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 69
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In April, 1909, Mr. Harrison was appointed special assistant to the United States attorney general in the Taft administration, and resigning his state position he removed to Washington, D. C. In 1911 he was detailed to take charge of litigation which necessitated his removal to Cleveland, but in June, 1912, he returned to Columbus, while still in the service of the Federal Government. He resigned this position, which he had so acceptably and admirably filled, in March, 1913, leaving the office on January 1, 1911, thus having also served under the Wilson administration. He has since been engaged in private practice of the law in Columbus, and has built up a large practice and is now one of the leading legal lights in the State.
Mr. Harrison is identified with many corporations of a public service nature and other- wise. He has for several years bcen general counsel of the following companies: The Athens Electric Company, The Central Electric Producing Company, The Hocking Power Co .. The Mutual Electric Company, The Hocking, Sunday Creek Traction Co., and others.
Mr. Harrison took an active part in war activities, and was chairman of the Franklin county food administration until the close of the war, receiving commendation from state and national officials on account of the efficient organization of the work.
Fraternally, Mr. Harrison is a member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias,
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the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Sons of Veterans, the Columbus Club and the Columbus Athletic Club.
On December 28, 1898, Mr. Harrison was united in marriage with Virginia Eidson, a native of Greenville, Ohio, and a daughter of Frank M. and Lucetta ( Kiester ) Eidson. To this union three children have been born: Eidson Ellsworth, whose birth occurred in Frank- lin, Ohio, in October, 1899; Ellis Bowen, born in Greenville, Ohio, August 1, 1905; Barbara Lou, born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 5, 1911.
WILLARD BRYANT CARPENTER, B. A., M. A., M. D. There is no class of citizens to whom a community owes a greater degree of gratitude than to the self-denying, self-sacri- ficing members of the medieal profession, and the words of the ancient philosopher, "He serves God best who serves humanity most," certainly apply to the physician. Among the members of the profession of Columbus to whom scores and seores of people owe a debt of gratitude is that successful physician and worthy citizen, Dr. Willard Bryant Carpenter, who for forty years has been a prominent practitioner of the eity.
Dr. Carpenter is a native son of Ohio and is descended from two pioneer families of the State-the Carpenters and Gilruths,-both of which have been in America since colonial days, and both of which furnished soldiers to our early wars. The Carpenters are of English stoek and trace their ancestry to the thirteenth century in England. The family was founded in America in 1638 by William Carpenter, the progenitor of the Ohio branch of the family. Nathan Carpenter, lineal descendant of William and great-grandfather of Dr. Willard B., served in a volunteer company in the war of the Revolution from May 5th to December 17, 1775, and in the Continental line in Captain Parker's company, Third Bat- talion. Colonel Sage commanding, from Mareh 7, 1777, to March 17, 1780, and was mustered out with a rank of Captain in recognition of his services; he was at the battle of Bunker ITill and at the capture of General Burgoyne at Saratoga. Dr. Carpenter's maternal great- grandfather, Nathan Bracee, was also a soldier of the Revolution and served with General Washington at White Plains and New York, while Dr. Carpenter's grandfather, on his mother's side, the Rev. James Gilruth, served as a soldier in the War of 1812.
A few years following the close of the Revolutionary War, Captain Carpenter purchased part of what was known as "military land," in what was then Liberty township, Ross county, Ohio-(subsequently, when Delaware county was formed, Liberty township, that eounty), and removed his family, consisting of his wife and six children, to the new home in the west towards the close of that century. His son, Nathan, grandfather of Dr. Willard B., was born on Mareh 4, 1790, and was but a boy when he came with the family to Ohio. He owned a farm on the east side of Olentangy river, Liberty township, Delaware county, and later owned a farm and mill on the west side of the Olentangy. In 1837 he moved to near Worthington, Franklin county, Ohio, and built his home on what is now the site of the Methodist Children's Home. There he and h's wife, Electa, passed their declining years.
