History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 118

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 118

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Mr. Hillery was married to Lydia Jewett, daughter of Elam and Lucy Jewett, March 14, 1822. They had ten children, three of whom lived to adult age. His wife died January 4, 1846. On May 29, 1846, he was married to Jane Rickey, daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. They had three children. His second wife died December 24, 1865. On May 17, 1866, he was married to Adaline E. Royce, daughter of Daniel and Amanda Royce. Mrs. Hillery died December 19, 1886.

In politics Mr. Hillery was a Whig, and later a Republican from the organ- ization of that party. He held the office of city councilman during 1835-36 and '37, and at the age of 89 years joined the Tippecanoe Veteran Club. Mr. Hillery was identified with the temperance organizations and religious enterprises of his day. He was one of the oldest members of the Methodist Church in the city and belonged to the old Town Street Church. From there he, with others, went to organize the Wesley Chapel, where for years he was an official member and class- leader. In 1867 he helped to establish Mt. Pleasant Mission, now Third Avenue Church, where he also served as official member and classleader. Mr. Hillery lived to the advanced age of ninetytwo years, his death occurring on July 23, 1891. Three children survive him; they are Mrs. James B. Berry, Mrs. Alfred Phipps and J. Truman Hillery.

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HANNAH NEIL. [Portrait opposile page 781. ]

I am asked to write a brief sketch of my beloved grandmother's life, but feel myself entirely unequal to the task, so many are the thoughts which press for utterance. How shall I do justice to such a true and noble woman ? Where shall I begin ? What is the most important thing to say ? A life so full of Chris- tian charity and benevolence has made her name a household word, not only in her own family, but in many a poor and humble home, where so much of her time was passed in doing good and relieving the suffering. I can give very little of her history-only state a few facts that I remember from childhood.

Hannah Schwing was born in Virginia in 1794. She went from there to Louisville, Kentucky, when six years old. At the age of twentytwo, she married William Neil, who was born in Clark County, Kentucky. In 1816 they moved to Urbana, Ohio, then to Columbus, Ohio, in 1818, when Mr. Neil was made cashier of the Franklin Bank. My grandfather was also known as the " Old Stage King." He owned the first line of stages that ran from Wheeling, Virginia, to Cin- cinnati, Ohio. The old homestead, where the Agricultural College now stands, ever stood with wideopen doors in true Kentucky hospitable fashion. I often have heard my grandmother tell of the many sleighing parties of young people that would come out unexpectedly, and the gay times they had, but it was among the poor that her life was passed, and that she is remembered and thought of. I remember the old house with its wide halls, large open wood fireplaces, high brass fenders, and heavy old mahogany furniture, and it seems a pity that it should have been its fate to be destroyed by fire, thus removing one of the old landmarks. My grand- parents had seven children, all of whom, but one, are living. They are my father, Robert E. Neil; Mrs. Dennison, wife of Governor William Dennison ; Mrs. MeMillen, John G. Neil, William A. Neil and Henry M. Neil.

My grandmother gave the lot on High Street to the Methodist Church, which was sold after the church was destroyed by fire, and that amount went towards building the new eburch, known as Wesley Chapel, on the corner of Broad and Fourth streets, where there is a basrelief of her on the church wall. The "Hannah Neil Mission," named after her, is a home for friendless women and children, to whom her heart was always open. She was one of the original found- ers of the Female Benevolent Society. I remember seeing my grandmother giv- ing away every dress, but the one black silk in the wardrobe, and of protesting with her one cold day, for even taking off a heavy quilted skirt which she had on and parting with her feather bed to give to some poor woman. Very often in the fall she would lay in large supplies of provisions, and have pork and sausages and hams packed in barrels, to distribute among the poor in winter. Her old horse, " Billy," was much the most at home among the " byways and hedges," and always wanted to turn down an alley where he spent so much time, whilst my dear grandmother, like a ministering angel, was in the home of some poor person, always cheerful and making every one happy around her. Her true Christian spirit always shown in her sweet face, and I almost used to imagine sometimes, as I looked at her, that I could see a shining light around it. Her whole life was given

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up to doing good, and working among the poor, and in her church. Hers was truly a life " hid in Christ." Her name is still loved and cherished by those who knew her; for her unselfish and perfect Christian life and constant acts of benevolence have raised a monument to her memory more lasting than granite or marble. She died March 13, 1868, of pneumonia. She passed quietly away and looked as if she had fallen into a sweet and peaceful sleep. As the funeral procession left the church, I remember the crowds of poor people who, with tearstained faces, and lining the streets on either side (since the church could not hold them all), had come to pay the last tribute of love and respect to one who had been a dear and true friend to them. We cannot but feel that rich indeed has been the reward of one who fulfilled so completely her Master's bidding, and followed so closely in the footsteps of her Savior.

