History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 111

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 111

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In the great contest that was finally terminated in the obliteration of slavery in the Republic, Mr. Galloway took a prominent part, and as early as 1832 was found on the antislavery side, and although he continued to be allied with the Whig party for many years, he finally became a member of the Republican party. Mr. Galloway was not only an ardent admirer of Abraham Lincoln, but was his close per- sonal friend, and spent many pleasant hours in his company. In 1854-5 he represented his district in Congress, at which time his party was largely in the minority. As an orator his reputation was national; his speech on the Kan- sas contested election was considered one of the most brilliant and effective over delivered in Congress. Mr. Galloway was of a deeply religious disposition, but was not an active member of any denomination.

In 1843 he was married to Joan Wallen, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Galloway died at his home in Columbus on April 5, 1872.

JOEL BUTTLES [Portrait opposite page 56.]

Was the oldest son of Levi Buttolph and Sarah Phelps Buttolph, and was born in Granby. Connecticut, February 1, 1787. The name Buttolph, or as it appears in the carlier English records Botolph and Butolph, is the true surname and appears on all the family tombstones at Granby, and in the family deeds and papers, and in the carly records of the town of Rutland, Massachusetts, where the name of Captain John Buttolph, who was one of the proprietors of the town, fre- quently ocenrs. By a corruption of pronunciation the name gradually changed to Buttol, Buttels, and finally Battles, until it was accepted by the family. Levi Buttolph became, in 1802, one of the proprietors of the Scioto Company, among whom were Alexander Morrison; David Bristol, James Kilbourne, Levi Battles, Job Case and others, James Kilbourne being the agent. Sixteen thousand acres of land had been bought at Worthington, Ohio, to which place Levi Buttles, having sold bis farm and homestead in Granby, moved with his family in the autumn of 1804. A few years before this emigration Joel Buttles had been educated with the idea of entering some profession. He was given the choice to remain and con- tinue his studies, or go with the family; he chose the latter, and made the long fatiguing journey, arriving on the eighth of December, in the midst of a hard

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snow storm. He has graphically described in his journal their arrival at the little settlement in the wilderness after the toilsome journey ; the life in a little cabin in the woods, until a more commodious house could be built, and the appearance of the town. " The public square was then pretty much all the opening there was about there, and had been covered with a heavy growth of forest timber, which had been ent down only, the trees lying across each other as they had fallen, making it difficult to get about among them, and going from house to house. At that time there were no other buildings in Worthington than log cabins, except a frame storehouse built by Nathaniel Little on the north side of the public square. On the east side was the double cabin of Ezra Griswold, who kept a tavern, the only one there, and a large cabin built for public purposes, and used on the Sabbath day as a church ; Major Kilbourne officiating as a deacon of the Episcopal Church. On the south side of the square, the only house was that of Maj. Kilbourne, and on the west one occupied by Isaac Case.

" North of Worthington at this time, there were no white people living except some four or five families, in what for a long time was called Carpenter's settle- ment, which was on the Whetstone River about fifteen miles north. On the cast there were some thirty families about thirty miles away. In the southeast direc- tion about ten miles, Reed, Nelson and Shaw, and perhaps one other family, had made a beginning on the bottom land of Alum Creek. Following down the Whetstone south, before coming to Franklinton, nine miles from Worthington, a few families had lately settled, mostly from Pennsylvania. These were the Hen- dersons, Lysles, Fultons and Hunters." The settlement at Franklinton, made in 1797, was the principal town north of Chillicothe and was the county scat. At this time Chillicothe was the most important town near Worthington, and con- tained a mill built by General Worthington; and to this mill forty miles away they had to go for flour, until, in 1805, Major Kilbourne built the first good mill near Worthington.

