USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Ohio, the future great state, her manufacturers, and a history of her commercial cities, Cincinnati and Cleveland > Part 11
USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Ohio, the future great state, her manufacturers, and a history of her commercial cities, Cincinnati and Cleveland > Part 11
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Win Kiskup
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WILLIAM KIRKUP.
THE subject of this sketch was a native of the city of Carlisle, north of England, though he left there in 1834, and four years later came to Cincinnati, arriving in the Queen City of the West on the last day of June, 1838. Nine years later, Mr. WILLIAM KIRKUP commenced the brass founder's business, in connection with Messrs. Joseph Garrett and George Peck, in a small way, on Front Street, near the Little Miami depot. The building occupied was fifteen by fifty, two stories in height, in which three or four men were given employment. Business was continued here for three years, when a removal was made to the buildings 290 East Front Street, where greater facilities were afforded for carrying on the constantly growing trade of the firm. These buildings were two in number, four stories in height, thirty by twenty-eight feet, and sixty-six by twenty-eight feet in width and depth, respectively, and were furnished with all the tools necessary for the successful prosecution of the business. In 1870 a final removal was made to Nos. 119 and 121 East Pearl Street, where a building, four stories in height, with base- ment, and having frontage on the street of thirty-three feet, with a depth of ninety feet, was purchased by Mr. Kirkup to meet the demands of his trade. In this place he now has one of the most complete and convenient brass foundries in the State, and, it shall be added, under his sole control, he having, in the year 1850, purchased the interest of Mr. George Garrett, and, in 1854, that of Mr. Peck, in the business. In 1850 his son was admitted to partnership; but the decease of that gentleman, about eight years ago, threw the whole responsibility upon his shoulders, and those of Mr. B. F. Stanley, who assists in the management of the business. It is unnecessary to add that his manage- ment is an able and shrewd one, as the continued and increasing prosperity of the business is ample proof of that. It may be proper to state in this connection that the firm. and name still remain William Kirkup and Son. From the small foundry on Front Street, to the present extensive works, a great stride has been made. The cause is found, however, in the great industry, energy, and business tact which Mr. Kirkup has brought to bear upon the business. By his personal efforts he has caused the busi- ness to increase until it has reached its present proportions, and he has reason to feel proud of his success, which is making his foundry among the most prominent business manufacturing establishments in Cincinnati.
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JOHN CAMPBELL.
MR. JOHN CAMPBELL, of Ironton, Ohio, is one of the few remaining pioneers of the Hanging Rock Iron Region. He has done more toward developing its resources, and at present controls more real estate and iron interests, than any other one man of the Region. The following is a synopsis of the many branches of iron industry in which he has engaged :
In 1833 he was employed in building the old Hanging Rock Iron Forge-long since demolished. Afterward a rolling mill was erected upon the same site, but it has now for many years been abandoned. The same year he, together with Andrew Ellison, built Lawrence Furnace for J. Riggs & Co. These were the first iron works in which he engaged; but it was a beginning that gave to him the experience so needful in the many enterprises he afterward originated and controlled. In connection with Mr. Robert Hamilton he built Mount Vernon Furnace in 1834." The following year he left Hanging Rock to manage this furnace. It was from Mount Vernon that grew up the large iron interests which were, for a period of over thirty years, known as Campbell, Ellison & Co., of Cincinnati. In 1837, through the guarantee against any loss by Mr. Campbell and others, Vesuvius Furnace was induced to erect the first hot blast in America. In 1841 he made the change of placing the boilers and hot blast at the top of furnace stack. The Iron Region was destined to become one of the most important in the country, and none appreciated this fact more than did Mr. Campbell. Mr. Hamilton and he were the heaviest capitalists of the Region. While the former built a railroad from Hanging Rock