History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 114

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 114

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from which the first timber in the old Neil House was ent. Mr. Neil owned also nearly 3,000 acres west of High Street, twentyeight acres of Indianola being part of the original tract, which ran to the Harbor Road, nearly to the Mock Road, and south to Tenth Avenue. It embraced also the present State Fair grounds. Part of this was afterwards owned by Theodore Leonard and Windsor Atcheson, and part originally belonged to the Stephenson heirs. The first house that Mr. Neil built was on the northeast corner of Gay and Front streets. He also resided between Broad and Gay, on Front. To narrate in detail Mr. Neil's career would be to reproduce the history of early Columbus and to repeat many facts that appear in the body of the history.

Mr. Neil's family consisted of six children, all of whom are living except the first born, a son, who died in infancy. The children are Robert E. Neil, Mrs. Governor Dennison, Mrs. General McMillen, William A. Neil, John G. Neil and Colonel Henry M. Neil.

DAVID TAYLOR [Portrait opposite page 160.]

Was born in the Province of Nova Scotia, July 24, 1801. His ancestors were Puritans. Mathew Taylor, his great grandfather, emigrated from near London- derry, now Derry, New Hampshire, in 1722. The emigrants who settled that town, of whom Mathew Taylor was one, were Presbyterians of the John Knox school, and were called Scotch-frish, being the descendants of a colony which migrated from Argyleshire in Scotland, and settled in the Province of Ulster, in the north of Ireland, about the year 1612. Mathew Taylor was the father of six sons and two daughters. His second son Mathew was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, October 30, 1727. He married Miss Archibald, of Londonderry, and had six sons and two daughters born to that marriage, the birth of Robert, the fourth son, taking place October 11, 1759. Soon after the old French war and the evacuation of the Province of Nova Scotia by the French about the year 1763, Mathew Taylor, with a number of other families, moved from New Hampshire to Nova Scotia and settled in the town of Truro, at the head of the Bay of Fundy. At this time Robert was in his infancy. On December 6, 1781, he was married to Mehitabel Wilson. Four sons and several daughters were born to that marriage; the oldest son, Abiather Vinton, March 25, 1783; the second son, Mathew, June 18, 1785; the third son, James, November 25, 1795, and the fourth son, David, July 24, 1801.

In the autumn of 1806 Robert Taylor came to Ohio, with his family, and settled in Chillicothe. Prior to leaving Nova Scotia he had purchased some lands in what is now Truro Township, Franklin County, and in the summer of 1808, while living in Chillicothe, he determined to remove to these lands. Accordingly, in that year, he built thereon the first frame house ever erected in the eastern part of the county. David, then seven years of age, assisted the workmen in the construction of the house and lived with them in a camp while the work was going on. In the spring of 1809 Robert Taylor removed his family into his new house, where he resided until March 28, 1828, when he died. The house, which

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was built in 1808, is still standing and in a good state of preservation. There were at the time it was built but three other houses, and these all cabins, in what is now Truro Township, and they have all long since entirely disappeared. The exact locations of these first cabins were known only to David Taylor at the time of his death; all others who had any exact knowledge of them had long since passed away; and but for a written memorandum which he has left, all accurate knowledge concerning them would now be gone. One of these cabins was on Black Lick, about a quarter of a mile north from where the village of Reynolds- burg now stands. It was built and ocenpied by John Edgar and his family. Another was on the south bank of a spring run onehalf mile cast of Walnut Creek and a quarter of a mile south of the National Road. This was built by Benjamin Cornell, who occupied it with his family. An nnmarried brother, William Cornell, also lived there at that time. The third house stood about half a mile southeast from Cornell's and immediately at the north end of what is known as Sprague Hill. The flooring and weatherboarding for the Taylor house was gotten out on the spot by the old whipsaw process. The nails used in the building were brought through the wilderness from Chillicothe in sacks on packhorses. There was an Indian hnt standing immediately south and in front of the new house, and this was occupied by the workmen while constructing the building. David had been brought along to serve as a kind of errand boy, and lived with the men in this old Indian wigwam for several months while the house was being constructed.

