Emma Graham, a native of Pennsylvania also, and a daughter of Major John G. Graham, an officer in the Confederate army during the Civil War, who commanded a supply post at Magnolia, South Carolina.
Beriah E. Williamson was born in the same house as was his father and grandfather in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1866. He spent his young days on the old home farm and attended the country schools and those of Mercer, the county seat. He then entered Allegheny College at Meadville. Pennsylvania, taking a special three years' course. After leaving college he began the study of medicine at Greenville, Pennsylvania, but the ill- ness and death of his father caused him to give up studying for that profession, and in 1889 he engaged in newspaper work as correspondent from Mercer county of the Pittsburg Leader. In 1890 he removed to Ohio and took a position on the staff of the Cleveland Morning Times, which was the first two-cent morning daily published in Ohio. Later he was on the staff of the Cleveland World and the Cleveland Press. In the fall of 1890 he accepted a position as reporter on the News-Democrat of Canton. of which paper Gen. Isaac Sherwood was at that time a part owner. General Sherwood is now a member of Congress from the Toledo district. Mr. Williamson continued on the News-Democrat, first as reporter, then as editor and then as managing editor for a period of cleven years.
In 1901 he located in Columbus as legislative correspondent for a string of Ohio news- papers, and later was on the staff of the Press-Post and the Ohio Sun. Again taking up work as a correspondent he opened a bureau in the Harrison building, now the Huntington bank building. He became the regular staff correspondent of the Cleveland Leader, the Cin- cinnati Commercial-Tribune and the Pittsburgh Dispatch, also did much general political correspondence and was thus engaged until Governor Harmon, on August 1, 1910, appointed
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him secretary to the Ohio State Tax Commission. That was the beginning of the era of cen- tralized taxation of public utilities in the State and that was the first tax commission ap- pointed in the State, and the commission necessarily had to do a great deal of what .night be termed pioneer work in that direction.
Mr. Williamson resigned from the secretaryship of the tax commission to assume the duties of United States internal revenue collector on December 1, 1913, to which position he had been appointed by President Wilson upon the recommendation of United States Sen- ator Atlee Pomerene. When he took charge of the internal revenue office there were eleven people on the payroll, while in 1918 there were forty-one. During his tenure of office the income tax became a law, and he has been a pioneer in the application of that law. But, as was the case with the Ohio tax commission work he appears to take kindly to pioneering and soon mastered his largely increased and widely diversified duties. He has made a study of the tax questions as they relate to both State and Federal governments, and is regarded as an expert in that direction.
Mr. Williamson is recognized as a publie speaker of more than ordinary ability and he is in demand constantly, frequently responding to calls for speeches in his own and other distriets. And, what is more, he is enthusiastie in his work and is always ready to assist in untangling any individual snarls in the income tax questions.
Mr. Williamson is a member of the Columbus Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, also of the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity. He was united in marriage with Minnie L. Conkle, who was born in Defiance, Ohio, a daughter of Lafayette Conkle, former treasurer of Defianee county. To the subject and wife a son and daughter have been born, namely: Donia Judith and Benjamin Allen Williamson. The son was graduated from East High School in 1917, and was a junior in Ohio State University when, in 1918, he received an appointment in the United States diplomatic service and is now an attache of the United States Embassy at Berne, Switzerland, a very important post for so young a man, but he is making a very creditable record there.
JOHN FRY WILSON is a native of Ohio, a descendant of two early families of this State. He is the son of Colonel Harrison and Mary Caroline (Fry) Wilson, both born in the Buckeye State, the father near Cadiz, on March 15, 1840, the son of Thomas and Mary Wilson, and the grandson of Thomas Wilson, sr., who served in the Revolutionary War. Thomas Wilson, jr., removed to Belmont county, Ohio, in 1846. In 1854 Harrison Wilson entered a manual labor university at Athens, Ohio, spending two years there, and paid for his tuition and board by working for eight cents an hour. He began teaching school when he was fifteen years of age at Harriettsville, in Noble county. After dismissing his school one afternoon in May, 1861, he wrote on the blackboard, "Gone to the war." That night he walked eighteen miles to Summerfield and volunteered in the company of Captain John Mosley, which company was assigned to the Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His brothers, William and Lewis, had already enlisted, and his other three brothers, Thomas, John and Mordecai later enlisted. William was for a long time a prisoner of war in Libby prison and Lewis was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, while ranking as a second lieutenant.