to his coal mines at Newcastle, Mr. Campbell was investing in other furnaces. In 1844, with Mr. John Peters, he built Greenup Furnace, Kentucky, and in 1846, Olive Furnace, Ohio. In 1847 he built the Gallia Furnace. Mr. Campbell then proceeded to organize the Ohio Iron and Coal Company, of which he became President and owned one-third of the stock. This Association, composed of twenty-four members, twenty of whom were iron masters, bought up lands above Hanging Rock, and founded the city of Ironton. Mr. Campbell gave the new town its name-the first of some five towns afterward so called in the United States. The propriety of the name becomes more and more apparent as time passes. While the town was thought to be of much importance, yet it was looked upon as but an auxiliary to the Iron Railroad. This latter enterprise, in which Mr. Campbell owned over one-third of the stock, was carried on by nearly the same individuals who founded the town. In 1849, with others, he built Keystone Furnace, but gave his attention principally to the new town and railroad. In 1850 he removed from Hanging Rock to Ironton, and with the Ohio Iron and Coal Com- pany purchased Lagrange Furnace. The same year he built the stove foundry of Campbell, Ellison & Co., and in 1851 was one of the founders of the Iron Bank of Ironton,
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JohnCampbell
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now known as the First National Bank. In 1852, besides taking large stock in the Ironton Rolling Mill-now known as the Iron and Steel Company-he subscribed to one-half the stock for building the Oliver Foundry and. Machine Shop. He also pur- chased the celebrated Hecla cold blast furnace. In 1853 he became one of the largest stockholders in the Kentucky Iron, Coal and Manufacturing Company, which founded the town of Ashland, Kentucky. With Mr. D. T. Woodrow he built Howard Furnace, to which has since been added the Buckhorn Furnace, under the firm name of Charcoal Iron Company, and with Mr. John Peters he built the Washington Furnace, upon the Portsmouth Railroad. In 1854, with S. S. Stone, of Troy, New York, and others of Ironton, he built a large establishment for the manufacture of the iron beam plow. The same year, with others, he built the Madison Furnace, and also became one of the heaviest stockholders in the erection of the Star Nail Mill-one of the largest in the Region, and now know as the Belfont Iron Works. In 1855, through the influence of himself at Ironton, and Hon. V. B. Horton at Pomeroy, first telegraphic communication was established between these towns and Cincinnati. In 1856, with Col. Wm. M. Bolles and others, he built Monroe Furnace -- the largest charcoal furnace in the Region. This and the Washington Furnace are now under the firm name of Union Iron Company, of which Mr. Campbell is President. In 1857 his rolling mill interests extended to Zanes- ville, Ohio, where he was one of the incorporators of the Ohio Iron Company. The Oak Ridge Furnace was operated by him at this date, but for a short time only. The stress upon the iron market which followed was relieved by the high prices obtained during the war. During the war his course was marked by intense loyalty to the Gov- ernment. Although constantly devoted to business, he .is known as a very public- spirited citizen. Of the fourteen furnaces in which he has been engaged, he retains con- trolling interests in eight, and has lately been interested in the erection of the Ironton Furnace. This is the eleventh furnace that he has assisted to build.
He is of large, massive frame, and has inherited a strong constitution, which gives to him an energetic, active old age. Although his parents were wealthy at their decease, yet they were of but little assistance, and his life exhibits what can be accomplished by industry and integrity, combined with good judgment. His parentage is Scotch-Irish, his ancestors having removed, in 1612, from Inverary, Argyleshire, Scotland, into Uister, near Londonderry, Ireland. Their descendants, in 1740, removed to Augusta County, Virginia. From these were descended many who attained to civil and military distinc- tion in the States of Virginia, Tennessee, and Ohio.
Mr. Campbell's grand-parents came from Virginia to Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1790; and from thence, in 1798, to the part of Adams now called Brown County, Ohio. At the date of his birth-January 14. 1808-Staunton, now known as Ripley, was not · laid out; but in early life he engaged in business with an uncle at that place; from thence he came to Hanging Rock.'
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HENRY B. CURTIS.
