USA > Ohio > Lucas County > Toledo > Memoirs of Lucas County and the City of Toledo > Part 3
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inent members. Later he became a communicant of the Colling- wood Avenue Presbyterian Church. Mr. Maclaren was twice married, first in 1874, to Miss Margaret Moore, of St. Clair, Mich., and of this union two daughters were born : Mrs. Joseph R. Bailey, of Fairmount, W. Va., and Mrs. Edward B. Yaryan, of Gulfport, Miss. The second marriage occurred in 1888, and was to Miss Anna C. Beach, sister of Mrs. Samuel M. Jones. Of this marriage was born a daughter, Christine, who died in 1901.
Majon Le, Or Si ho
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BIOGRAPHICAL
EZRA B. KIRK
Major Ezra B. Kirk, deceased, was one of Toledo's best known citizens, and although his duties as a Regular Army officer caused his absence for the greater part of the time, he always took a keen interest in the welfare of his home city and contributed in every way possible to its progress and prosperity. Major Kirk was born Aug. 8, 1830, in Lawrence township, Stark county, Ohio, on a farm. He left home at the age of fifteen years, being possessed of a common-school education, and went to Cleveland, where he learned the tinsmith trade. After several years in that business he took a position in a wholesale shoe house in the Forest City and in 1854 came to Toledo, where he opened a shoe house on Summit street. He left Toledo in 1858 and went to New York City, where he engaged in the same business, and on April 19, 1861, enlisted with the first call for troops in the Seventy-first New York National Guards, for three months. This regiment, also known as the Amer- ican Guard and Vosburgh Chasseurs, was a New York City organi- zation and was one of the eleven uniformed militia regiments sent to the relief of Washington upon the outbreak of the war. It left the State on April 21, 1861, reached the capital on the 27th, and was mustered into the United States service on May 3. It was first quartered in the inauguration ball room, whence it was ordered to barracks in the navy yard. It participated in the occupation of Alexandria, Va., May 24, and first came under fire in the attack on the batteries at Acquia Creek. It took part in the attack on Matthias Point and rendered excellent service at the first battle of Bull Run, where it served in the Second brigade (Burnside's), Second division (Hunter's), Army of Northeastern Virginia, being among the last to leave the field and retiring in good order. Mr. Kirk was mustered out with his regiment, July 30, 1861, at New York City, and immediately returned to Toledo, where he re-en- listed in the Fourteenth Ohio infantry for three years, and was elected first lieutenant of Company C. With this regiment he first
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saw service in Kentucky and in October, 1861, went into quarters at Camp Dick Robinson. About this time rumors were rife that the Federal forces stationed at or near Wild Cat were surrounded by the Confederates. The Fourteenth, with Barnet's First Ohio artillery, started at once for that place, making forced marches through the deep mud and driving rain, and reached there on the morning of Oct. 21, but the enemy shortly abandoned the field and retreated. In the charge which carried the works at Mill Springs the Fourteenth was the first regiment to enter, and push- ing on after the flying enemy it reached the bank of the river in time to fire into the rear of the retreating column as it was board- ing the steamer. With his regiment Lieutenant Kirk was with the army that shared in the slow advance upon Corinth. He was in the march from Nashville to Louisville, but on Oct. 9, the brigade with which the regiment was acting was detailed to guard headquarters and the ammunition train, and hence he did not participate in the battle of Perryville. The following winter he spent at Gallatin and other points in Middle Tennessee, and in June, 1863, his regiment formed a portion of Rosecrans' advance on Tullahoma and Chattanooga. At Hoover's Gap a brisk engage- ment ensued, in which he participated with his regiment. On Sept. 19 he marched upon the field at Chickamauga and his regiment was immediately deployed in line of battle. The regi- ment was engaged in hot and close contest with the enemy from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. Being then relieved, it replenished its ammunition boxes and again entered the fight, continuing until sunset. In the brilliant assault on Missionary Ridge the Fourteenth bore a gal- lant part, charging and capturing a Confederate battery of three guns, which General Hardee in person was superintending. In December, 1863, Lieutenant Kirk was appointed captain and as- sistant quartermaster of volunteers, and served as such until July 28, 1865, when he was appointed captain and assistant quarter- master in the regular army. He received the brevet of major and lieutenant-colonel of volunteers for faithful and meritorious service in the field in the quartermaster's department. He served as chief quartermaster of the Third division, Fourteenth corps; chief quartermaster First division in reserve corps, depot quartermaster