Rev. George Carpenter, D. D., father of Dr. Willard B., was born in his father's log house on the east side of the Olentangy, in Liberty township, Delaware county, on May 9, 1826. Hle was graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with the degree of A. B., class of '51, and is one of the three oklest living members of the alumni of that University. He studied theology at Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati, completing the course and re- cciving his license to preach. Wooster University gave him the Hon. D. D. degree. He was pastor of Kingston, (Ross county) Presbyterian Church from 1851 to 1867 and pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Washington C. H., from 1867 to 1885. After that his labors were as a Synodical minister and evangelist until he retired from all active work in 1911, remaining on his Ross county farm until October, 1916, when he removed to Colum- bus, where he now resides. He married Matilda Gilruth, daughter of Rev. James Gilruth, a soldier in the War of 1812, who served as quartermaster of a regiment stationed at Fort Gratiot, and was later well known as one of the strongest, mentally and physically, of the pioneer ministers of the Methodist Church in Central and Northern Ohio.
Mrs. George Carpenter is a lady of unusual mental attainments, and is a pioneer in the cause of temperance in Ohio. She was captain of the first band of women in Ohio to enter the organized crusade against whisky, and she is the author of "The Crusade. Its Origin and Development at Washington Court House, and Its Results," which volume is to be found
Willard P. Carpenter M. D.
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on the shelves of public and many private libraries. She is still living, and like her husband, in the enjoyment of health and all of her faculties.
Dr. Willard Bryant Carpenter was born at Kingston, Ross county, on February 19, 1856. He attended Mt. Pleasant Academy, at Kingston, and was graduated from Washington Court House High School, and then sought employment in order to earn money with which to assist in obtaining his higher education. He worked in the postoffice, the county offices and a bank in Washington Court House, and then entered Wooster University, where he was graduated with the A. B. degree, class of '76. Wooster gave him the A. M. in 1879, after three years continuous study in advanced and professional institutions.
He read medicine in the office of Dr. S. S. Salisbury at Washington Court House, then entered Hahnemann Medical College at Philadelphia, from which college he received his M. D. degree with the class of '79. He then spent some time in the office of Dr. J. H. Salis- bury, of Cleveland, in the study of the microscope and its relation to diagnosis, and in July, 1879 he began the practice of medicine in Columbus. And after forty years is still active and successful, he being now the dean of Homeopathic physicians of the city, his service having been longer than any other physician of that school of medicine in Columbus.
Aside from his practice Dr. Carpenter is active in other and kindred lines of endeavor. He was one of the founders and associate owners of the Sixth Avenue Private Hospital ; he is a lecturer on diseases of the nervous system at Homeopathic College of Ohio State Uni- versity, and is a member of the staff of University Hospital; he was one of the organizers of the Columbus Mutual Life Insurance Company and is now medical director, vice-presi- dent and member of the executive board of same; is chairman of the executive council of the Ohio Public Health Federation; is a member of the Columbus Homeopathic Medical Society ; member of the Ohio State Homeopathic Medical Society (president one year), and of the American Institute of Homeopathy. Ile is also a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, of the National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, of Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, of Old Northwest Genealogical Society, and is one of the original founders of the National Historical Society (N. Y.) He is a member of Central Presbyterian Church, of the Columbus Athletic Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and is vice-president of the Park Savings Co.
On September 29, 1880, Dr. Carpenter was united in marriage with Carrie L. May, of Kingston, Ohio. She died in 1895, and on June 24, 1897, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Ida F. Lindsey, of Columbus.
Dr. Carpenter is the ideal physician: skilled, patient, untiring, kind and genial and mag- netic in personality. As a citizen he is progressive and patriotic-a combination and blending of talent and worth,-which long since won for him a high place in his profession and recognition as a leading citizen and a man of high ideals.
FRANCIS ROPES HUNTINGTON. It is a well authenticated fact that success comes as a result of legitimate and well-applied energy, unflagging determination and per- severance in a course of action when once decided upon. She is never known to bestow her gifts upon the indolent and ambitionless, and only those who seek her untiringly are recipi- ents of her blessings. In tracing the history of Francis Ropes Huntington, president of the Huntington National Bank of Columbus, it is plainly seen that the prosperity which he now enjoys has been won by commendable qualities, and it is also his personal worth that has gained for him the good will of all who know him.