HENRY B. CURTIS was born near the village of Champlain, N. Y., on the 28th of November, 1799. His parents were New England people. His father, Zarah Curtis, was born in Litchfield County, Conn., in 1762, and at a very early age entered the Continental army. His mother, Phalley Yale, eldest daughter of Aaron Yale and Anna Hosmer, whom his father married in 1785, was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1762. She claimed a distinguished ancestry, tracing the lines of the two families a very remote period, embracing distinguished persons in the reign of Henry VIII, and in the early history of New England. They moved to Charlotte, Vermont, thence on a farm on the west side of Lake Champlain, and. in 1809, removed to Ohio, settling at Newark, in Licking County. His father subsequently purchased a farm on the waters of the North Fork of Licking, Washington Township, where he died in 1849, beloved and respected as a Christian minister, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. Henry B. Curtis was but nine years old when his father moved to Ohio .. At that time Newark afforded small chances for education. Yet there were those who instructed even in the higher branches of English education, and the subject of this article took judicious advantage of every facility offered. At the age of seventeen he left home with one year's savings in his pocket, and joined his brother at Mt. Vernon, who was then a practicing lawyer, and who procured for his brother a position in the Clerk's office, where his ready skill soon secured for him the official appointment of "Deputy Clerk " of the Court. Time famil- iarized him with the courts and legal forms of proceedings, and in this way his mind was naturally directed to the law as a business for life. He entered his brother's office as a law student early in the Fall of 1820, and was admitted to the bar December, 1822. During the earlier years of his professional career, his circuit embraced a large territory aside from Knox County." On the ninth day of January, 1863, Henry B. Curtis was admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court, Washington City.
In December, IS72, he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his admission to the bar, by giving a bar supper at his home at "Round Hill" to the resident members of the professions, with invitations to, and attended by, many old-time friends from adja- cent counties. It was a happy occasion, bringing back pleasant reminiscences of the past. He then announced to his guests and brethren that hereafter he would decline all new retaining fees, leaving the field to the younger ones. And here ended, profes- sionally, a career that was crowned with success from first to last. Could it have a happier or brighter conclusion? On the second of July, 1823, Henry B. Curtis was married to his present wife, née Miss Elizabeth Hogg, of Mt. Pleasant, Jefferson County, Ohio; and of this marriage have been born eight children, three only of whom now survive-two daughters and one son. Though now seventy-six years old, Mr. Henry B. Curtis is hale and vigorous, and early hardships appear not to have affected his iron constitution.
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HENRY B . CURTIS.
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Ho Mandy.
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H. BLANDY.
H. BLANDY was born October 26, 1810. at Bristol, England, where his parents lived thirty years. He came to this country with his parents, brothers, and sisters, in 1832, though he returned in the Fall, and came back in the following Spring, and went to Zanesville with his parents and their family, arriving there on a Sabbath morning in May, 1833. In the following February, Henry Blandy married Miss Amanda, the second daughter of Judge Blocksom, and at once started in business with Judge Blocksom, J. T. Fracker, and Lloyd Dillon, under the style of Dillon, Blandy & Co., in the pros- ecution of furnace and forge business, at Dillon's Falls, Mr. Blandy managing the store department. The business proved a failure, and Mr. B. lost every dollar of his invest- ment. Another investment of a similar kind, and another failure, left Mr. B. $5,000 worse off than nothing. His next business engagement was with his brother and pres- ent partner, F. J. L. Blandy, in the foundry business. This proved a success, and enabled them to pay the interest on their borrowed capital and extend their operations. In time, they undertook to build locomotives, and also ventured into another specu- lation, that of building a rail mill-the latter they located at Ironton, O. Through the failure of their partner, before its completion, and the depression in railroad stocks, almost overwhelmed them, never wavering from integrity and zeal, they waded through their embarrassment, and paid every dollar they owed, principal and interest. They at once concluded to quit building locomotives, and enter the building of portable . engines, saw-mills, and other machinery. They succeeded in establishing a fine busi- ness, so that when the crisis of 1857 came, they were in good shape. Unfortunately, their Southern correspondents and debtors, when the war came, lost them every debt, though the oil excitement and other channels soon righted them. In 1866 their works burned to the ground, losing $200,000. Fortunately, they owned large shops in Newark, and threw all the labor and extra machinery possible, running day and night, enabling them to hold their trade. They rebuilt their Zanesville works immediately, and since then have done a prosperous business; and during the excitement of 1873 they were panic proof. In 1859 Mr. Blandy lost his first wife, and was again married in 1860 to Miss Amelia Adeline Douglas, of Lowell, Mass., though lost her in 1867. In 1868 he again married, this time a sister of his second wife, Miss Nellie W. Douglas, who proves a devoted wife and mother to her sister's children. Mr. B. is very fond of race-horses, and owns a stud, numbering forty. many among the fastest horses known. The name of H. Blandy, Esq., carries with it a great weight and influence; and the purity of his character and frankness of disposition have endeared him to a large circle of friends.