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Chattanooga, Tenn .; chief quartermaster district of the Etowah; depot quartermaster Nashville, Tenn .; and after the close of the war, in 1865, quartermaster at Fort Lyon, Col .; Fort Supply, In- dian Territory ; Fort Dodge, Kan .; Forts Buford and Bismarck, N. D .; Omaha, Neb .; Jeffersonville, Ind .; Atlanta, Ga .; and Buffalo, N. Y., where he was retired, Aug. 8, 1894, having reached the age limit and having served over thirty-three years in the army. During the progress of the war-1861-5-he served on the staffs of the following general officers: Maj .- Gen. James B. Steedman, Maj .- Gen. John M. Schofield, Maj .- Gen. James M. Branan, and Brig .- Gen. John T. Croxton. After his retirement from the army, in 1894, he returned to his home in Toledo, and in 1896 was elected to the city council from the old Tenth ward, serving three terms, one year of which period he officiated as president of the body. Socially he was an active worker in the Lincoln Club. Major Kirk died May 27, 1903, and is survived by a widow and one daughter, Miss Maud Kirk.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
JOHN W. FULLER
General John W. Fuller, a brigadier-general of volunteers in the Union army during the great Civil war, and for many years a resident of Toledo, was born at Cambridge, England, July 28, 1826, and died at Toledo, March 12, 1891. In 1833, he was brought to the United States by his father, a Baptist minister and a graduate of Cambridge University, England, under whose personal super- vision the son was educated. The father settled at Utica, N. Y., where the boyhood and early manhood of General Fuller was passed. Upon arriving at the years of maturity, he embarked in the book-selling and publishing business, and became one of the lead- ing merchants of Utica. In 1859, he had the misfortune to lose his establishment by fire, and soon afterward removed to Toledo, where he again engaged in the book trade, both as dealer and publisher, his house soon taking a front rank in that line of business. At the breaking out of the war, he was prompt to espouse the cause of the Union, and when Governor Dennison, of Ohio, appointed Gen. Charles W. Hill as brigadier-general, the latter selected Mr. Fuller as his chief-of-staff. His first service was in West Virginia, and while at Grafton, engaged in drilling raw recruits, Gen. T. J. Cram, of the regular army, wrote to Adjt .- Gen. C. P. Buckingham : "There is a young man at Grafton by the name of John W. Fuller who knows more about military matters, the drilling of men, etc., than any one I have yet met in the service, and I hope that you will recommend him to Governor Dennison as the colonel of the next Ohio regiment sent to the field." This recommendation was made without Mr. Fuller's knowledge, and he was somewhat surprised when he received a telegram from the adjutant-general of Ohio, ordering him to report at Columbus to assume the command of the Twenty-seventh Ohio infantry. Within two weeks, Colonel Fuller selected from a disorganized mass of 2,000 men the material for his regiment, which was mustered in, Aug. 18, 1861, for three years, and two days later left for St. Louis, Mo. He took part in
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MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY
the campaign of that year against the Confederate General Price and, in February, 1862, joined the Union forces under Gen. John Pope for the reduction of New Madrid and Island No. 10, where he received the commendations of his superior officers for the bravery he displayed and the magnificent manner in which he handled his men. Shortly after this, he was assigned to the com- mand of the "Ohio Brigade," composed of the Twenty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio regiments, which he led in the hotly contested battle of Iuka, Miss., in September, 1862. The following month, he again distinguished himself at the battle of Corinth, where he checked the charge of the enemy and broke the Confederate line, for which he was personally thanked by General Rosecrans, in the presence of the brigade. In Decem- ber, he defeated the redoubtable Forrest in the action at Parker's Cross-Roads, Tenn., after which he was in command of the post of Memphis until October, 1863. During the winter of 1863-64, his command guarded the Nashville & Decatur railroad, most of the men of the Twenty-seventh re-enlisting at this time and enjoying their veteran furlough. In the spring of 1864, the brigade was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee as the First brigade, Fourth division, Sixteenth corps, and, July 17, Colonel Fuller was pro- moted to the command of the division. Prior to that date, he had participated in the various engagements of the campaign leading up to the investment of Atlanta, particularly the actions at Dallas, Snake Creek Gap, Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain and Nickajack Creek. On the morning of July 22, while the Sixteenth corps, General Dodge commanding, was moving to the extreme left to extend the lines still farther about the beleaguered city, it encountered General Hardee's Confederate corps, which had made a detour the night before with a view of attacking General McPherson in the rear, and it was Fuller's division that commenced the historic battle of Atlanta. In the engagement that followed the first attack, it be- came necessary for Fuller's division to change front while under fire, in order to repel a charge from the rear. In executing this movement the column gave way, when Fuller seized the flag of the Twenty-seventh and advanced toward the enemy, indicating