Harrison Wilson served for seven months as a private in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, then received a commission as second lieutenant and was transferred to the Twen- tieth Regiment, recruiting at Cincinnati He was assigned to Company I and successively held commissions of second lieutenant, first lieutenant, adjutant, major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel of the Twentieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was an efficient and gallant officer, enjoying the confidenec of his superior officers and the admiration of his men. He was mustered out with his regiment on July 15, 1865.
After the war Colonel Wilson settled at Sidney, Ohio, where he read law with General James Murray, was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his profession. He gained a high position at the bar of that seetion of the State. In 1895 he was elected Circuit Judge of the Columbus Cireuit, and continued on the bench until 1909, when he returned to the private practice of law in Columbus, in partnership with his son, John F. Wilson. In 1911 Colonel Wilson retired from active practice and removed to Nordhoff (Ojai), California, where he now makes his home.
On January 1, 1867, Colonel Wilson married Mary C. Fry, who was born at Port Jeffer- son, Shelby county, Ohio, October 10, 1844. Her death occurred at her California home on
Joseph A. Jeffrey
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November 23, 1917. She was the daughter of John Thornton Fry and Margaret (Shaw) Fry, and the granddaughter of Christian Fry, who was born in Kentucky in 1786, from which state he came to Ohio when a young man, locating on Paint creek in Ross county, where he married Jane Robinson, and a short time afterwards removed to Sidney, and engaged in mercantile pursuits for a number of years.
John Fry Wilson, the immediate subject of this sketch, was born at Sidney, Ohio, July 26, 1869, and there spent his boyhood and attended the public schools. He began reading law under his father, then entered the Cincinnati Law College, from which he was graduated in 1890, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and soon thereafter was admitted to the bar. He entered the practice of his profession at Sidney, where he continued until 1901. He then removed to Columbus and has since been engaged in practice here, with high standing at the bar. Since 1910 he has been senior member of the well known firm of Wilson & Rector. He has been connected with much important litigation in Ohio.
Mr. Wilson is a member of the Columbus Club and the Scioto Country Club, American Bar Association, American Society of International Law, etc. On December 15, 1891, he married Margaret L. Widener, of Sidney, Ohio, a daughter of William and Susan C. (Mitchell) Widener.
JOSEPH ANDREW JEFFREY. This country has produced many fine examples of industrial and financial leaders; yet those who stand out prominently because of their vision of industrial proportion, are few indeed. But Mr. J. A. Jeffrey is one of the few. In these days of industrial misunderstanding, its a pity the manufacturing world numbers so few of his type. He is one of those rare personalities in industry today who sensed over forty years ago the spirit of the present.
Men who do really big things, do them through the coordinated efforts of others. Fur- ther, little is brought about where there is lack of vision. Mr. Jeffrey has had a rare com- bination of these two business essentials. We place much stress on ability; but how about adaptability? Mr. Jeffrey was educated as a banker but he has become a great manufacturer. In this respect he is not unlike a few other great industrial leaders. Mr. Carnegie was trained in the telegrapher's profession; but he became one of the world's greatest steel men. Like Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Jeffrey could select men. More than that-he has trusted men- believed in men-has been able to get men to believe in him.
Mr. Jeffrey has built up the largest business of its kind in the world; but in doing so, he has done something much bigger-he has built men. To him the making of money has only been an incident. The helping of humanity has been his great ambition. Not from the standpoint of paternalism; but with that vision of service without which no man truly succeeds.
"And the greatest of these is Service," if asked, would very likely be found to be his slogan. It is this tenth legion of power that has stood back of the business that he has been instrumental in creating and has made Jeffrey products known the world over.
The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company of which he is President, has a national reputation for being a leader in all those activities fundamental to sound industrial relations. Mr. Jeffrey has proceeded on the basic principle of justice. He has never been known to side-step an issue. His absolute faith in men has never faltered. The fact that there are over one hundred of his co-workers who have been and are still working with him for over a quarter of a century, speaks more eloquently than mere words.
Any State or Institution is just as strong as the individual units of which it is composed. To do for the unit that which the unit should do for itself, is to weaken it. The conclusion is obvious. Mr. Jeffrey reasoned thus forty years ago. The soundness of his reasoning is reflected in the wonderful personnel of his large organization. With him the acid test has been a man's ability to do. No palliative paternalism has found a resting place in the Jeffrey plant. The square deal has had first place. There has never been any "working for." It has always been "working with." And this idea of the development of the individual in a proper relation to the whole organization is the big dominant factor in making the Jeffrey Company the world leader in its line.