Levi Buttles died in June following the arrival of the family in Ohio, from the effects of exposure during a visit to lands at Granville, for which he was the agent of a company from Massachusetts and Connecticut. Joel Buttles was then hardly eighteen and had been employed in teaching school for some time. After three or four years had passed, he bought the printing office of Colonel James Kilbourne, who had established it for the publication of a weekly newspaper, and became editor as well as printer; the excitements and dangers incident to the war with England at that time, and the defensive preparations against that power, making a newspaper welcome and remunerative. It was about this time, when the State was threatened with invasions of the British and Indians from Canada, that he entered the service of the militia for several weeks. In 1812 he sold out the print- ing office and entered into special partnership with the Worthington Manufactur- ing Company, and on the twentyeighth of November, 1813, removed the store to Columbus, which then contained about three hundred inhabitants. The country about it was almost in a state of nature, and the deer used to come into what is now the Statehouse Square, to browse upon the tops of trees which had been felled for clearing. Much jealousy existed between the older town of Franklinton and

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its new rival on the opposite bank of the river; but Columbus grew rapidly and absorbed the business of that part of the country, and finally became the county seat.

On September 11, 1814, he was married to Lauretta Barnes, daughter of Doctor Samuel Barnes, of Massachusetts, deceased, and Cynthia Goodale Barnes, then wife of Colonel James Kilbourne, and soon after this entered into partnership with Dr. Lincoln Goodale. In the year 1814 he received the appointment of post- master of Columbus, which office he held until the election of General Jackson as President of the United States in 1829; when, being a staunch Whig, he was obliged to retire before the then new principle that " to the victor belong the spoils." From this time he identified himself with the life and prosperity of the city, and was one of its most enlightened and public spirited citizens. He held many offices of trust, was several years before his death President of the City Bank, and was one of the founders and most liberal supporters of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Ohio. The original subscription paper for Trinity Church, Columbus, was drawn by him. The busy years of his life were crowded with deeds of generosity to the needy, of sympathy for the suffering, and of helpful interest for all whose wants and needs came within his knowledge. His death took place at Urbana, Ohio, August, 1850, in the sixtythird year of his age.

NORTON STRANGE TOWNSHEND [Portrait opposite page 80.]

Was born at Clay Coaton, Northamptonshire, England, on December 25, 1815. His parents came to this country and settled upon a farm in Avon, Lorain County, Ohio, in the spring of 1830. Busy with farm work he found no time to attend school, but made good use of his father's small library. He carly took an active part in the temperance and antislavery reforms, and for some time was superintendent of a Sundayschool in his neighborhood. In 1836 he taught a district school, and in 1837 commenced the study of medicine with Doctor R. L. Howard, of Elyria. The winter of the same year he spent in attending a course of lectures at Cincinnati Medical College. Returning to Elyria he applied himself to medical studies with Doctor Howard, and to Latin, Greek and French with other teachers. In 1839 he was a student at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, spending what time he could command as voluntary assistant in the chemical laboratory of Professor John Torrey. In March, 1840, he received the degree of M. D. from the University of New York, of which the College of Physicians and Surgeons was then a department. Proposing to spend a year or two in visiting the hospitals and medical schools of Europe, the temperance society of the College of Physicians and Surgeons requested him to carry the greeting of that body to similar societies on the other side of the Atlantic; this afforded him an opportunity to make the acquaintance of many wellknown temperance men. The Antislavery Society of the State of Ohio also made him its delegate to the World's Antislavery Convention of June, 1840, at London, England, where he saw and heard distinguished antislavery men from different countries. He then visited Paris and remained there through the