Mr. Huntington was born in the city where he still resides, September 3, 1876. He is a son of P. W. Huntington, a pioneer banker, man of affairs and founder of the Hunt- ington banking institutions in Columbus. He was educated in the schools of this city and prepared for college at a preparatory school at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, but did not enter college, preferring to get into business life, which he did in his seventeenth year. He began as messenger in his father's bank in 1893 and in 1898 he was taken into the firm as a partner, having made rapid progress in mastering the various phases of the banking business and from that time on he has been a vital force in the bank.
When the Huntington National Bank was organized he became its vice-president and upon the retirement from active business of his father in 1913 he succeeded him as president. the duties of which responsible position he has continued to fill very ably and satisfactorily. He was one of the organizers of the Midland Mutual Life Insurance Company of Colum-
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bus and is now its treasurer. He is a director of the Hocking Valley Railroad Company, a director of the Columbus Railway, Light & Power Company, also of the Ohio State Tele- phone Company, the Indianapolis Telephone Company, the Commonwealth Railway, Light and Power Company, and many others.
Mr. Huntington is a member of the board of trustees of the Children's Hospital and of the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. He is vice-president of the Columbus Club, a life member of the Columbus Athletic Club and also of the Scioto Country Club, and a member of the Castalia Club.
Mr. Huntington married Adelie Clark Ulrick, daughter of James C. and Adeline (Clark) Ulrick of Columbus.
NORMAN EWING SHAW. It is now becoming generally understood that the life of the man who lives closest to nature is the best life, and no class of men are in better posi- tion to receive the benefits which are thus to be derived than farmers. We study the merehant, the professional man, the artist, preacher, statesman and inventor and find their lives no more excellent than the lives of the agriculturist. While the farmer stands at the head of art as found in nature, the others get but glimpses of the delights of nature in her various elements and moods. Norman Ewing Shaw, the able and popular State Secretary of Agriculture of Ohio, has ever taken a delight in nature and existence, because he has kept in touch with the springs of life, having spent most of his life in some branch of agrieul- ture.
Mr. Shaw was born at New Richmond, Clermont county, Ohio, July 29, 1876. He is a son of John C. and Sarah (Goble) Shaw. The father was also a native of Clermont county and was a son of John Shaw, who came to Ohio from Kentucky. He became one of the leading men of his locality and served in the Ohio Legislature, also in the Constitutional Convention in 1876. Ilis wife was also a native of Clermont county, this State, and was a daughter of Stephen Goble, an early settler of Richmond.
Norman E. Shaw was cdueated in the New Richmond common and high schools, Doan Academy at Granville and Ohio State University, graduating from the last named institu- tion with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1906.
He very carly manifested a decided bent for things agricultural and horticultural, and while a student at the University he had charge of the gardens and greenhouses of the insti- tution, and in this manner he made enough money with which to defray his expenses while a student. During his senior year he was an instructor in the horticultural department.
After leaving college he was for two years commercial gardner near the city of Colum- bus. He was then appointed a deputy inspector in the State Bureau of Horticulture and Agri- culture, and his work in this connection was so well done that he was promoted to chief of the bureau in 1908. On May 1, 1917, he was appointed Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, and under the new law creating the office of Secretary of Agriculture, an exeeu- tive official, he was appointed to that position on July 1, 1917. He has discharged the duties of these important positions of trust in a prompt, able, faithful and eminently satisfactory manner, doing much to better the conditions of the Ohio farmer in a general way, and prov- ing that he is profoundly versed in all phasesof modern agricultural and horticultural work. He has remained a close student and a diligent investigator of all that pertains to these great sciences and he has therefore kept fully abreast of the times in each. He has contributed frequent learned articles to the press on vital questions in his department, which have always found an appreciative audience, and he is regarded as an authority in his line. He has made the state vast sums of money by advocating improved methods of agriculture, also saved the farmers large sums by giving timely warnings and advice regarding the natural enemies of crops of various kinds. It is the consensus of opinion that the state never had a more capable man at the head of its agricultural department.