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FREDERICK JOHN LEONARD BLANDY.
FREDERICK JOHN LEONARD BLANDY, one of the oldest and most prominent manu- facturers and improvers of portable steam-engines and circular saw-mills in America, was born in Bristol, England. He lived with his father, Benjamin Blandy, Esq., until IS35, attending the best academies and receiving a good, sound education. He came with his father's family to New York, and from there to the then small town of Zanesville, Ohio, which his father had previously selected, after many months' travel and observation, as their future home. Henry Blandy, the brother of the subject of this sketch, went into the forge and furnace business, with a large stock of general merchandise to pay the hands with, and Frederick was the clerk and salesman, until its close. From this situa- tion he went to New York and clerked in a large manufacturing establishment, where he accumulated some means. In 1840 his father started him, with his brother Henry, in the foundry business, which, by their united efforts and fidelity to each other, pro- gressed rapidly, and they built up a large trade. The first heavy contracts they made were for the iron work for the Zanesville Water-works and for the Zanesville Gas Light Com- pany. By this time they were well into the machine business, having turned out many steam-engines and other machinery, and had now large and powerful works. They contracted to build a large number of locomotive engines for various roads. About this time, in the Fall of 1851, Frederick married Miss Julia Johnson, of Philadelphia, Penn., and this marriage has been productive of six children-four sons and two daughters. The firm built one of the largest rail mills in the country, but the party in whose interest it was built failed. This, with the universal failure of most of the railroads in Ohio, in 1853, induced them to abandon this branch of their business, and, through perseverance and energy, they preserved their good name and credit untarnished. At this period they commenced to build their celebrated portable engine and saw-mill, invented by Frederick, which has proved the ne plus ultra.
In 1863, requiring greater facilities for their increasing trade, they purchased the Newark Machine Works, and in 1865 the aggregate sales reached over $1,250,000. In `1866, when in the zenith of prosperity, their Zanesville works burnt down, incurring a loss of $200.000. Rebuilding commenced before the ruins were cold, and in less than four months the finest and best equipped works in America were in successful operation upon the ruins. At this time Frederick built his present residence, which is considered the finest in the county.
Frederick has great taste for agriculture and horticulture, supervising his three farms within a few miles of the city; owns large coal interests in the Perry County fields and in Muskingum County; is a director and stockholder in various industrial interests, and Vice-President of the Union Bank. Such is prosperity and the legitimate result of well- digested plans properly managed.
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R.m. Bishop
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RICHARD M. BISHOP. $
RICHARD M. BISHOP was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, November 4, 1812. His parents removed from Virginia in the year 1800. The ancestral lineage was German on the side of the father, and English on the side of his mother; and many of the peculiar characteristics of both the English and German are strongly marked in him. The subject of this sketch began his business career in Fleming County, Ky., as clerk in . a dry-goods store, at the age of seventeen, and before he was twenty-one was taken into partnership by his employer. From 1838 to 1841 he was engaged largely with his brother in the pork business, which proved unfortunate. From that date till IS47 he was in business at Mount Sterling, Ky. On the Ist of May, 1848, he removed to Cin- cinnati and commenced the wholesale grocery business, under the firm name of Bishop, Wells & Co., which continued until 1855, when Mr. Wells retired, and the firm changed to R. M. Bishop & Co .-- the present style-and is composed of the senior member and his three sons.
In April, 1857, Mr. Bishop was elected to the city Council by an overwhelming majority, and presided as the President of that august body. In April, 1859, he was nominated by a Citizens' Convention for the office of Chief Magistrate, and was elected by a handsome majority. How well he filled the position is best acknowledged from the fact that Cincinnati never had a better Mayor.
One of the most brilliant positions ever occupied by Mr. Bishop, was the presidency of the Commercial Convention held in Baltimore, in 1871, and was a fitting tribute to his business worth and ability. He was also a niember of the Constitutional Convention of 1873 and 1874, and is at present a trustee of the Southern Railroad.
Mr. Bishop is a member of the Central Christian Church in this city, and through his liberality and devotion, he has been appointed to some of the most responsible and honorable positions in the Church, besides being prominently connected with many other charitable and educational institutions.
Mr. Bishop has amassed a large estate; but we are happy to say that his charities have always increased in the ratio of his growing fortune, and few men have lived who have been of more substantial benefit to society than R. M. Bishop.
