USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > Ohio, the future great state, her manufacturers, and a history of her commercial cities, Cincinnati and Cleveland > Part 16
USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Ohio, the future great state, her manufacturers, and a history of her commercial cities, Cincinnati and Cleveland > Part 16
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In 1867 Mr. Griswold connected himself with Mr. Truman Dunham, for the express purpose of starting a mill in Cleveland, under the name of Griswold & Dunham, the mill being owned by the same firm, and known as the Cleveland Linseed Oil Works, which is noticed among the oil manufacturers, in another part of this work.
By his business capacity, his integrity, and successful management, Mr. Griswold has always held the respect of those with whom he has encountered in his business operations; and his high moral worth, connected with his business capacity, has given him an influence in the place of his adoption.
Mr. G. O. Griswold is only at the meridian of life, and with his mind stored with information and rich in experience, possessing a. constitution.both vigorous and healthful, he has the promise of a long future of usefulness.
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THOMAS SHARP,
THOMAS SHARP was born in Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, February 16, 1808. His parents were Quakers, or Friends, who migrated from New Jersey to this place about the year 1795. When Thomas was twelve years old his father died, and he was put to work on a farm, where he remained until he was sixteen. Then he was appren- ticed to learn the trade of carpenter and millwright, where he served until he was twenty-one years of age. His opportunity for education was limited to attendance of common schools, after he was old enough to attend them, about three months in a year, ending when he was eighteen. While he was an apprentice he attended school two Winters, three months each, walking each day three miles to the school-house, and, returning, worked in the shop until late at night. When he had served his time as an apprentice, he took his first relaxation from labor by walking seventy miles to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to see the city and its mechanical enterprises. Returning, he took passage from Pittsburg to Wellsville, Ohio, on the Mountaincer, the first steamboat that ever run on the Ohio River.
In 1830 he married Sarah Antrim, who was also of the Society of Friends, and who has ever made him a most amiable companion and helpmeet.
From 1829 to 1832 he worked in and about Salem at his trade, then removed to Cleveland, and worked in a ship-yard, working on all classes of vessels at that time used on the Lake. In 1835 he built a saw-mill, and steam-engine driving it, for Leonard Case, and in 1842 returned to his native place, Salem, and established the business he now continues. For years Mr. Sharp made his specialty the improvement of the ordinary slide-valve steam-engine, and his precision of workmanship, mature judgment, and correct perception of the action of steam, has enabled him to bring this class of engines up to a comparative state of perfection. Recently, with the aid of his son, he has arranged an automatic variable cut-off engine, having certain peculiarities that promises to make this the most superior engine of this class, combining strength, simplicity, precision of action, and economy of construction.
The early testimony of the Society of Friends against chattel slavery found a response in the heart of Mr. Sharp, and he became one of the early Abolitionists. Disregarding the denunciation they received for their fidelity to human freedom. In religion Mr. Sharp, first adopting the opinions of the Hicksite Friends, finally became more liberal than they were even, and was branded an infidel. His honesty forbade. his denying this appellation, and his courage permitted him to welcome it.
His only son is an active member of the firm of Thomas Sharp & Co., conducting a large and successful business at the "old shop," following in the footsteps and hand- strokes of his venerable father. At an age when most men retire from active business, Mr. Sharp remains hale, vigorous, laborious, intelligent, and genial, the same benevolent friend to the poor and industrious he has been for the last forty years, still emphatically showing his faith by his works.
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DANIEL BERTINE STEWART.
DANIEL BERTINE STEWART is the son of Daniel Stewart, who emigrated from Litch- field, Connecticut, to Ohio, and settled in Athens County in 1804. Here the subject of our sketch was born, September 26, 1812. His father purchased, in an early day, a large amount of landed estate, adjoining the Hocking River; and the early life of Daniel Bertine Stewart was spent in clearing away the forest. Here he received his early education in energy, perseverance, and economy, which afterward characterized his whole life; also his schooling, which was limited. At the age of eighteen he took charge of his father's grist-mill, and, at twenty-one, purchased the same. He soon sold this inill at an advance, and went into business with his brother Alexander at Rutland, Ohio, where he continued two years, when he removed to Coolville, Athens County, where he was married to Miss Sarah Carter, April 7, 1836. In 1837 he sold his store at Coolville and moved to his father's farm, where he improved the water-power of the Hocking River, and erected a saw-mill. In 1842 he built a large grist-mill; and, two years later, established the first woolen factory in Southern Ohio. This business being very successful, and centered largely at Athens, he moved there with his family Novem- 6, 1867, where he still lives. He has erected, since 1837, a large number of houses, mills, stores, and factories, among which may especially be mentioned his fine brick factory at Athens, which is one of the best in Southern Ohio. Later years railroad enterprises has occupied his attention-the Baltimore Short Line owing much to him. He also projected the building of the Federal Creek Valley Railroad, now nearly com- pleted, terminating at Stewart, a town laid out by Mr. Stewart on his old farm, and named in honor of its founder. Last year he erected some forty houses; a planing-mill is in operation, and several stores and shops have been established, and the town prom- ises to be one of thrift and enterprise. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for twenty-one years; was elected County Commissioner in 1853, in which position he was active in the first purchase of the Athens County Infirmary. In 1860 he was chosen and served as one of Abraham Lincoln's electors for Ohio. He has for several years held the position of Director in the Atlantic and Lake Erie Railroad, and is at present one of the Directors of the Baltimore Short Line, and President and Director in the Fed- eral Creek Valley Road. In every position of trust, to which he has been called, he has filled his position with integrity and wise discretion. On the 16th of October, 1874, he was bereaved of his beloved companion. She bore him nine children, six of whom survive her. On the 7th of October, 1875, Mr. Stewart married his second wife, Mrs. Dr. M. E. Pearce, widow of the late Dr. T. J. Pearce, of the U. S. Army-she her- self being well known throughout the war for her charitable work. Early in life Mr. Stewart joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, and ever afterward proved an active and efficient member. He was instrumental in establishing Stewart's Chapel at his old homestead. He will long be remembered as one of Athens County's first and foremost benefactors, and for his liberal action and free gifts to all benevolent enterprises.