Born in Clarksville, Clinton County, Ohio, Jannary 17th, 1836, the son of James and Angeline Jeffrey, he was reared on a farm and there remained until he completed his High School work. Mr. Jeffrey's first job was clerking in a clothing store in St. Marys. His
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vision of larger things brought him to Columbus where he completed a business college course and entered the private bank of Rickly and Brother as messenger. He made good in all the subordinate positions and became cashier. His ambition for greater service took him to Cin- cinnati where he was successfully engaged in the furniture business for three years.
In 1869, Mr. Jeffrey saw greater possibilities for service in Ohio's Capital City and joined with Mr. S. S. Riekly in founding the Commercial Bank (now the Commercial Na- tional) of which he became cashier. A little later, reorganized and enlarged, the bank was taken over by Mr. Jeffrey, Orange Johnson and F. C. Sessions.
In 1878, seeing the great need and possibilities of the coal mining machine, he, along with Mr. Sessions, acquired a controlling interest in the Lechner Mining Machine Patents and organized the Lechner Mining Machine Company. A couple of years later the Lechner Company was reorganized and incorporated as The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company with Mr. Jeffrey as President and General Manager. Mr. Jeffrey is still President, his eldest son, Robert H. succeeding to the Vice-Presidency and General Managership in 1907.
When Mr. Jeffrey took charge there were but a dozen men employed; at the present time, there are nearly four thousand.
Mr. Jeffrey has always taken a keen interest in all agencies in Columbus that make for better citizenship. He has never liked the word charity in the ordinary meaning of that term. He is most interested in helping people help themselves. His work as trustee of the Protestant Hospital, Children's Hospital, Women's Hospital, Associated Charities, and various other helpful organizations has always taken the form of constructive assistance and not sentimental papuerizing.
Mr. Jeffrey is President of The Ohio Malleable Company; Vice-President of the Citiens Trust and Savings Bank; a member of the National Association of Manufacturers; The Na- tional Metal Trades Association; Institute of Mining Engineers of England; The National Credit Association: The Columbus Chamber of Commerce; the Columbus Club; The Country Club; The Athletic Club; The Business Men's Club and the Young Men's Christian Association.
True to the best test of a real man, Mr. Jeffrey assigns most of the credit for his success to the inspiration of Mrs. Jeffrey, who, before her marriage to Mr. Jeffrey in 1866, was Miss Celia Harris. Their children are:
Minnie H. married R. Grosvenor Hutchins, formerly Vice-President of The Jeffrey Man- ufacturing Company ; later Vice-President of The Chicago Railway Company; and then Viec- President of The National Bank of Commerce in New York.
Florence married W. Wilson Carlile, General Counsel of The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company and a member of the law firm of Butler and Carlile.
Robert Hutchins is Vice-President and General Manager of The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company; Vice-President of The Commercial National Bank and former Mayor of Columbus.
Agnes married Frederick Shedd, President of the E. E. Shedd Mercantile Company.
Joseph Walter is a director and Viee President of The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company and Vice-President of The Ohio Malleable Iron Company, and director of the Hayden-Clin- ton National Bank. He served as Major with the 3rd Bat., 136th Field Artillery in France during the World War.
Malcolm Douglas is a Director of The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company in charge of its export business. He served as Captain of Battery B, Ist Bat., 136th Field Artillery in France in the World War.
LEWIS LINCOLN RANKIN. In examining the records of all self-made men and those who have achieved more than mediocre success in any line of specific endeavor. it will invariably be found that indefatigable industry has constituted the basis of their snecess. True, there are other elements which enter in and conserve the advancement of personal inter- ests, such as perseverance, diserimination and mastering of expedience, but the foundation of all achievement is persistent labor. Understanding this at the outset of his career, the late Lewis Lincoln Rankin of Columbus, sought no royal road to success. Mr. Rankin was born in the old Rankin homestead in Mifflin township, Franklin county, Ohio, August 1, 1860, -- the son of Swan and Sarah Rankin. In 1882 he married Hattie Rathmell, and by this union there were three children, Stanley F., who died in 1908, Bertha S. and Allen R.