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LEMUEL CRAWFORD.
LEMUEL CRAWFORD was born in Florida, Schoharie County, New York, December 15, 1805. Left without means at the age of fourteen, he chose the trade of molder in the iron business. When twenty-one, he came to Painesville, Ohio, where he was made foreman of the Geauga furnace. Here he remained about six years, having superintend- ence of the pattern and molding department, filling his position with great skill. and credit. At this place, July 29, 1832, he married Louisa Murray, of Willoughby, in the same county, who still survives him. In 1833 Mr. Crawford moved with his family to Detroit, whence, after remaining six years, he removed to Presque Isle, on Lake Huron, where he was first to start the wood trade, for fuel, for our then fast growing steamboat commerce, and at which he remained seven years. In 1846, having confi- dence in the fact that coal must, sooner or later, supplant wood for fuel, he removed to Cleveland, and at once invested about $40,000 in the Chippewa mines, located in the Mahoning Valley, which contained an inexhaustible supply of the richest coal. These mines he worked for twenty years. Shortly after commencing with the Chippewa, he was found in 1848 to be among the pioneers in the opening up of the beds of Briar Hill coal in the Mahoning Valley, so well known to steamboat men and manufacturers ever since, as being a kind of coal peculiarly adapted for their uses. Here he con- tinued to mine largely at several different localities, selected by him with rare judgment. He also carried on mining extensively at other points, such as on the Ohio below Steu- benville; also, in Orange County, Penn., and elsewhere. His chief business and coal depots were at Cleveland; but he had branch establishments at Detroit and Chicago, and at one time was largely interested in vessel property. In 1851 he was one of the earliest to engage in the manufacture of pig iron, he having an interest in the second furnace started in the Mahoning Valley. He was also a large real estate holder, and invested judiciously. He was intensely loyal and liberal during the war, always char- itable to the poor, and a warm friend of religion and religious institutions. In the latter years of his life he was frequently an invalid, and in 1867 he, under advice from his physician, went to Europe, and returned with improved health, which. however, gave way, and on June 30, 1868, at the age of sixty-two years, six months, and fifteen days, he died at his beautiful home in Cleveland, surrounded by his wife, family, and friends, deeply mourned; and through all the vicissitudes of a long business life, he maintained a character of the most perfect integrity.
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Lemuel a Crawford
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Jm B. Maddux
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W. B. MADDUX.
WHOEVER achieves fortune and social position by his own efforts, and preserves at the same time an unblemished reputation, is a credit to any community, and is a safe example and guide to succeeding generations.
W. B. MADDUX was born in Woodford County, Ky., May 28, 1828. His first and early education was work in the hemp and tobacco fields. At the age of fourteen he left the home of his youth and started for Rushville, Indiana, where he lived sixteen years. At the age of eighteen he started business for himself, and since that time has tried many pursuits, first as a hat manufacturer, printer, then merchant, and after that as a distiller. In the Spring of 1858 he came to Cincinnati, and, under the firm name of Maddux Brothers, organized the first house in the city who systemized the plan of selling goods to the country merchants by traveling salesmen from samples-a mode of doing business that is now so universally adopted by merchants every-where, in the whole country. In this business W. B. Maddux and his two brothers were very suc- cessful, and the house is still running under the same firm name, though the subject of this sketch is not at present a member. In 1868, and while of the firm of Maddux Brothers, Mr. W. B. Maddux put into operation the redistilling house of Maddux, Hobart & Co .- a house that last year did a business aggregating over two millions of dollars.
The business career of Mr. Maddux in Cincinnati has been a most prosperous one. His business talents, his industry, and his energy, would have made him partially success- ful in any place; but in Cincinnati, where there was such an ample field for their devel- opment, Mr. Maddux has reached a position in the business world which must satisfy all his business aspirations. He is the senior partner of the well-known house of Mad- ' dux, Hobart & Co., and his name has an influence both in business and in social circles-the result of successful enterprise and exalted merit. Though he has amassed a fortune sufficient to supply all the luxuries which even a devotee of pleasure might require, he still pursues his usual routine of business habits with nearly the same ardor which characterized him in his early years; and his remarkable diligence furnishes a salutary example to the young members of his establishment.
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