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with his sword where he wanted the new line formed. His example was contagious. With a cheer the Twenty-seventh swung into line, the other regiments of the brigade and division quickly fol- lowing, and the day was saved. For his valor and skill on this occasion, Colonel Fuller received his promotion to brigadier-gen- eral. After fighting at Ezra Church and Jonesboro, his brigade was transferred to the Seventeenth corps (General Blair), as the First brigade, First division, and started on the famous "March to the Sea." In the campaign of the Carolinas, which followed the fall of Savannah, General Fuller's command distinguished itself at the Salkehatchie River, Cheraw, and numerous other engagements, and was present at the surrender of General Johnston. He then marched with Sherman's victorious army through Richmond to Washington, D. C., where he participated in the grand review, after which the old regiment was mustered out. On March 13, 1865, General Fuller was brevetted major-general of volunteers "for gallant and meritorious services," but, Aug. 15, he resigned and returned to Toledo. In 1874, he was appointed collector of the port of Toledo by President Grant; was reappointed by Presi- dent Hayes, and held the office until 1881, but the greater part of his life after retiring from the army was passed in mercantile pur- suits, as the senior member of the wholesale boot and shoe house of Fuller, Childs & Co., on Summit street. At the time of his death, he was a director of the Merchants' National Bank and the Toledo Moulding Company, and was a stockholder in several other cor- porations. Before the war he was a Democrat, but after that he voted and acted with the Republican party. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Toledo and took an active interest in its welfare. He also belonged to Toledo Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Ohio Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion. On Sept. 2, 1851, General Fuller married, at Utica, N. Y., Miss Anna B. Rathbun, who was born in that city, June 20, 1826. the daughter of Josiah Rathbun, and of this union were born six children : viz., Edward C., who at the time of his father's death was manager of the Ohio Pipe Company, of Columbus; Jennie R., who lived with her parents; Rathbun Fuller, an attorney of Toledo;
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MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY
Mrs. Thomas A. Taylor, of Toledo; Frederick C., of the firm of Furstenberg & Fuller, of Toledo; and Irene B. Rathbun, Frederick C., and Jennie R., still reside in Toledo. Mrs. Anna B. Fuller's death occurred June 4, 1901.
if Bey.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
EDWARD DRUMMOND LIBBEY
Edward Drummond Libbey is the official head of the Libbey Glass Company, the great factory of which, in North Toledo, gives employment to hundreds of men, and as a most progressive citizen he has shown an unusual civic spirit by his donations to charitable organizations and public institutions. Mr. Libbey was born at Chelsea, Mass., April 17, 1854, and is the son of William L. and Julia M. (Miller) Libbey. William L. Libbey (born 1827, died 1883) was the son of Israel and Mary Libbey, and, in 1850, became the confidential clerk of Jarvis & Commeraise, glass importers and manufacturers, whose factory was located in South Boston. The story of cut glass in the United States began with Deming Jarvis, the senior member of this firm, and the pioneer glass manufacturer of New England. In 1855, Mr. Jarvis sold his factory to his trusted clerk, Mr. Libbey, and the latter conducted the same for ten years, when he went into the manufacture of glassware, exclusively. He built up a very successful business, but he sold it in 1870, after having been appointed general manager of the New England Glass Company, of East Cambridge, Mass. He continued in that capacity until 1880, when he purchased the business entire, taking his son, Edward D., as partner. Edward Drummond Libbey received his early education in the public schools of Boston, and later attended lectures at the Boston University. In 1874, at the age of twenty years, he was given an interest in his father's glass business, but he began by performing the most trivial of office duties, assuming various clerical positions, in order to learn every detail of the work. Upon the death of his father, in 1883, he became the sole proprietor, and the business continued with the same successful stride under his leadership. The discovery of natural gas in Northwestern Ohio was Toledo's opportunity, as it afforded cheap fuel to the manu- facturer, and, in 1888, Mr. Libbey moved the business to this city and incorporated it as the Libbey Glass Company, of which he is president. Toledo has never regretted the invasion of Mr. Libbey,