By her loving and devoted grandchild,

LUCY NEIL WILLIAMS.

FRANCIS CHARLES SESSIONS, [Portrait opposite page x32.]

Of Columbus, Ohio, was born on February 27, 1820, at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and is the son of Francis and Sophronia (Metcalf ) Sessions. He is of English descent, and the first of his ancestors that came to America was Alexander Sessions, who, in the capacity of overseer for the estates of Thomas Dudley, deputy gover- nor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, accompained the latter to America in 1630. About sixteen years after he helped to lay out the present town of Andover, and having become a landowner is mentioned in the town records as a " Freeman of Andover, Massachusetts, 1647."

On April 24, 1674, Alexander was married to Elizabeth Spofford. They had seven sons, of whom Nathaniel was in after years the most prominent. He was born in 1680. In 1704 he went to Pomfret, Connecticut, where he lived to the great age of four score and eleven years, retaining his mental and bodily vigor until almost the last. Among his children was Robert, his fifth son, born March 15, 1752, who, when he attained his majority, went to Boston. This was in the summer of 1773, the year of the famous " Boston Tea Party." Owing to the prominent part that Robert took in that historical affair, he was obliged to leave Boston. Soon after the beginning of hostilities between England and the Colonies, Robert enlisted, rose to the rank of lieutenant and served with ability through that memorable conflict. He was married on April 16, 1788, to Anna Ruggles, whose brother, Benjamin, was afterwards well known to Ohio people as United States Senator for eighteen years. Shortly after the birth of their first child in May, 1779, Mr. and Mrs. Sessions removed to South Wilbraham - now Hampden -Massachusetts, where they afterwards lived. Robert Sessions became a promi- nent man in his community and was often called upon to fill important local and legislative offices of trust. He died in 1836 at the ripe old age of eightyfour.

The seventh child of this family, Francis, was born in South Wilbraham, Mas- sachusetts, on August 27, 1792. In 1818 or 1819 he was united in marriage with

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Sophronia Metcalf, granddaughter of Poleg Thomas, who was a prominent figure in the early history of the New England colonies.

The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Sessions, Francis Charles, the subject of this sketch, was the fruit of this union. When but two years of age his father died, and Francis removed to the home of his uncle, Robert Sessions, near South Wil- braham, with whom he lived during his boyhood. Like all New England boys, he labored on the farm during the summer and attended the district school during the winter months. At the age of sixteen he graduated from the academy at Monson. Two years after his graduation, he left his eastern home, and after a weary journey by the methods then in vogue he arrived at Columbus in October, 1840. He soon obtained a situation in the store of A. P. Stone & Co., dealers in dry goods, in the old Commercial Block on South High Street. Three years later, he formed a partnership with Thomas Ellis, and under the name of Ellis, Sessions & Co., a dry goods store was opened on the west side of High Street, a few doors south of State Street.

In 1847 Mr. Sessions was married to Mary Johnson, the only child of Orange Johnson, then a resident of Worthington. Mr. Johnson, who was a man of great executive ability and enterprise, settled in Worthington in 1813. He began the manufacture of combs on an humble scale, but his business rapidly increased. Later he engaged in the construction of turnpike roads, and on the introduction of steam locomotion was the projector of one of the first railroads in Ohio, namely, the route from Columbus to Xenia, there to connect with a road from Cincinnati to Dayton. In 1862 he removed to Columbus, where he had acquired considerable property, and resided here until his death in 1876.

Nine years after his marriage Mr. Sessions sold his store, ceased the life of a merchant and began dealing in wool. Four years later, at the breaking out of the Civil War, he was elected secretary of the Columbus branch of the United States Sanitary Commission and was one of the earliest volunteers who took the field to minister to the wants of the sick and suffering in the army. He accom- panied the Commission on the Allen Collier, on its memorable trip to Fort Donel- son, and immediately after the battle went to Pittsburgh Landing, where he was engaged in caring for the sick and wounded during the spring and summer of 1862. Mainly through the efforts of Mr. Sessions a soldiers' home was established at Columbus, which rendered great service to sick and destitute soldiers. At the close of the war he reentered business life, and in 1869, when the Commercial National Bank of Columbus was organized, he was elected its president, a posi- tion he held until his death.