It requires a strong effort of the imagination on the part of most persons now living to picture to the mind the condition of this country as it was at that time. Not only Franklin County but the entire State of Ohio was little less than a wilderness. There was a small settlement at Franklinton and another at Worthington, and outside of these there were not a score of houses in the county. There was not a sign of civilization where Columbus now stands. The few families then here had settled along the streams, where they found abundant springs, and by these they located their cabins. In the wide stretches between the Scioto and the Darbys on the west and Alum creek on the east there were no houses. So also between Alum Creek and Walnut and between Walnut and Black Lick, the wilderness was unbroken and uninhabited. This was true of all the country lying between the Miamis on the west and the Muskingum on the east.

The Indians then and for years afterwards maintained their annual hunting- camps along the banks of Walnut Creek and other streams in this county. One Wyandet hunter, known to the white settlers as " Billy," had his camp every fall until 1817 at a spring on the west bank of Walnut Creek in the first ravine north from where the National road crosses that stream. He and the other Indians with him were friendly with the whites, and particularly with the Taylor family. It was some years after the Taylor family settled in this county that Leatherlips, a chief of the Wyandots, was executed by the orders of Tecumseh on the east bank of the Scioto, near the town of Dublin. This was then the very frontier of civilization. From all this country the Indian and the forest have long since vanished, and cities and towns and villages and splendid farms and com-

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fortable homes have everywhere appeared. The most sanguine person of that day could not have anticipated this wonderful transformation.

There were, of course, no schools at that time, and the education of the younger children of the family depended upon the parents. The parents of David Taylor were both possessed of good education, and they did the best they could under the hard circumstances of frontier life to educate their children, but the best education they could receive under the circumstances was necessarily limited.

Before David arrived at lawful age he began business for himself. His first ventures were in stock. Between the years 1808 and 1820 the country had settled rapidly and the raising of stock had greatly increased. Almost every settler had some stock, but none of them a great deal. A new field of enterprise was opened up in gathering these small lots together and getting them out of the woods into the markets. Into this he entered in 1820, and continued it for several years. Between 1820 and 1827 he collected many large herds and drove them on foot to Eastern markets. During this period he went "over the mountains," as it was then called, with stock eighteen times, and was successful in almost every venture. In the meantime he invested the gains of his enterprise in lands, which were brought into cultivation as fast as practicable.

He was possessed of an unusually large and powerful frame, and was singu- larly indifferent to hunger or fatigue. He ate when it was convenient, and rested when the work in hand was finished. There was scarcely a limit to his endurance. On one occasion of great emergency he rode on horseback from Cleveland to Columbus in mid winter, without stopping except to feed and change horses. He was continuously in the saddle two nights and one day, and made the distance of about 140 miles over winter roads without sleep or rest.

In November, 1822, he was shipwrecked on Lake Erie. The vessel was disabled in a storm, and after drifting for some days it went ashore in the night about half way between Detroit and where Toledo now is, at a point near the mouth of the River Raisin. The captain of the vessel and himself succeeded in reaching the shore, but could not tell where they were. Heavy snow had fallen and winter had set in, and it looked as if they must perish in the -to them - unknown wilderness. Fortunately they discovered the smoke of a hut, but when they reached it there was no one there except a French woman, who could speak no English. They, however, made her partly understand the situation, and she showed them the blazed marks on the trees, and indicated by signs and motions that it was a long way to the settlement. The captain was discouraged and refused to start, and so alone and without food or guide other than the blazed marks upon the trees, he started on his journey. The snow was very deep and entirely obseured any trail there might have been. The situation was desperate and he was compelled to push forward with all possible speed. Much of the time he ran as best he could, and at all times hurried to his uttermost. Hundreds of times he fell down in the snow, but persistently held on his way. Just at night he reached Fort Meigs on the Maumee, where Perrysburg now stands, and then for the first time learned where he was, and also that he had covered a distance of

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more than forty miles. This performance greatly surprised even the hardy frontiersmen then about Fort Meigs.

From Fort Meigs he continued his journey through the " black swamp," following the Indian trails until he reached the Wyandot village, where Upper Sandusky now stands, and thence on to Columbus.

From the Raisin River in Michigan to a point near where the town of Tiffin, in Wyandot County, now stands, he broke the trail through the deep snow a dis- tance of more than one hundred miles. He always considered the hardships and hazards of this trip greater than any he was ever called on to endure.