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J. B. WILSON.
J. B. WILSON was born September 22, 1828, at Paris, Ohio. His parents, William and Elizabeth Wilson, gave him a good common-school education-a thing in itself rare in those days-after which he learned the carpentering trade. In 1852, stimulated with the love for gold, and hearing of the success of others, he started overland for Cal- ifornia, traveling nearly 3,000 miles through a country where the Indian roamed, and where the ax of the pioneer had not been heard. The open prairies were his bed and resting-place. In 1856 he returned to Paris, Ohio, and commenced to manufacture the celebrated "White" Hay-rake. In 1858 Mr. Wilson was joined in wedlock to Miss Charlotte Koons, also of Paris, and unto them have been born seven children-five girls and two boys-the oldest, a daughter, now being sixteen years of age. In 1865 he con- cluded Paris too circumscribed to extend his business; therefore, he. moved to Canton, Ohio, and bought the property now owned by his widow, and commenced extending his already large business. In 1870 he commenced to manufacture the lock lever rake; and, at the time of his death, August 17, 1873, was doing a large and growing busi- ness. His disease was Asiatic cholera, though his health declined since his removal from his native heath. He left his family in comfortable circumstances, the result of industry.
Mr. Wilson, as has been seen, was not born to affluence, but began from an humble commencement, and owes alone to his efforts and industry the position and for- tune he left behind. What he has done can be done again, if the same method be used for its accomplishment. Any young man who will copy his perseverance, econ- omy, and industry, and like him be sedulous in preserving his reputation and credit, must attain affluence, and attain a respectable position. Who properly sows in Spring must reap a harvest; and he who in youth commences life with the practice of temper- ance, industry, and economy, must gather bountifully of the fruit they naturally produce. The subject of this memoir was a man of many virtues, among which was his great love for home and family, who live to mourn his irreparable loss, for he was loved and deeply respected by all who knew himn.
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SAMUEL QUINBY.
AMONG the eminent citizens of Warren who have, for the last half century, been honored and esteemed both at home and abroad, no one was more sincerely beloved and respected in all the relations of life than the late SAMUEL QUINBY. His father, the late Judge Ephraim Quinby, was among the early immigrants to the north-western territory, having moved with his family to Warren in the year 1798-two years before the county of Trumbull was organized, and five years before the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union.
He was at an early day appointed Assistant Postmaster at Warren, by General Simon Perkins, the first Postmaster. This was his first office. He was clerk in his father's store from 1814 to IS17, and in the last named year he became one of the proprietors and editor of the Western Reserve Chronicle, which position he held till the year 1819. Upon the election of the late John Sloane to Congress from the Sixth District of Ohio, he was appointed, by President Monroe, to succeed him as Receiver of Public Moneys for the United States. Same office at Wooster, in the year 1819, at which time he made Wooster his place of residence. He held this office till 1835; and from 1822 to 1338 he also held the office of Treasurer of Wayne County. In 1840 he returned to Warren, where he resided till his death.
Mr. Quinby was twice married -- first to Lucy Potter, daughter of Rev. Lyman Potter, of Steubenville, Ohio, who died in 1833. He was married a second time, in 1847, to Mrs. Emma Brown, of Hartford. Trumbull County, who survives him. Of the six chil- dren by the first marriage two only, and of the five by the second, one only, survive him.
During most of his life political discussions were unusually turbulent and stormy, and in the election of 1828 he supported Mr. Adams for President, and when the politi- cal tempest broke upon the country which overwhelmed his administration for its alleged extravagance and corruption, and hurled him out, and bore General Jackson into office, he held the position of Receiver of the Land Office at Wooster. But such was his ability, integrity, and purity of character, and the high esteem in which he was held as a faithful public officer at home and in Washington, that the triumphant party did not succeed in displacing him, as it did others, though great efforts were made for that purpose. His well-known hostility to slavery transferred his allegiance from the Whig to the Repub- lican party, and he continued an esteemed and influential member to the close of life. He was twice elected to the Senate of the State-the first time in 1844, and again in 1861.
