History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 115

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 115

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was married in 1851, to Mary A. Huggett, daughter of 'Squire James Huggett, of Brown Township. His surviving family consists of his wife and the well known lumber merchant, Frank E. Powell. In politics he was a Democrat, but never beld any office. By good business methods, he had acquired large wealth at the time of his death, which oceurred on July 18, 1890.

DOCTOR JOHN ANDREWS [Portrait opposile page 400.]

Was born at Steubenville, Ohio, April 12, 1805. The following sketch of his life is taken from a memorial address to the Board of Control of the State Bank of Ohio, delivered by Mr. Joseph Hutcheson, who was his successor as president of that institution :

" He [Doctor Andrews] was educated at Bethany, Virginia, taking a regular course of study at what was then known as the Buffalo Seminary, under the inan- agement of that man of wonderful genius and acquirements, Alexander Campbell. He then studied medicine, availing himself of the advantages of the celebrated medical schools of the city of Philadelphia to complete his education. He then entered upon the practice of his profession at his native place, which he pursued in Jefferson and the adjoining connties for about twenty years. He had during this time a large practice, and was distinguished as a surgeon as well as a physi- cian. His health becoming impaired, he abandoned his profession and became actively engaged in farming and mercantile pursuits, continuing also his connec- tion with banking operations, in the management of which he had been long and successfully engaged. He afterwards became a principal stockholder in and was President of the Jefferson Branch of the State Bank of Obio. As the repre- sentative of this Bank he was one of the earliest members of this Board.

" In the Board his superior business qualities soon manifested themselves, and upon the resignation of the presidency by Judge Swan, in the year 1855, the mem- bers instinctively turned to him as a fitting successor. The eminent ability with which his administration has been marked is sufficient proof that this confidence was not misplaced. He sacrificed his private interests to accept the trust, and devoted himself from that time until the day of his death with peculiar interests to its duties. It was one of his fondest hopes that the State Bank of Ohio should be carried through its career with honor, to a successful issue, and we may all rejoice that he lived to see this hope realized; and every member of this Board will, I doubt not, readily acknowledge that much of this remarkable success is due to the wise counsels of President Andrews.

" Doetor Andrews was a man in whom were combined rare qualities of head and heart. His mind was enriched with varied learning and observation. IIis researches were not confined to his profession. He was a careful student besides, of history, politics and finance, and was especially fond of philosophical investiga- tions. As a business man he had few superiors. In his dealings he was guided by high moral principle. He avoided all hazardons speculations, and confined his operations to what was safe and legitimate, and by this course he was eminently successful in his private affairs. Prompt, exact, just, serupulously honest, he ever

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maintained a character of spotless integrity. In his social relations he was kind, genial and agreeable; always willing to listen to others, and ever ready to com- munieate and edify from the rich stores of his knowledge. In his feelings he was a domestic man. The chief sphere of his happiness was in his home, surrounded by his family, by whom he was revered and loved. There be ruled with gentle- ness, wisdom and love. In short, Doctor Andrews was a scholar, a gentleman and a Christian. While we hallow his memory, let us profit by his example."

Extract from the last Message of President Andrews to the Board of Control, May, 1866: " We may now feel like the mariner who has brought his ship safely into port after a long and anxious voyage. Sometimes with prosperous gales and fair sailing; sometimes threatened with appaling dangers, in the midst of an ocean covered with wrecks and ruins of other vessels. Still our noble ship-the State Bank of Ohio-has always proved herself equal to the trials which she has been called to meet ; and especially in the great storm of 1857, stood firm amidst the ruins around her. Our twenty years' voyage has been a success. The business men of Ohio have had their business interests with the bank satisfactorily done; the people have been supplied with a sound circulating medium, which com- manded their perfect confidence, and by the use of which no one has ever lost a dollar; and the stockholders have received larger profits than any other system of banking ever realized in this or, perhaps, in any other country, as the results of legitimate business.