Early in life he became a member of the Presbyterian church, and ever after ~ retained that relation, and in that faith he has passed away. He came from the old Puritans, and the Presbyterian faith was his natural inheritance. For sixty years he was an elder in that church, and was always a liberal supporter of the cause of religion.

He has always taken an active part in the development of the agricultural interests of the state, and was for many years officially connected with both the state and county agricultural societies.

In early life he was an active member of the famous mounted military com- pany called the Franklin Dragoons. This company had served through the war of 1812, under Captain Joseph Vance, and for many years after that war the organization was kept up. It was commanded successively by Abram McDowell, Robert Brotherton, Joseph Mellvain, Philo H. Olmsted and David Taylor. The latter was captain from 1824 to 1828. He was present with his company as an escort of honor to Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York, and Governor Morrow, of Ohio, when the great celebration took place near Newark, Ohio, of sinking tho first spade for the excavation of the Ohio canal.

The late Alexander Mooberry, was the next captain of this company, and served in that capacity for several years. The company consisted of sixty men, each of whom had to be voted in by the other members. Each one was required to keep a good horse and uniform, and any one failing in this could be voted out. This was perhaps the most noted military organization in the State for a period of more than twenty years.

When Truro Township was organized in 1810, its name was given to it by the Taylor family, who called it after the town of Truro, in Nova Scotia, from which they came.

David Taylor was first married in September, 1826, to Nancy T. Nelson, and two children had been born of that marriage when she died. In July, 1831, Mr. Taylor was married to Margaret Shannon, who died soon thereafter. In May, 1836, he was married to Margaret, eldest daughter of the late Judge Edward Livingston, who came from New York State and settled on the west bank of Alum Creek, in 1804. The exact location of this settlement was about two hun- dred yards south of the line of Livingston Avenue. Judge Livingston's father was Colonel James Livingston, of the Revolutionary Army, and was one of the most distinguished officers of his rank in the War of Independence. He was with General Richard Montgomery when that officer fell in storming the heights of

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Quebee. Afterwards, when serving with his regiment on the Hudson, he, more than almost any other officer, contributed to the defeat of the treasonable schemes of Benedict Arnold. After the war, Congress voted him one thousand acres of land on Alum Creek, in what was originally Montgomery Township. It was to look after these and other lands that his son Edward came to this county. It was Judge Edward Livingston who gave to Montgomery Township its name. This he did in recognition of his old general, who was his relative by marriage.

David Taylor came of a large and powerful race of men, full of courage and endurance. In person he was tall and well formed, being six feet and four inches in height and having a giant's build and strength. He was of majestic presence and had unusual dignity of manner. He was devoid of personal vanity but had a thorough respect for himself and so commanded respect in others. To carefully regard the rights of others was a cardinal principle of his life. In January, 1887, he fell upon the ice and so injured his hip that he could not thereaf- ter walk. He died July 29, 1889, surrounded by his family, all of whom yet sur- vive him.

ROBERT E. NEIL [Portrait opposite page 352.]

Was born in Columbus, on May 12, 1819, and is the son of William and Hannah Neil. He was educated at Kenyon College Ohio, and at Georgetown College, Dis- trict of Columbia. At the age of twentyone he commenced farming. He gave this up and entered upon commercial pursuits He is interested in various manu- facturing enterprises, but his chief business is dealing in real estate. In politics, he is a Republican, but has never held any public office. Mr. Neil was married on May 30, 1843, to Jane M. Sullivant, daughter of William Sullivant. They have but one daughter living.

CHARLES HARRISON FRISBIE [Portrait opposite page 368.]

Was born at Worthington, Ohio. His father's name was Israel W. Frisbie and his mother's maiden name was Sarah D. Camp. They were married on July 14, 1819. His childhood days were spent in the City of New York with his parents. His school education was confined to that received at Johnstown, Ohio, to which place his parents had removed from New York. At the age of fourteen he went to work for Mr. Alpheus Reed, devoting his spare moments to study and improvement while in the latter's employ. After working in Mr. Reed's drygoods house for some years, he came to Columbus, Ohio, and started in the grocery business under the firm name of Stage & Frisbie. This was the commencement of a long and successful career. He was always quick, yet discreet in his business operations, and in addition to his business at his own place he was a silent partner in the firm of George McDonald & Co. These interests he retained until he retired from active business pursuits in 1874. From that time he carried on a private money lending business, in which he continued until the time of his death.