In addition to the cares of his own business life, Mr. Sessions has been associ- ated with many other enterprises, not only secular but educational and religious. He has been one of the chief supporters of his own denomination-the Congrega- tional-in the city and in its various public enterprises, and in addition has done very much for the churches of the city when in a feeble condition. He has held the office of trustee in Marietta, Oberlin and Columbus Medical Colleges, and of the State institutions for the education of the blind, and of the deaf and dumb ;

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president of the Humane Society and president of Board of Trustees of the Home of the Friendless, president of the Public Library, etc. Through his influence the Sanitary Commission donated the soldiers' home and all its appurtenances to the latter society.+

Mr. Sessions has been a generous patron of art in Columbus, and when the Columbus School of Art was started, its projectors found him a ready supporter, not only in encouragement but in practical aid. He has traveled extensively throughout the civilized world, and being a close and judicious observer, he acquired a large fund of useful information upon the manners, customs and con- ditions of the various peoples with whom he came in contact. While traveling in Europe in 1879, he contributed a series of very entertaining letters to the Ohio State Journal, of Columbus, which afterwards appeared in book form under the engaging title of " On the Wing through Europe." He was also author of the fol- lowing books : " In the Western Levant;" " From the Yellowstone Park to Alaska ;" " The Country of the Midnight Sun to Volga;" "A History of the Sessions Family," and " Ohio in Art."

Mr. Sessions died March 25, 1892, while sojourning in North Carolina. By the terms of his will a large part of his fortune was provisionally devoted to the establishment of a gallery and academy of art in Columbus.

LOUIS ZETTLER [Portrait opposite page 640.]

Was born in Monsheim, a suburb of the city of Mayence, on the river Rhine, Germany, in February, 1832, and is the son of Jacob and Cornelia (Spindler) Zettler. His father, while in Germany, was an extensive dealer in wines, and also had large milling interests, but meeting with business reverses in 1835-6, he emigrated from Germany to America, in which country he landed in August, 1837, a poor man with a family of nine children, of whom five were boys, viz .: John, Jacob, Matthew, Peter and Louis; and four girls, Magdalene, Ann Maria, Mary Ann and Susan. Louis Zettler, the subject of this sketch, was educated at a private school in Columbus, and in May, 1844, started in the retail grocery business in com- pany with his brother, Jacob. In 1856 they went into porkpacking and the grain trade. They conducted all three of these branches of business until 1861, when they quit porkpacking, but still carried on the trade in grain, and also a whole- sale and retail grocery business. In 1868 Mr. Zettler dissolved partnership with his brother and went out of business. In 1870 he again resumed the grocery busi- ness in company with his brother-in-law, James Ryan, This firm continued until the death of Mr. Ryan, in 1875. After the latter event Mr. Zettler still continued in the grocery business, to which he admitted bis son, J. Bernard, as partner, in 1885, and his son, Edmund, two years later. At present, Mr. Zettler is engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery, the wholesale and retail hardware and the retail chinaware business, with his five sons as partners.

In politics, he is now and always has been a Democrat, and during the late Rebellion was known as a War Democrat. He was a member of the City Council from the old Fourth Ward and also a Police Commissioner, both in the seventies.

what to ? mot Arany

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On June 21, 1860, he was united in marriage to Catherine Rose, a native of Aachen (Aix-La-Chapelle), Prussia. Ten children-nine boys and one girl-were born to them, viz .: J. Bernard, Edmund, Louis, Albert, Frederick, Raymond, Robert, Hubert, Harry and Marie Antoinette.

Mr. Zettler has always been a prominent member of the Catholic Church in Columbus, and has contributed generously to every religious and charit- able undertaking. His subscriptions to the Holy Cross Church show such fig- ures as $1,000 at one time. When the St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, on East Main Street, was founded by Right Reverend Bishop Rosecrans, in Mr. Zettler's old homestead, he donated immediately $10,000 towards this noble institution.

LOUIS HOSTER. [Portrait opposite page 752.]

The city of Columbus lost an influential and wealthy citizen in the sudden death of Mr. Louis Hoster, at Deer Park, Maryland, in the early morning of July 4, 1892. Mr. Hoster had gone to Deer Park for rest and recreation, and up to eleven o'clock of July 3, was in his accustomed health. He was suddenly taken ill, and died at 1:30 o'clock on the following morning. IIis body was brought to Columbus, and on July 6 was interred at Green Lawn Cemetery, with Masonic honors.