" Of the friends and companions who started with us on the voyage, some have ended the great journey of life before reaching the terminus of our charter. Of the first executive committee, consisting of Swan, Kelley, Kilgour of Cincinnati, Hubbard and Williams, the last only remains, and is a member of the same com- mittee this day. With these we naturally associate the much respected names of Kilgore of Cadiz, Grimes of Dayton, and Judge Young of Piqua, among the early members of the Board ; and the first two of whom were named in the act of incor- poration as commissioners for the organization of the bank. I have often heard the remark made, and have verified it in my own observations, that the first founders of a town or city impress their characters on the community, and give tone to its society, for good or evil, for a long period of time, and which adheres to it through many generations. If this be true also of a corporation like ours, may we not conclude that the business habits and character of the State Bank of Ohio were impressed upon it by the men who organized and started it? for the State of Ohio has never had on the roll of her citizens, men who stood higher, as men of business capacity, integrity, prudence and sound judgment, or who com- manded in a higher degree the confidence of the people of Ohio, than the men who were first connected with and organized this Board. It is our duty, and I have no doubt will be our pride and pleasure, to close its business on the same principle on which they started it.

"Other members of the Board, some of whom from their age and apparent strength of constitution, we might have naturally expected to be with us at this time, have also paid the great debt of nature. Among these are Brooks, Ranney, Massie, all in the prime of life, beloved and respected in the communities where

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they lived. The memory of all these will ever be cherished by the members of this Board. For myself, I will only add, that I will ever retain a grateful sense of the honor which this Board has so often conferred upon me in unanimously electing me its President annually, for a period of twelve years, and tender my sincere thanks for the kindness, courtesy and indulgence with which I have been uniformly treated by every member."

WILLIAM BLACKSTONE HUBBARD, [Portrait opposite page 416.]

Lawyer, statesman and financier, was born in Utica, New York, August 26, 1795. He was the son of Bela and Naomi Hubbard. His ancestors sprang from the best Anglo-Saxon stock. Mr. Hubbard was a descendant of the Stow family, of which the first American progenitor came to this country as early as 1640, only twenty years later than the landing of the Pilgrims. The Stow family settled in Connecti- cut, where it has been distinguished for many generations. After receiving a thorough classical collegiate education, Mr. Hubbard read law with his maternal uncle, Silas Stow, who was an accomplished lawyer and the father of the late Chief Justice Stow, of Wisconsin. With this excellent equipment for his profession, Mr. Hubbard, after being admitted to the New York bar, removed to St. Clairs- ville, Belmont County, Ohio, where he began the practice of law in 1816. He rap- idly rose to eminence in his profession and for years stood at the head of the bar, being contemporaneous with such renowned jurists as John C. Wright, Charles Hammond, Benjamin Tappan, John M. Goodenow, Philip Doddridge and Judges Halloek and Leavitt. Mr. Hubbard served for several years as State's Attorney for Belmont County. His great ability and enviable success were acknowledged by his election from Belmont County to the Ohio State Senate of the Twentysixth and Twentyseventh General Assembly from 1827 to 1829. During his term as Senator, Mr. Hubbard entertained the idea of a railway, and on the twentythird of February, 1830, a bill was passed by the legislature which had been drafted by him, entitled, "An Act to incorporate the Ohio Canal and Steubenville Railroad Company." To this interesting and important act, General George B. Wright, in one of his reports as Commissioner of Railroads for Ohio, alludes as follows :

" This is the first legislation by the State relating to railroads. Is provisions indicate how crude and unique were the ideas of railroad management at that time. For example, it contemplated the use of the railroad in the same man- ner as the canals. Whoever owned a locomotive and cars, could run them, upon the payment of tolls. The section in regard to tolls and the use of the road, reads as follows: 'The said corporation may demand and receive from all persons using or traveling upon the said railroad the following rates of toll, towit, for every pleasure carriage used for the conveyance of passengers, three cents per mile, in addition to the toll by weight upon the lading. All persons paying the toll aforesaid, may, with suitable and proper carriages, use and travel upon the said railroad, subject to such rules and regulations as the said corporation is authorized to make.' This charter was granted before a single railroad designed to be used by steam power was operated in the world, and only about four months after the

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great prize trial of motive power in England, in which George Stephenson's loco- motive, the Rocket, won the prize of 82,500 offered by the Liverpool & Manchester Company for a locomotive engine which would run at least ten miles an hour drawing three times its own weight. This illustrates the promptness of our American people to seize upon and utilize any new and useful invention, and to an Ohio citizen is due the credit of first seizing upon the idea of a railroad and endeavoring to apply it practically."