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Mr. Frisbie was a member of the order of Odd Fellows and took all its degrees. His wife was Mary L. Reed, to whom he was married November 16, 1852. They had ten children : Almira Reed, Adelaide Maria, Henrietta Sarah, Annie Allen, Charles H., Lilian B, Charles Reed, Helen Reed, William Martin and George McDonald.

Mr. Frisbie died February 23, 1885.

ABEI, HILDRETH, [Portrait opposite page 376.]

Whose connection with the lumber business dates further back than that of any other man now in that branch of trade, was born in Bangor, Maine, January 15, 1819. His parents were Simeon and Susan [Babbidge] Hildreth, both of whom were of English descent, the emigration to America in both families being then several generations remote. The first seven years of Abel's life were spent on a farm about twenty miles from Bangor, to which the family had moved soon after his birth. In 1826, Simeon and his family moved back to Bangor, where he opened a coopershop and worked at his trade. Abel was sent to the common school in Bangor, and gained such book education as it afforded, but he early began to assist his father in the coopershop, and became such a necessity that his time at school was shortened. When he was fifteen, he opened a general store in Bangor, which he conducted until 1838, when the family, consisting of Simeon and his wife, two sons - Abel and Isaac - and a daughter, Louisa, came to Ohio. Their first stop- ping place was Granville, Licking County, from which place Abel, his father and brother, set out on a prospecting tour in search of a farm home, their choice finally falling on a farm of sixty acres in St. Albans Township, about two miles north of Alexandria. For the next nine years of his life, Abel worked on the farm, not starting out in business for himself until 1847, when he rented a flouringmill three miles east of Newark and established himself in the flouring business. The fol lowing year he built a mill, which still stands on the canal a short distance north of Newark, and moved his business thither. This enterprise thrived for a time, but a drop in wheat at a time when he had a large stock, and bad partner- ships, conspired against it, and in 1852 Mr. Hildreth sold out to his partner and came to Columbus in the hope of settling here. He had little money and was somewhat disheartened by the outcome of his business venture. Two years before he had married Elizabeth Williams, daughter of Watkins W. and Elizabeth Reese Williams, of this city, and in this trying hour, as in subsequent critical periods until her death in 1889, she proved a faithful companion, encouraging him, sharing in his labors and helping him in every way to business prosperity. Mr. Hildreth's efforts to establish himself in business here failed and he went to Somerset in 1853, where he succeeded in interesting a number of people in a project to build a mill. From these he borrowed $6,000 at 8 per cent., built a steam flouringmill, and successfully operated it for two years. In 1855, he sold out and bought a Perry County farm with a sawmill on it, turning his attention chiefly to the pre- paration of hardwood.lumber for the market, thus entering on his successful career as a Inmber dealer. In the operation of this sawmill and two others in Athens

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County, he was engaged for the next four years until 1859, when he sold out, reserving the machinery of one mill, which he brought with him to this county and set up in Jackson Township. He established a lumberyard on High Street at the corner of Noble Alley, and for a time partly supplied it with hardwood lumber from his Jackson Township sawmill. In 1860, he added pine lumber to his stock. In 1862, he bought a lot at the corner of Third Street and Chapel Alley and moved his yard to that site. This lot he sold twentyone years later to the gov- ernment, and it is now a part of the postoffice site. The lumber business which he established in 1859 has been prosecuted successfully and continuously ever since, by him alone, until 1864, when Joseph F. Martin became a partner, and by them until the organization of the Hildreth-Martin Lumber Company, of which Mr. Hildreth is president and the largest stockholder, in 1884.

In 1864, Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth united with the First Baptist Church, of this city and were for years among its active and substantial members. Mr. Hildreth served for many consecutive years as trustee, and Mrs. Hildreth was very active in the church mission efforts. The denomination is indebted to them for many benefactions, two of the Baptist churches of the city owing almost their existence to them - the Hildreth Baptist Church on Twentieth Street, and the Memorial Baptist Church on Sandusky Street, both houses of worship having been presented by Mr. Hildreth to the denomination, the latter in memory of his deceased wife.