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summer and autumn, secing practice in the hospitals and taking private lessons in operative surgery, auscultation and other branches. The next winter was passed in Edinburg, and the spring following in Dublin. In 1841 he returned to Ohio and began the practice of medicine, first at Avon and afterwards in Elyria. In 1843 he was married to Harriet N. Wood, who lived only ten years after their marriage. In 1848 he was elected to the General Assembly by the antislavery men of Lorain County, and took an active part in securing the repeal of the " Blaek Laws " of Ohio, and in the election of Salmon P. Chase to the United States Senate. In 1850 Doctor Townshend was elected a member of the Constitu- tional Convention of Ohio, and in the same year he was elected a member of the Thirtysecond Congress. In 1853 he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he pre- sented a memorial in favor of the establishment of a State institution for the train- ing of imbeciles. At the next session this measure was carried, and Doctor Town- shend was appointed one of three trustees to carry the plan into effect, a position he held by subsequent appointments for twentyone years. While in political life Doctor Townshend relinquished the practice of medicine, and with his family returned to the farm in Avon. In October, 1854, he was married to Margaret A. Bailey. The same year he united with Professors James H. Fairchild and James Dascomb, of Oberlin, and Doctor John S. Newberry, of Cleveland, in an attempt to establish an Agricultural College. Winter courses of lectures were given on the branches of science most intimately related to agriculture for three successive winters, twice at Oberlin, and once at Cleveland. This effort perhaps had some effect in attract- ing publie attention to the importance of special education for the young farmer. In 1858, Doctor Townshend was chosen member of the State Board of Agriculture in which body he continued to serve for six years. He also served in the same capacity in 1868-69. Early in 1863 he received the appointment of Medical Inspector in the United States Army, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. This he held to the end of the war. In 1867 he was appointed one of a committee to examine the woolappraiser's department of New York and other customhouses, to ascertain how correctly wools were classified. The report of this committee is supposed to have aided in securing the wool tariff of that year. Near the same period he was appointed, with Professor Henry, of Washington, and Professor Torrey, of New York, to visit the United States Mint at Philadelphia, and deter- mine by chemical analysis the uniformity and standard purity of the government coinage. In 1869 he was appointed professor of agriculture in the Iowa Agricul- tural College, where he remained for one year. In 1870, the law having passed to establish an agricultural and mechanical college in Ohio, he was one of the trustees charged with the duty of carrying the law into effect. In 1873 he resigned the place of trustee and was immediately appointed Professor of Agri- culture. During the vacation of 1884 he visited the agricultural and veterinary schools and botanic gardens of Great Britain and Ireland, and attended the English national fair at Shrewsbury, that of Scotland at Edinburg, and that of Ireland at Dublin. Doctor Townshend has been for eighteen years Professor of Agriculture in what was the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, now the Ohio State University. Ile has been prominent in the work of agricultural edu-

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cation of late years, not only in connection with the University, but as a lecturer at Farmers' Institutes.

JAMES EDWARD WRIGHT [Portrait opposite page 101.]

Was born on September 29, 1829, at his father's farm homestead, near the village of Dublin, in Franklin County, Ohio. IFis father, Daniel Wright, a native of New York State, emigrated from Westchester County of that State to the State of Ohio, and was, for his day, a man of superior mental endowments and culture-a great reader and a clear thinker. The mother of James E. Wright, whose maiden name was Margaret Christie, was a native of the State of Connecticut and was endowed with rare mental qualities. She was a sister of the distinguished Rev. William Christie, ono of the pioneer preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, noted for his great eloquence and earnest zeal. Even in his childhood James E. Wright displayed great mental brightness and fairly devoured all the books he could obtain. It is related of him that before he was twelve years old he had studied and mastered, with little assistance, thirteen different arithmeties. This love of mathematics he developed and cultivated. in all branches of the science, in after life. After he had availed himself of all the benefits offered by the local schools of his neighborhood, he continued his studies at Central College, near Columbus, Wittemburg College at Springfield, and the Ohio Wesleyan University at Dela- ware, and finally, in the year 1845, he entered Princeton College and there grad- uated in 1848. The Master's degree was afterwards conferred upon him by that noted institution. While at college he cultivated general literature and indulged in authorship both from taste and to help defray his expenses. The productions of his pen appeared in Putnam's Magazine, a leading periodical of that day, and attracted the favorable criticism of Washington Irving and other eminent authors for their literary merit and promise. These contributions consisted mainly of stories of Indian life and tales of quiet rural life which were remarkably simple, touching and beautiful.