Mr. Hubbard was elected to the llouse of Representatives of the Thirtieth Ohio General Assembly in 1831, and his fellow members in that body chose him for their Speaker. He presided over the deliberations of that body with distin- guished dignity and capability. In the fields of law and politics Mr. Hubbard thus early won distinction and honor, and bad bis ambition so aimed, he might easily have attained the highest political preferment, but from choice he gradually identified himself with financial and business affairs, and there also he exhibited the same unusual talent and achieved eminent success. He was president of the local bank of St. Clairsville, when in 1839, he took up his residence in the city of Columbus, which city would afford a wider field for his untiring energies. He became at once a leader in many of the enterprises that advanced the growth and prosperity of Ohio's Capital. He was made president of the Exchange Bank of Columbus, and later organized and was president of the First National Bank of Columbus, the first bank in the city to be incorporated and established under the national banking system He was president of the Columbus & Xenia Railroad Company, and was director or official of many other railway projects. He assisted in the location of the Green Lawn Cemetery, was first president of the Green Lawn Cemetery Association, and delivered a beautiful address upon the dedication of the grounds. Largely through his influence the United States Arsenal was located at Columbus. He was president of the United States Agricultural Society. From 1834 to 1865 he was trustee of the Ohio University at Athens, which institution recognized his rare scholarship by bestowing upon him the degree of LL. D. In polities Mr. Hubbard was first a Whig and afterwards a Republican. During the Civil War he was a stanneh and uncompromising Union man, and used all the influence at his command in behalf of the Union cause. He was selected by the citizens of Columbus to preside at a banquet given on the evening of December 8, 1864, in honor of the Lincoln Electors for the State of Ohio Ile took a deep interest in State and National affairs, particularly those of a financial nature. Ile was instrumental in the legislation resulting in the establishment of the State Banking system. The Honorable Salmon P. Chase, while governor of Ohio and afterwards as Secretary of Treasury of the United States, frequently consulted Mr. Hubbard upon financial questions and held his opinion in high estimation.

Mr. Hubbard was moreover an enthusiastic and eminent member of the Masonic Order. He served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio in 1847, and was elected Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of the United States, being the only Ohio man ever elevated to this responsible and exalted posi- tion. This office, the highest in the gift of the order, he filled for twelve consecu- tive years, discharging the great labors and important duties with marked ability

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and wise judgment. His opinions and decisions, innumerable in number, were characterized for wisdom and justice, and are retained by the Masonic Order with great regard and reverence. Few men were so well versed in science, literature, philosophy and the arts. In the midst of a most busy life, crowded with cares and official trusts, Mr. Hubbard still found time to indulge his taste and talent for learning and culture. He possessed a remarkable memory, and was a great reader of the choicest literature, old and new. His mind retained a perennial vigor and brightness. He never lost his love for the classics, and in his last years he could converse readily with professional scholars in Latin. He acquired an intimate acquaintance with the works of Shakespeare and was ever ready with an apt quo- tation from the plays of the great bard. Endowed with rare conversational pow- ers, his speech sparkled with gems of wit and humor. In his intercourse with his fellowmen, he was sociable and affable, a most entertaining companion, a wise counsellor, a firm and fearless advocate of justice and truth ; and a stranger would at any time have marked him for what he really was, an intellectual, dignified, cultured gentleman, with a sincerity of purpose and an unswerving integrity in all his business relations. As an eminent lawyer, as a legislator and as a finan- cier, he was intimately connected with the history of Columbus.

Mr. Hubbard died in Columbus, January 5, 1866, having lived the allotted Scriptural span of three score years and ten. He was married January 2, 1817 to Margaret Johnston, of St. Clairsville, who survived him many years, and was noted for her loveliness of character and the important part she took in promoting and assisting the many charities of the city. To her and her husband nine chil- dren were born, and at the time of bis death five were living, as follows: Hermon M., Goorge, Sterling J., Mary N. Bliss, and Margaret Helen Hutchinson.