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MEMOIRS OF LUCAS COUNTY
for he has done as much for the city as has any resident who ever lived here. Within the past eleven years he has been largely inter- ested in the manufacture of automatic machinery for the making of glassware and has introduced to the trade the Owens machine that blows glass automatically, doing away with the old hand-and- lung method. Mr. Libbey was president of the Toledo Glass Com- pany, a corporation established by him, in 1894, and, in 1903, he organized the Owens Bottle Machine Company, an Ohio corpora- tion, which company secured an exclusive license from the Toledo Glass Company for the United States, for the manufacture of ma- chines and machine-made bottles. This company introduced the bottle machines into the United States, and has been very success- ful. He is also president of the Owens European Bottle Machine Company, which was organized in 1905, and which company pur- chased from the Toledo Glass Company all European rights for the Owens Bottle Machine, and which rights were in turn recently sold to the syndicate of European bottle manufacturers. Mr. Lib- bey is also president of the Northwestern Ohio Bottle Company and the Owens West Virginia Bottle Company. Besides the busi- ness connections mentioned, Mr. Libbey is vice president of the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, of Pittsburg, Pa., and socially he is a member of the Union League Club, of Chicago, the Duquesne Club, of Pittsburg, and the Toledo Club, of Toledo. Always a lover of art, he has been the chief benefactor in establishing the Toledo Museum of Art, which bids fair to become one of the great- est centers of attraction in the city of Toledo. On May 29, 1909, he and his wife, Florence (Scott) Libbey, conveyed by deed to the trustees of the museum seven lots and all the buildings thereon, the place conveyed being the old homestead of the late Maurice A. Scott, father of Mrs. Libbey, in Scottwood addition to the city. The terms of this deed are that the trustees shall hold the same for fifty years, erect thereon a museum for the advancement and dis- play of works of art, and, after the lapse of the stated time, the trustees may do with the property as they may desire. In addi- tion to this gift, Mr. Libbey purchased 100 feet on the west side of the new museum property, on Monroe street, extending 400 feet to Grove Place, thus giving the museum a total frontage on Monroe
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BIOGRAPHICAL
street of 500 feet, and the same on Grove Place. This acquisition was purchased for the purpose of protecting the museum from any future encroachment on the part of unsympathetic property owners who might erect unsightly buildings close to the beautiful Greek museum structure. In all, Mr. Libbey has donated to the cause of art, in Toledo, $150,000. An important addition to the sculpture gallery at the museum has been made by Mrs. Sarah C. Libbey (widow of the late William L. Libbey, father of Edward D. Lib- bey), of Brookline, Mass., the same being a beautiful cast of the statue of Joan of Arc, by Chapu, the original of which is in the Luxemburg gallery, Paris. This figure of the Maid of Orleans is lifesize, and by all critics it is acknowledged to be the finest ever conceived and executed of this notable and interesting figure in French history. The cast represents her as a peasant girl, before she donned her sword and armor and led the armies of victorious France. In closing this brief sketch of one of Toledo's leading citizens, it is fitting that further mention be made of one of the city's most important branches of manufacture. Toledo has the largest cut-glass factory in the world-the Libbey Glass Company -as well as the largest plate glass plant, and besides, it is the home of the Owens Bottle Machine, one of the greatest inventions in this line conceived by the genius of man. And for these distinc- tions the people of Toledo are greatly indebted to the Libbey Glass Company, because it is the city's pioneer glass industry and has done much to spread the fame of the city as a manufacturing center. Under normal business conditions, the company employs about 1,800 men, and, in addition to cut-glass, the concern makes bulbs for incandescent lights and supplies the factory of the General Electric Company, at Mulberry and Champlain streets, in this city. But the manufacture of glass bulbs is only incidental in the opera- tions of the company, which has gained fame throughout the world for its cut-glass. In the cutting of glass into intricate and beautiful designs this nation excels all others, and the Libbey Glass Com- pany is recognized as standing at the head of the cut-glass makers of this country. From the beginning down to the present, the com- pany has held fast to the highest ideals, until it is possible for the connoisseur to pick out the Libbey product almost immediately.