Owing to his constant application to study at college, Mr. Wright's eyes were seriously affected, and after graduation, being quite unable to use them in reading, he gave up his studies and spent several years with his uncle, James Wright, in Alabama, on an extensive plantation, enjoying the recreation such a life afforded. On his return from the South, he entered the office of Samnel Galloway, then a prominent lawyer of Columbus, for the purpose of studying law. Although he was much hampered in his study by his impaired eyesight, which made it neces- sary for his father and mother to read the text-books to him, he was well equipped for the responsible and difficult duties of his profession on his admission to the bar in January, 1853. The first fifteen years after his admission to the bar he resided in Dublin, and practiced law chiefly in Franklin, Madison, Delaware and Union connties. Before entering upon the practice of law, he had acquired a high degree of skill as a civil engineer, and he brought to his aid, with great force, in contested cases involving the principles of mechanics, his superior learning in that science. Shortly after the Ashtabula railway bridge disaster, he contributed a

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number of articles to the press, which were largely instrumental in arousing and developing public sentiment in the matter of the safe construction and proper inspection of railroad bridges.

Although Mr. Wright seldom took an active part in politieal affairs, and was never ambitions for public office, preferring his chosen profession and the cultiva- tion of general literature, still he was on more than one occasion made the recipi- ent of the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. His first county office was that of County Treasurer, to which he was appointed on August 3, 1869, by the County Commissioners in the place of A. C. Headly. On July 26, 1870, he was a second time appointed to that office, filling a vacancy caused by the death of J. HI. Stauring, treasurer-elect. He was subsequently elected to the same office in 1872, and again in 1874.

In 1869, Mr. Wright removed to Worthington, where he resided until the time of his death, November 17, 1890. During his residence in Columbus he took great pride in building up the public schools.

He was married in 1855 to Miss Elizabeth Davis, of Dublin. To them was born a family of five daughters and three sons : namely, Annie, wife of Rev. Way- land D. Ball, of Baltimore, Maryland ; Edith, wife of Mr. George B. Goodrich, of Kansas ; Daniel W. who is married to Miss Grace Gilbert ; Mattie, Carrie, Nellie Moses and Paul.

As a lawyer, Mr. Wright was not only broadly and solidly grounded in the principles of law as a science, but was also an expert in the law as an art. Of an analytic turn of mind and intent on getting at the ultimate reason, he endeavored to solve legal questions by the application of principles rather than by adjudications -- testing the latter by the touchstone of principle. In the ethics of the profession he was a very martinet. His standard of the ideal lawyer was high. The esprit de corps of the profession in him was strong. In his estimation the profession was a high calling, and not merely a money-making art and system of arts and tricks. He detested the commercial idea and the drummer methods of recent times. While not deficient in any department of law, he preferred and therefore became most proficient in equity jurisprudence. In his thought, as in its best definition, equity is the soul and spirit of the law, and in its natural jus- tice, humanity and honesty, equity was more in harmony with the just, humane and liberal tendencies of his mind, than were the rigid rules of the common law. To the aid of a clear legal mind, he brought indefatigable industry and exhaustive investigation. He kept well up with the learning of the profession and the best developments of equity jurisprudence, and to that end spared no expense for the best books as they came from the press. His cases were always well prepared for hearing. His arguments were clear and concise. He was an able lawyer in every respect. His briefs were always scholarly, and finished and exhaustive, and in every paragraph could be seen the skilled hand of an accomplished master. Ilis mind was wonderfully quiek in its operations and his memory was exceedingly accurate and retentive.

He had mingled much with the great men of the nation ; with its lawyers, theologians and statesmen-a circumstance which made his conversation remark-

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ably interesting and instructive, and he was a striking example of the man who cultivates learning from the pure love of it. Mr. Wright was a man of tender and affectionate disposition ; his friendship for others was sincere and unselfish, and, especially, was he a friend of the young man seeking to make the most of life, and his love for his wife and children and his devotion to them was of the most intense kind. In all the relations of life, Mr. Wright was an honest man, plain and unpre- tentious, and he thoroughly detested hypocrisy and frand in every shape.