FREDERICK FIESER [Portrait opposite page 432.]

Was born October 14, 1814, at Wolfenbüttel, Duchy of Braunschweig, Germany, and is the son of John Jacob and Augusta Fieser. His education was obtained at the gymnasium of Braunschweig, supplemented by his own private reading and by his contact with the world and practical affairs. He launched out for himself in 1836, by coming to America, where he found employment at various pursuits. In 1843, he started Der Westbote, a German Democratie weekly paper, in company with Jacob Reinhard, and from that time dates the beginning of a long and highly prosperous partnership between Mr. Fieser and Mr. Reinhard. In 1868, they opened a bank under the firm name of Reinhard & Co., and banking was the business in which Mr. Fieser was principally engaged up to the time of his death. He was united in marriage to Louisa Schede, in 1845. They had two children, Bertha, now Mrs. George C. Krauss, and Louis F. Fieser. Mr. Fieser was an ardent Democrat and a staunch supporter of that party. He was a member of the Board of Education for a number of years, but was too busy with his business affairs to accept any other office. To attempt to give a detailed account of Mr. Fieser's career would, as in the case of his lifelong partner, Mr. Reinhart, be to write the history of the progress and developement of Columbus, for he has been closely

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identified with its interests and has given hearty support to every movement that tended to increase its prosperity, as is evidenced by the frequent mention of his name in the pages of this history. A sketch of his long, conspicuous and very creditable service as a journalist will be found in the chapters on the Press. Mr. Fieser died on May 8, 1891.

SAMUEL SULLIVAN COX [Portrait opposite page 448.]

Was born in Zanesville, Ohio, September 30, 1824, and died in the city of New York on September 10, 1889. From a long line of American ancestors of Anglo- Saxon and Celtie stock, he inherited qualities of mind and personal charms and characteristics which made him not only distinguished and respected in his publie eareer, but loved by all men who came within the circle of his private life. One of his ancestors, Thomas Cox, was one of the twentyfour original proprietors of the province of East New Jersey. He, with his wife, Elizabeth Blashford, came from the North of England and settled in Upper Freehold Township in 1670. James Cox, their son, was born in 1672 and died in 1750. Anne, the wife of James Cox, was born in 1670 and died in 1747. Joseph Cox, the son of James and Anne Cox, was born in 1713 and died in 1801. Ile was a farmer in easy eir- eumstanees, and a man of strong mind and unblemished character. Mary, his wife, was noted for her beauty. In their later years, this venerable couple lived in one end of their large old house in Upper Freehold, while James Cox, their ninth child, with his numerous family, oceupied the other part. General James Cox, son of Joseph and Mary Cox, and grandfather of Samuel Sullivan Cox, was born in 1753 and died in 1810. He was an officer in the Revolution, speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, and a member of Congress from that State at the time of his death. His conversation is spoken of as having been extremely instructive, abounding in striking anecdotes with a rich spiee of wit and humor. Anne, the wife of General James Cox and grandmother of Samuel Sullivan Cox, was a daughter of Amy, the youngest child of Joseph Borden, the founder of Borden- town, New Jersey. She came of pioneer stock on both sides, being the great granddaughter of Thomas Potts, who, with his wife and children, came to this country in 1678 in the Shield, the first ship that ever dropped anchor before Bur- lington, New Jersey. Ezekiel Taylor Cox, the father of Samuel Sullivan Cox, was one of thirteen children. Hle was born in 1795 and died in 1873. He moved from New Jersey to Zanesville early in the century. His wife, Maria Matilda, who was born on March 16, 1801, and died on April 3, 1885, was the daughter of Judge Samuel Sullivan, of Zanesville. From this union also sprang thirteen chil- dren, Samuel Sullivan Cox being the second son. Ezekiel Taylor Cox became editor and publisher of the Muskingum Messenger in 1818. Later he and his son Alexander became editors and proprietors of the Zanesville Gazette. For ten years he was Recorder of the county, and at the time of the birth of Samuel Sullivan Cox was Clerk of the Supreme Court. IIe afterwards held the position of State Senator.