Louis Hoster was one of the pioneer business men of Columbus. His life began in September, 1807, in the Province of Rheinpfalz, Southern Germany. In 1833 he emigrated to the United States, settling first in Brown County, Ohio. On his way thither, however, he stopped over in Columbus, on July 4. At the same hotel where he stopped, the Governor and state officials were celebrating Independence Day with orations and other exercises, and Mr. Hoster became so favorably impressed with Columbus that in the following year he returned to this city and made it his permanent home. In 1836 he established the brewing plant on South Front street that has since grown to such great proportions. At the beginning Mr. Hoster did his own brewing, attended personally to the delivery of goods and kept his own books. The product of the brewery in those early days was only a few hundred barrels in a year, whereas, for the last fiscal year the report of the Internal Revenue officer shows the output to have been over one hundred thousand barrels. Associated with Mr. Hoster in these earlier years were Messrs. G. M. Herancourt and Jacob Silbernagle. Mr. Hoster subsequently bought out both of these partners.

Mr. Hoster was married in 1838 to Miss Philopena Ambos, sister of the late Peter and Charles Ambos, well-known Columbus citizens. The married life of this couple covered a period of fiftyone years, Mrs. Hoster dying three years before her husband. To them were born five children of whom three are still living : Louis P., George J. and Lena. All reside in the vicinity of Front street and Liv- ingston Avenue.

Mr. Hoster's life was an active one. He was at his office desk every day until bis departure for Deer Park, and was reported to be the oldest brewer in the

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United States in active service on the original brewery site. He had dwelt in the homestead on West Livingston Avenue since 1839.

During the civil war Mr. Hoster was active in all measures to raise funds for the aid of the Union forces. He did not hold many public offices. He was a valued member of the City Council from 1846 to 1855, and also a member of the Board of Education from 1869 to 1873. He was one of the original directors of the Columbus Machine Company in 1854, and he continued to hold this office until his death.

A gentleman long associated with Mr. Hoster says of him : " I never knew a more perfectly honorable man or a more perfect gentleman. He was quiet and unobtrusive, always attending carefully to his own business affairs but never med- dling in those ot others. He made every cent of his large fortune honestly, and he was a model citizen in every way."

ANDREW WILSON. [Portrait opposite page 168.]

Andrew Wilson, a venerable farmer, residing a quarter of a mile north of North Columbus, enjoys the distinction of being the oldest native born resident of Franklin County, now living in the county. His father, John Wilson, was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, in September, 1768. His wife, Rachel Criswell, whom he mrrried in 1797, was born in the same county in October, 1771. This couple came to Ohio at the very dawn of the present century. They loaded their few worldly possessions on two horses and traveled to the Ohio River at Pitts- burgh, where they took passage on a flat-boat, following the river to the mouth of the Scioto, at Portsmouth. Thence they traveled on horseback north fifty miles to Chillicothe, remaining in that locality until 1804, when they came to Columbus. Mr. Wilson bought 171 acres of United States military land, where his son now resides, along the line of the Clintonville Electric Railway, for two dollars and a half an acre. Owing to the wonderful growth of Columbus, and the consequent advance in real estate, this land in now worth two thousand dollars an acre, and only a portion of it for sale at that figure. John Wilson died in September, 1849, and his wife in the same month, 1852.

Andrew Wilson was born on this farm, where he has since resided, on Feb- ruary 16, 1806. He was married October 27, 1842, to Chloe Bull, who was born and raised on the farm adjoining the Wilson place on the north. Mrs. Wilson died in January, 1888. She bore Mr. Wilson two children : John Morris Wil- son, on January 2, 1844, and Mary D. Wilson, on February 14, 1851. Both are unmarried and live with their father. Mr. Wilson is still quite well, except a slight touch of the rheumatism, although he was six years old when the city of Columbus was laid out. From the same house where he now lives, he has seen large bands of Indians pitch their camp on that portion of his farm lying west of the Whetstone, and looked out upon the primeval wilderness, unbroken by a sin- gle wagon road or clearing. He has lived to see one of the finest cities on the continent spring up in the place of this ancient forest, and to hear the whirr and rattle of the electric car where once resounded the shouts of the wily and treach - erous redskin.

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HORATIO WRIGHT.

[Portrait opposite page 192.]