PETER EMIL AMBOS, [ Portrait opposite page 128.]

The son of Henry Ambos, was born on September 29, 1814, at Zweibrucken, Rhein- baiern, Germany. In 1830, at the age of seventeen, he emigrated to America, landing at Norfolk, Virginia. He remained at Norfolk for two years working at confectionery, which business he learned. In 1832 he removed to Columbus where he ever after resided. He opened a confectionery store on South High Street in a building situated on the ground afterwards occupied by the Comstock Opera House. He remained there for nine years, one year of which he was in partnership with George Egner, who came with him from Norfolk. At the end of nine years he was enabled to buy the land on which the store of the Ambos Restaurant is now located, where he continued the confectionery business. In 1854 he disposed of his business and became connected with the Columbus Machine Manufacturing Company, of which he was treasurer during the presid- ency, respectively, of Samnel Galloway and John S. Hall. The name of the com- pany was afterwards changed to the Columbus Machine Company, of which Mr. Ambos acted as president and treasurer from 1865 to the end of his life. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank in 1863, and was elected its first vice president. After the death of W. B. Hubbard in 1866 he was president, and continued to hold that position until his death. He was also president of the old Capital Insurance Company until it was merged into the Franklin Insur- ance Company. On August 1, 1841, he was united in marriage to Dorothea Jæger, who bore him three children : Emilie, Emil and Herman. During the latter years of his life, Mr. Ambos was in poor health. In the spring of 1866, while at Kelley's Island, he contracted a severe cold, which resulted in catarrh of the lungs. Ile went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and was much improved, but never fully recovered his health. His death was somewhat sudden. He was at the First National Bank, up to the hour of' closing on Saturday, in about his usual health, whence he repaired to his home on South High Street. Shortly after his arrival bome he was seized with a fainting spell, reviving from which he soon after retired to rest. About 11 o'clock he was taken with severe vomiting. Uncon- sciousness soon followed, which lasted until his death on Saturday night, June 24, 1877. The immediate cause of his death was apoplexy. Mr. Ambos way one of the founders of the Independent Protestant Church, on East Mound Street, of which Rev. Christian Heddæus is now pastor. He was one of the principal sup- porters of this church until his death.

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WILLIAM AUGUSTUS PLATT [Portrait opposite page 144.]

Was born March 7, 1809, in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, a country hamlet hidden in the heart of the' Berkshire hills. IIe was a descendant of Richard Platt, who came to Connecticut from Hertfordshire, England, in 1638. In his very early childhood, he and his three sisters were left motherless. William was given into the care of his grandparents, Benjamin and Ada Platt, and in 1817 came with them to Columbus, where they established a new home among the earliest settlers in the new capital city of Ohio. With the exception of two years of his early man- hood, which he spent in New York City, and in Wooster, Ohio, he continued to reside in Columbus the remainder of his life, and saw it grow from a village of a hundred inhabitants into a city of sixty thousand people. With but slight school advantages, he acquired a good education, having the faculty for easy and natural acquisition of knowledge which seems to belong to the old New England blood.

He learned the watchmaker's trade, opened a jewelry store in the Neil House block, and made it not only a success but the leading establishment of the kind in this part of the country. About 1850 he retired from the jewelry business to turn his attention to other interests and enterprises. He was president of the Columbus Gas Company from its organization in 1846 until a short time before his death. He was at the time a leading spirit in many other corporations and enter- prises closely connected with the history and growth of Columbus.

Asone of the original members of the Ohio Tool Company, and for several years its president, engaged in the active direction of its affairs, he had much to do with making it one of the most successful manufacturing enterprises ever established in Columbus. He was a member of the first board of trustees of Greenlawn Cemetery, aided in the selection of its lands, and through a long a series of years, as member of the board, and for twelve years its president, rendered most valuable services in the administration of the affairs of the association. By the appointment and at the urgent request of Governor Chase, he became a commissioner of the State House, then in course of erection, and continued a wise and faithful supervision of its con- struction until its completion.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 111

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202