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Samuel Sullivan Cox received his early training at the best schools of Zanes- ville. IIe also attended Athens College, Ohio, for two years, under the presidency of Professor McGuffey, and afterwards Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, under President Wayland, where he graduated in 1846. While at Brown the degrees conferred on him in course were Bachelor of Arts in 1846, and Master of Arts in 1849. The honorary LL. D. was conferred on him by the same Uni- versity in 1885. Adopting law as his profession he returned to his native city and entered the office of Goddard & Convers as a student. Afterwards removing to Cincinnati, he completed his studies with the Hon. Vachel Worthington and practiced there a few years. It was at this time that he met Rev. Thomas H. Stockton, the eminent Methodist divine. Mr. Cox admired his talent, and it was under his persuasive influence that Mr. Cox was led to unite himself with the First Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati. Mr. Cox was a devoted student of the Bible, and remained a true believer to the end of his life.

Returning to Zanesville, Mr. Cox was married in that city on October 11, 1849, to Miss Julia A. Buckingham, a daughter of Alvah Buckingham, one of the pioneers of Ohio. Shortly after his marriage, he in company with his wife visited the Old World, remaining abroad nearly a year. Upon their return Mr. Cox pub- lisbed an account of their ramblings under the title of "A Buckeye Abroad." The success of this book turned his attention to journalism, although he did not wholly give up the law, of which he was very fond. By the advice of friends he bought a controlling interest in the Columbus Statesman. It was the Democratie organ at the capital. Mr. Cox developed sterling qualities as an editorial writer, and dis- played great aptitude in treating existing issues, and as an originator of strong ideas. It was while he was editor of the Statesman that Mr. Cox wrote the article which gave him the appellation of "Sunset." The article, which was entitled A Great Old Sunset, was published on May 19, 1853, and appears in full in this work in the chapter on the Press.

As the editor of a leading Democratic paper, Mr. Cox entered the field of politics. In 1853, he succeeded Washington McLean as chairman of the Dem- ocratie State Central Committee, and conducted the campaign of that year, which resulted in the election of a Democratie Governor. In 1855, he was offered the Secretaryship of the Legation at London, but declined it. He accepted an offer to act in a similar capacity at Lima, Peru, but arriving at Aspinwall he was attacked with the Chagres fever and ordered home by his physician. Recovering, he resumed the practice of law until 1856, when he was elected to Congress as a representative of the Columbus district. He began his Congressional eareer by antagonizing his party's administration. In the great fight between Stephen A. Douglas and President Buchanan, Mr. Cox was an able lieutenant of Judge Douglas. His maiden speech, which was the first speech delivered in the present Chamber of Representatives, was an able attack on the Lecompton constitution under which it was sought to admit Kansas to the Union as a slave state. He served continously for eight years, from December, 1857, to March, 1865. During three of his early terms he was chairman of the committee on Revolutionary Claims, and was a delegate to the Charleston, Chicago, New York and St. Louis

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conventions in 1860, 1864, 1868 and 1876. During the war, he sustained the Gov- ernment by voting men and supplies. It was principally through Mr. Cox's efforts aiding the delegation sent on for the purpose, that the United States Arsenal was located at Columbus - an act for which proper credit is awarded him in one of the chapters of this work. While serving as a member from Ohio, he practiced most successfully before the New Grenadan Commission held in Wash- ington. All questions of international law and comity, were with him studies of greatest interest.

In 1865 Mr. Cox took up his residence in New York City and there resumed the practice of his profession. He was elected to Congress from that city in 1868, and reelected as metropolitan member to the ten succeeding Congresses. During these terms, he served on several committees, among them the committees on Foreign Affairs, Banking, Library, the Centennial Exposition, Rules, Naval Affairs, and the Census. He was also on the committees which investigated the Ku Klux troubles, the doings of Black Friday, National elections in cities and the New York Postoffice. In the Fortyfourth Congress he was appointed Speaker pro tempore, and presided the greater part of that session during the sickness of Speaker Kerr. He was again elected Speaker pro tempore in June, 1876. At the opening of the first session of the Fortyfifth Congress, in 1887, he was a candidate for the speakership, and though not elected frequently presided pro tempore.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 115

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