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The triumphs of the Libbey Glass Company at the World's Fair at Chicago, in 1893, are still fresh in the public mind. It may be said that the magnificent enterprise which prompted the company to erect, at a cost of more than $100,000, a beautiful building, in which the art of making and cutting glass was carried on in all its branches, was the culminating effort of almost a century of steady progress. At the World's Fair at St. Louis, too, Libbey cut-glass was adequately in evidence, the interval that had elapsed from the time of the previous exposition showing an artistic advance, quite in keeping with the previous progress of the product.
Chas. G. Wilson
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BIOGRAPHICAL
CHARLES GRANVILLE WILSON
Charles Granville Wilson was born in Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio, Saturday, June 27, 1846. His father was James William Wilson, and his mother was Nancy (Justice) Wilson .. James William Wilson was born in New Berlin, Pa., Feb. 1, 1816, and died in Fremont, Ohio, July 21, 1904. He was educated in the schools of Pennsylvania and, in March, 1837, was graduated at the Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, then, and still, one of the leading medical schools of the country. After practicing medicine for two years in Center county, Pennsylvania, he re- moved, in July, 1839, to Fremont, then Lower Sandusky, where he commenced the practice of medicine and where he continued to reside until his death. Dr. Wilson had an extensive medical prac- tice, to which he gave hard and faithful service. In May, 1865, he was one of the most prominent founders of the First Ntaional Bank, of Fremont, Ohio, which was the fifth national bank char- tered in the United States. He was the vice-president of this bank from its founding until Jan. 27, 1874, when he became its president and so continued until his death. In April, 1882, he was one of the founders of the Fremont Savings Bank, of Fremont, Ohio, and was its first president, and continued to be its president until his death. Dr. Wilson invested largely in real estate, in Sandusky, Wood and Lucas counties. He held many positions of trust in his city and county. Samuel Wilson, the grandfather of Charles G. Wilson, was a prominent merchant, banker and land owner of Central Pennsylvania, and resided in New Berlin, in that State. The great-grandfather of Charles G. Wilson was of New England stock. About 1791, he went to Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where, in 1793, he married Rebecca Orwig, and the same year was murdered by the Indians, as he was passing through the forest. He had received a fine education and was a lawyer by profession. Charles G. Wilson's maternal grandfather was James Justice, who was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, Aug. 18,
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1794, of English parentage. When a youth his parents moved to Chillicothe, Ohio. In 1820, he married Eliza Moore, who was of Scotch parentage, and whose grandfather, George Davis, the great- great-grandfather of Charles G. Wilson, was a soldier in the Revo- lutionary war. In 1822, he removed to Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, Ohio, where he died, in 1873. James Justice was a sol- dier in the war of 1812 and took part in the campaigns in North- western Ohio. In 1825, at the age of thirty-one years, he was elected as Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and was commissioned for seven years by Gov. Jeremiah Morrow. In 1832, he was re-elected and was commissioned for an additional seven years by Gov. Duncan McArthur. Judge Justice was largely interested in manufacturing and banking, and was frequently placed by his fellow citizens in positions of public trust. He was a man possessed of a wonderful amount of good, hard, common sense, and had with it an abundant fund of humor that sweetened life and made him always a welcome companion. Charles G. Wilson attended the public schools of Fremont, Ohio, until April, 1863, when he went to the Reverend Brayton's college preparatory school, at Painesville, Ohio, to commence his preparation for col- lege. At this school, among his schoolmates, were a number of Toledo boys-Edward T. Waite, son of Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, being his room mate; Frank Smith, son of Dennison B. Smith, and Joe Brown, grandson of General Brown. He remained at this school for a little more than a year and, in September, 1863, he entered Milnor Hall, a college preparatory school, at Gambier, Ohio. In September, 1864, he entered the Freshman class, at Gambier, Ohio, took the four-year classical course, and graduated June 25, 1868, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. On June 28, 1871, Kenyon College conferred upon him the addi- tional degree of Master of Arts. In college, he was always promi- nent in athletics. He played on the first nine of the college base- ball team during all his college course, as short-stop and catcher, and, in his Junior and Senior years, was Captain of the nine, being known as the "home-run getter." In these years, he weighed between 130 and 140 pounds, was very active and strong, and made it a rule to practice in the gymnasium nearly every day.
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