Horatio Wright is one of the oldest, most prominent and highly respected citizens of Worthington, this county. He was born in that village early in the present century, having turned his seventysecond birthday in December, 1891. His father, Potter Wright, was one of the early settlers of Franklin County, hav- ing come to Worthington from Providence, Rhode Island, in 1815, in charge of some machinery for a cotton mill. Potter Wright engaged subsequently in the manufacture of machinery for carding and spinning. He died in 1855. He and his wife, Louisa, were the parents of eight children, of whom Horatio, the subject of this sketch, was the oldest. Horatio has resided in the village of Worthington all his life, owning a good farm east of the village and passing his life in agricul- tural pursuits. He was twice married, his first wife, Harriet Thompson, having died over twenty years ago. By his first marriage Mr. Wright became the father of three children, Wilmer and Robert, who reside in Chicago, and Sarah, who is living at home unmarried. Mr. Wright's second wife was Laura, the daughter of Rufus Spencer, an Eastern man, and she is yet living. No children were born of the second union.

Horatio Wright is one of Worthington's most valued citizens. For a full quarter of a century he was a member of the village council, and for many years he was a member of the village school board, his connection with the latter ceas- ing in 1886. In this year, also, Mr. Wright retired from the office of treasurer of Sharon Township, which he had long and honorably held. He is known as an upright, conscientious man, and it is believed, has not an enemy in the world. He has been in very feeble health during the summer of 1892, and recognizes that his departure is not far distant.

JAMES C. KROESEN [Portrait opposite page 720.]

Was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on Jannary 1, 1844. His father was born in Virginia, the Kroesen family having lived in that State for several generations. His mother was born in Scotland, and came to this country when fifteen years of age. James C., the subject of this sketch, was the second son of these parents, is practically a self-educated man, having at the early age of seventeen years devoted the following years of his ripening youth and early manhood to the ser- vice of his beloved country in the civil war which summoned so many thousands of the young men to the forefront of battle. Thus the years usually devoted to the courses of study necessary to active, and especially professional life, were, in the spirit of patriotism and selfsacrifice, devoted to other, and for the moment, to the more serious affairs of war, and its attending hardships, exposures and dangers. When the news was flashed over the wires, in April, 1861, that Fort Sumter had been fired upon, James was at Rochester, twentyfive miles below Pittsburgh, on the Ohio River. That same evening he took passage on a steamer for Pitts-

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burgh, and the next day his name was enrolled as a member of the " Firemen's Legion," a military organization which was mustered into the United States ser- vice, for threemonths service under the first call of the President for 75,000 men. Thus, at the age of seventeen years, he was enlisted as a soldier.

At the expiration of this term of enlistment he was regularly discharged, but in the following month he reentered the army in a regiment of Zouaves, known as the Twentythird Pennsylvania Volunteers. With this regiment he took part in the Peninsula campaign. At the battle of Williamsburg, he served with his company on the skirmish line, and on the following morning, at dawn, they were the first to advance and enter Fort Magruder, and pursue the retreating enemy until relieved by Stoneman's Cavalry.

His regiment, with a detachment of cavalry, were the first to cross the Chickahominy River in the advance on Richmond. At the battle of Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, which occurred shortly after, his regiment was posted at the Seven Pines, where, according to the testimony of Confederate soldiers, occurred the hardest fighting and most obstinate resistance on that bloody day. The whole Rebel army, during the afternoon of the first day of battle, was pitted against two of Mcclellan's divisions, and in the struggles around the Pines Kroesen was shot through the left side and in the left leg, and for awhile lay between the fire of the opposing armies. He was present during the Seven Days battles which occurred when the Union Army changed its base and moved to the James River ; his regi- ment participating with Couch's Division in the signal defeat of the Rebel army at Malvern Hill. His regiment formed the rearguard of Mcclellan's army when it left the Peninsula to aid General Pope at the second Manassas, and was in line of battle within a short distance of the spot where the lamented Kearney was killed. He participated in the South Mountain and Antietam campaigns, and made the midnight march through the wilderness with General Meade, in his Mine Run campaign, in which fight he was wounded twice in the left arm. Before he recovered from these wounds his threeyears term of enlistment had expired. As soon as he was able to use his arm, he reentered the service as an officer of artillery, serving on the Atlantic coast. On the musteront of the artillery regi- ment, he was attached to the infantry arm of the service, and closed his military career by two years of campaigning against the Apache Indians in the West.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 118

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