The story of Mr. Hildreth's life fully justifies the statement that he is a self- made man. His education is that of experience in dealing with men, rather than that which is obtained from books. He has a native talent for business, which, exercised untiringly and with wisdom, has brought him prosperity and wealth. His enterprise is manifest not only in the growth of his legitimate business, but also in the development of the eastern part of the city, where he has made an addition and built a great many honses and one business block.

In 1883, Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth went to Florida to spend the winter and located on the Indian River, at a place which was afterwards, at Mrs. Hildreth's suggestion, called Indianola. Other Northern people located near them, and now there is a thriving little town on the site, a prominent feature of which is a Baptist church, which they were largely instrumental in building. Here Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth spent their winters, and here Mrs. Hildreth died in April, 1889. Mr. Hildreth continues to spend the winter months in Florida, and he has built a steamboat which he plies up and down the Indian River for the pleasure and recreation of himself and friends.

LOUIS LINDEMAN [Portrait opposite page 384 ]

Is one of the oldest German citizens of Columbus. He is a native of Zweibrücken, in the Rheinkreis of Bavaria, where he was born on August 14, 1818. He is the son of Louis and Jacobine (Lang) Lindeman. After receiving an elementary education in the Bavarian public schools, he entered the employ of his father, who conducted a grocery business at Zweibrücken. When eighteen years old, his cousin,

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Mr. Peter Ambos, who had returned on a visit to his native land, induced him to come to America with bim, and in the fall of 1837 he arrived in Columbus. He next served as an apprentice for four years with Mr. Ambos, who was engaged in the manufacture of confectionery. At the end of the four years, he became a part- ner. On the retirement of Mr. Ambos, Mr. Lindeman took in as a partner, Mr. Ritze Glock, under the firm style of Lindeman & Company. Sometime after- ward, he became connected with a Mr. Stevenson in the same business at 55 and 57 South High Street, just opposite the Statehouse. In 1872 he finally retired from business and has since given his attention' to the management of his large estate and the care of his beautiful home and grounds on South High Street, where he resided with a married sister, Mrs. Magdalene Klie. Since her death, which occurred a few years ago, he has lived alone. He has never married, never sought or held any publie office or joined any benefit or other societies except the Independent Protestant (German) Church, of which he is yet a member.

Mr. Lindeman has been and is yet connected with many large business enter- prises of Columbus. He is a stockholder and director of the Columbus Machine Company, of the First National Bank, of the Columbus Watch Company, and of the Electric Light Company, and held the same connection with the Columbus Gas Light and Coke Company until it was bought out by a syndicate.

WILLIAM POWELL [Portrait opposite page 392.]

Was born at Vennington, Shrop shire, England, on September 2, 1822. His father, William Powell, was born on January 12, 1793, in Shropeshire, on a farm called " The Hazels," and his mother, Harriet Dickens, was also a native of Shropeshire, being born at a small village called Worthin. After their marriage they con- tinued to live on the old farm for some time, but meeting with financial reverses, caused by the burning of their dwelling and barns, they concluded to make a fresh start in America. He, with his wife and family, arrived in New York, on Novem- ber 9, 1841. From New York, they proceeded by the way of the lake to Cleve- land and thence by canal to Columbus, where they arrived the same year. After settling in Columbus, be followed farming, and later, contracting, until his death in 1850. William Powell, the subject of this sketch, was but nineteen when he came to Columbus, and, like all pioneers, had to work at anything he could get to do. His first start was in the grocery business in the old Deshler building, then on High Street, near the corner of Broad. Continuing in this for three years he sold out in 1849, and bought the land on which the Powell House stands, and built what was then known as the Exchange Hotel, which he conducted up to 1862, and again from 1872 to 1874. After selling out in 1862, he engaged in the wholesale cigar and liquor business on East State Street, and for a number of years did a very extensive business. In 1878, he with others purchased the North High Street Railway, which then had its south terminus at the depot. Through his efforts the chariot line was introduced to furnish transportation to the center of the city, and did much to develop the North Side, where he always resided. In 1888, he retired from active business pursuits on account of failing health. IIe

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 114

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