Mr. Shaw is a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Com- missioners of Agriculture. He is a member of the Ohio State Horticultural Association, of which he was president for two years. He is also a member of the National Association of Apiary Inspectors, of which he served as secretary for some time.
As State Secretary of Agriculture Mr. Shaw has charge of the annual Ohio State Fair, which is now regarded as one of the very best of its kind in the Union. The pronounced success of the fair for 1917 was due in very large measure to his untiring efforts.
John N. Sers
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Fraternally, he is a member of the Columbus Lodge of Masons and of Alpha Zepa Agricultural College Fraternity.
Mr. Shaw married Julia Irene Snyder, a daughter of E. P. Snyder of Norwalk, Ohio. To this union four children have been born, namely: Cornelia, Mildred Irene, Norman Ewing, jr., and David Perry.
Personally, Mr. Shaw is a man of genial and pleasing address.
JOHN VINCENT SEES. One of the ablest exponents of the Ohio Bar is John Vineent Sees, National Counsellor of the American Insurance Union, with headquarters in Colum- bus, who, while yet young in years, has attained a brilliant reputation in his special line- insurance law, in which he is a widely recognized authority. His habits of study, industry and critical research, his ability to grasp and understand the law, to sift it, segregate it, weigh, deduce, and apply it, make him an informed, forceful and certain lawyer, and, necessarily, a sueeessful lawyer. He is characterized by fairness in stating the position of an adversary, and is strong enough and broad enough to seek or desire no undue advan- tage. His utterances are expressive of a calm dignity, a tolerant spirit, but a fixed pur- pose. In his diseussion of the law he is terse, clear, precise, ineisive, and to the jury and court he is cautious, deliberate, impressive and a reasoning advocate.
Mr. Sees was born in Huntington, Indiana, January 11, 1875. He is a son of P. A. and Mary J. (Cummins) Sees, the latter still living at the old homestead in Huntington, the father having died there in 1909. The father was a native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The mother was born in Perry county, Ohio. P. A. Sees was two years old when his parents removed from the Keystone state to Perry county, Ohio. He finally established his future home at Huntington, Indiana, where he became a prominent citizen and for many years engaged successfully in the grain elevator business. He lived retired several years prior to his death.
John V. Sees grew to manhood at Huntington and there received his early education, graduating from the grammar and high schools. He then entered Indiana State University at Bloomington, where he took a general course, laying a broad and firm foundation for an after superstructure of universal and legal knowledge. Having remained a elose student he has become a highly educated man. After leaving the University he studied law at the Indiana Law School at Indianapolis, where he made rapid progress and from which institution he was graduated with the elass of 1901. He immediately began the practice of law in his honie eity, Huntington, praetieing alone, and met with encouraging success from the start. He later formed a partnership with Judge Eberhart, now judge of the Circuit Court of the Huntington district. This partnership proved to be mutually advantageous. After the dis- solution of this firm Mr. Sees again practiced alone in Huntington until 1913, having built up a very extensive elientele and being regarded as a leader of the Bar in that seetion of the Hoosier state.
Having specialized for some time on insurance law the talents of our subjeet became generally recognized and in 1913 he was made National Counsellor of the American Insur- ance Union, with headquarters in Columbus, where the head offiees are located. This is one of the largest and best known insurance concerns in the United States. He has continued to discharge the duties of this responsible and exacting position to the present time in a manner that has reflected muel credit upon himself and to the eminent satisfaction of the company. He is universally regarded as one of the leading authorities and best posted men on insurance law in America. He officiated in 1917 as president of the Fraternal Society Law Association, a national organization which mects in Chicago annually. This society is composed of the general counsels of fraternal insurance societies and other lawyers interested in insurance law. Its membership comprises members from California to Mainc. The fact that Mr. Sees was chosen president of this great organization is sufficient criterion of his high standing in this special field of legal science and of the confidence reposed in him by his professional brethren. He has done much for the upbuilding of the association and has long been a potent factor in its affairs.