In 1879 he was graduated from the Central High School, of Columbus, and began his career as a school teacher. Three years later he was chosen superintendent of schools of
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Canal Winchester, Ohio. While teaching he prepared himself for a legal career and made rapid progress in the study of law. In 1885 he was admitted to the Bar, and actively en- gaged in the practice of law, until 1895, when he founded The Buckeye State Building & Loan Company. From this time on until his death on December 27th, 1918, his entire business energy was devoted to the study and active management of this institution. In 1905 he was chosen president and served in this capacity until his decease. To see the company grow, to make it safe and sound, to make it render a real service to its patrons, whether borrowers or depositors, became the aim and end of his life. In the record of this company may be found the history of his last twenty-three years of service. From the humble start in the Wesley block on High street, Columbus, Ohio, in 1895, he lived to see his company grow steadily from year to year until its assets, at the time of his death, were sixteen millions of dollars, being the largest financial institution in Central Ohio, the largest of its kind in the United States and third largest in the world.
For many years Mr. Rankin was very prominent in the civic life of the Capital City. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Columbus Athletic Club, the Sons of American Revolution, the Scottish Rite, the Shrine and the King Avenue M. E. Church.
In 1914, the International Congress of Building and Loan Associations, which met in London, England, honored him with the presidency of their organization. Three years later the United States League of Local Building and Loan Associations chose Mr. Rankin as their president.
Besides his active business career, he devoted a large part of his time to his church, to which he gave unsparingly of his time and resources. For many years he was president of the board of trustees and an active teacher in the Sunday School. Here, as well as in his business life, his excellent leadership was recognized, and his radiant personality esteemed.
JOHN YOUNG BASSELL. Sinee one of the designated functions of this publication, touching the history of the leaders of affairs in Columbus and vieinity, is in accordance to recognition to those who stand respective in their various fields of business activity and other arenas of endeavor, there is propriety, from this consistent viewpoint, in noting the salient points in the career of John Young Bassell, whose influence has long been potent in the general progress of the city long honored by his residence.
As secretary of the Columbus Board of Trade (now the Columbus Chamber of Com- merce) for sixteen consecutive years, as president of the Columbus Business Men's Associa- tion and manager of the Columbus Conventions and Publicity Association since its organiza- tion, Mr. Bassell has been an influential factor in the business and eivie history of the Capital City of the great Buckeye commonwealth for a quarter of a century.
The Bassell family is of French Huguenot stock, our subjeet's great-grandfather having been a native of France. He came to America in Colonial days and settled in Virginia, where, for many years he was an extensive planter. The Bassell men have been lawyers, physicians, professors and army officers. Colonel James Bassell was a distinguished Confed- erate officer, and General Stonewall Jackson was a collateral relative of the family.
Benjamin Bassell, sr., grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Vir- ginia, and his son, Stephen Jackson, also a native of the Old Dominion, was the father of the gentleman whose name initiates this review. Stephen Jackson Bassell's birth occurred at Clarksburg, Virginia, the family home. He received good educational advantages and be- came a leading lawyer of his locality, but ill health and an early death eut short his career. He married Catherine Young, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of John Young of that state, who was a soldier in the War of 1812.
John Y. Bassell was born at Clarksburg, Vrginia, June 23, 1847. As a boy he attended Bleakhill Academy at Culpepper Court House, Virginia, also a military school, the Monon- gahela Academy (afterwards the University of West Virginia), and in April, 1861, upon the breaking out of the war between the states, although but fourteen years of age, he volun- teered for service in the Confederate army and served four years in the ranks, becoming an efficient and gallant soldier, following the "matchless plumes of Lee and Jackson" through many important campaigns and engagements, being three times severely wounded. After re- turning home from the Civil War, he continued his education and studied law, graduating from the University of Virginia in 1868 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. But the eon- ditions prevailing in the South following the war, during the reconstruction period, were not
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conducive to his entering the active practice of law, so he became identified with commercial and industrial affairs, never practicing his profession.
Mr. Bassell entered business at Leesburg, Virginia, later becoming interested in indus- trial enterprises in Newark, New Jersey, and from there he went West, and located in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1893 he cast his lot with the people of Columbus, where he has since resided. For a number of years he was president and manager of the Chittenden Hotel Company, but when it changed hands he resigned his position and was selected as secretary of the Columbus Board of Trade, the duties of which position he continued to discharge faithfully and acceptably for a period of sixteen years, resigning for the purpose of accept- ing the position of manager of the newly organized Columbus Conventions and Publicity Association, which was organized especially for the making use of Mr. Bassell's special and pronounced ability for such a position.
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