Politieally, Mr. Sees is a Republican, and while he has never been active in loeal poli- ties, he was chairman of the Republican organization in Huntington county, Indiana, sev- eral years before coming to Columbus, and while living there repeatedly refused political honors which were tendered him. In those days he took a very active interest in political
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and public affairs. However, since taking up his present work he has had neither the time Hor inclination to devote to matters outside of his strenuous duties with the great American Insurance Union. Religiously, he is a member of the Christian Church. He is a thirty- second degree Mason, also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Brotherhood of Elks. He belongs to the Columbus Athletic Club. He has been deeply interested in all movements having for their object the general welfare of Columbus and is regarded as one of the progressive men of his adopted city.
On December 20, 1905, Mr. Sees was united in marriage with Olive M. Royston, of Huntington, Indiana. She is a daughter of John W. and Jane (Eller) Royston. Three children have blessed the union of our subject and wife, namely: May, Mary Elizabeth and John Sees, jr.
JOSEPH C. CAMPBELL. It is not everyone that can make a success of the life insur- ance business. Some men fail at it no matter how long and hard they may try. Those who enter this line of endeavor should study themselves carefully, weigh their good and bad qualities accurately and be influenced rather by sound reason than by impulse. He should be a good judge of human nature, must have tact, be quick in figures, be honest, truthful and persevering, and, as in most other lines of endeavor, he must like the work better than anything else. These and other necessary qualities seem to be possessed by Joseph C. Campbell, for many years one of the well known life insurance men of Columbus, where he has also engaged in the banking business with equal success.
Mr. Campbell is regarded as one of the leading citizens of the capital eity, having been in- fluential in public affairs of his city and State for many years. He is a Virginian by birth, having been born near the village of Edinburgh, on October 26, 1852. He received his edu- cation in his native rural school in Virginia, augmented by persistent private studies. He came to Columbus, Ohio, in 1871, a total stranger and without means, and has made his home here ever since. His career in this eity, covering a period of nearly a half century, has been one of progress, suceess and honor, both to himself and to the community. Begin- ning as a clerk in a Columbus dry goods store before he had attained his majority, he has, by close application, perseverance, and honorable dealings with his fellow men, advanced himself to a position of honor and influence in the city of his adoption, the substantial growth of which he has aided in every way possible.
After his brief experience as a dry goods clerk, young Campbell was offered a minor position in an insurance office, which he accepted. It was not long before his employers and himself recognized the fact that he was peculiarly fitted for the insurance field, and being ambitious to start out for himself and test his ability as an independent life insurance man, and to work out his own destiny, he seeured the Columbus agency of the John Han- cock Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Boston, Mass. While an agency of this company had been a short time before established in Columbus, but with little business at that date as a nucleus, Mr. Campbell's influenee and hard work, soon brought rapid progress in Central Ohio, until his success as local agent made him the logical selection for State Agent for Ohio and West Virginia of the company, to which position he was appointed in 1879, and which he has since held in a manner that has reflected much credit upon himself and to the entire satisfaction of his company, he having gradually increased the company's business until the agency became, and is still, the largest ageney, and the largest producing agency the company has in the United States, and today ranks among the leading companies doing business in Ohio.
In 1900 Mr. Campbell was one of the organizers and ineorporators of what is now the National Bank of Commerce, of Columbus, and became its first president, and has sinec continued to hold that position, the rapid growth of this popular institution being largely due to his able and judicious management.
In civil and educational affairs Mr. Campbell has also been prominent for many years. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Toledo State Hospital, receiving his appointment from Governor Nash, and remained on the board through the administra- tions of Governors Herrick and Harris, and a portion of Governor Harmon's term, when he resigned. His interest in education led him to finance lectures at Ohio State University for several years, and has taken a deep interest in musical affairs, being somewhat talented along this line himself. His charities have been bountiful, although never given in an osten-
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