He was for many years a Director of the Western Reserve Bank, and the associate of Perkins, Parsons, Freeman and others, who gave the institution its good name and reputation.
He was a man of great firmness and decision of character, though modest and unassuming .in his manners, and enjoyed the confidence and respect of all who knew him. He was confiding and generous, and contributed to the wants of the poor and needy, by whom he is held in grateful remembrance. He was a prominent and re- · spected member of the Baptist Church in Warren, and in his daily life and conversation he illustrated the virtues of the Christian gentleman. He died February 4, 1874.
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JOSEPH WALLACE FOOTE.
JOSEPH WALLACE FOOTE, the subject of this sketch, is, in his personal appearance, robust physique, generous temperament, and bold and shrewd business capacity, and in many respects is a representative and typical man of the West.
His father, Wesley Foote, was born in Virginia, and moved to Ohio early in life. The son was born July 15, 1825. in Butler County, Ohio. His early education was limited. At the age of five years his father died, and when his mother married again he worked on the family farm until he was fourteen years old, after which period he went to Port- land, Fountain County, Indiana, and learned the trade of a cooper, remaining there and pursuing that calling until the death of his mother, when he returned to Hamilton, Ohio. When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, he enlisted in the First Ohio Regiment, his Company being known as the " Butler Boys." The name of Captain Foote will be ever remembered in the hearts of all who cheered the " Butler Boys" as they went out to war.
In 1848 he was married to Miss Margaret Todd, of Hamilton. Five children have been born to this marriage, of whom only two survive. After his marriage he aban- doned his trade of a cooper and began, in a small way, to ship produce to Cincinnati. This proved so successful that, in 1855, he removed to Cincinnati and opened his busi- ness on Central Avenue, north of Fifth Street, where he has continued ever since, in a plain, straightforward way, to transact a large amount of business, and has succeeded in laying the foundations and building up the structure of a fine business character for honesty and enterprise, and also in securing some steps toward a fair competency for his older years.
Within a few years past Mr. Foote has yielded to a longing desire to give some attention to the growing of plain stock, and has so far indulged his tastes as to secure between 300 and 400 acres of the finest farming land in Illinois, which he has improved with the necessary buildings, including one of the handsomest and most spacious barns in the West, fitted up with all the appointments for successful stock growing; and he is annually sending some of the best of Western cattle and pigs to the Chicago and other Western markets.
Mr. Foote is worthy of more than the usual word in connection with his standing in the various grades of the fraternity of Freemasonry; but we forbear any further notice of him in these relations than to state that the standing of Hanselmann Commandery, No. 16, Knights Templar, is mainly owing to his efficient service as Captain General during a period of four years. He was then elected, and served again by re-election for two years as Eminent Commander, and then was elected by a unanimous vote to the office of Captain General. In these offices, and in all his Masonic relations, he discharges his duties with unswerving integrity and well-deserved honor.
Mr. Foote is an example to the young men of to-day. He is now in the prime of life, and in the strength and activity of his manhood, and he is not living in vain as he pursues his plain path; and the honors of well-doing shall gather around his steps and bless his home with comforts and joys when the days of his active toil shall be past.
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OHIO MANUFACTURERS.
THAT manufacturing can be carried on more advantageously in some localities than in others is evident to all. This superiority arises from many causes, among which are the facilities for obtaining the raw material used in manufacturing, the agricultural resources of the locality in furnishing the means of subsistence for the manufacturers, the facilities for transportation of the raw material and the manufactured article, and the access to markets. Ohio presents claims as being one of the favored places. In support of these claims we will make some statements of facts, and leave the decision, based upon those facts, to the reader.
Of the many thriving towns in South-western Ohio, Dayton stands pre-eminent in beauty of situation, population, opulence, and industry. Its wide streets, elegant churches, tasteful and luxurious dwellings, the number and beauty of its women, the elegance and refinement of its society, the excellence of its public and private schools, the extent and variety of its manufactures, have given this city a national reputation. Situated in the heart of the Great Miami Valley, at the confluence of the Miami, Stillwater, and Mad Rivers-perhaps the finest agricultural district in the world-at the junction of nine railways, leading direct to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Toledo, Sandusky, Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago; on the line of the Great Miami Canal, connecting the Ohio with the Lakes,-Dayton presents peculiar advantages in all the great departments of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. Its water-power is large and very important, and is improved to the uttermost, scarcely a drop of water passing its hydraulic without paying its passage by turning some of its numerous mill-wheels. For the production of agricultural implements alone there are ten different establishments, five of which make hay-rakes a specialty, turning them out by tens of thousands, and distributing them to all quarters of the globe. There are eleven flouring-mills, mostly large, some of them turning out three hundred barrels each day of the year. There are seventeen foundries and machine-shops, five of which manufacture Turbine wheels, that have a world-wide reputation; four linseed-oil mills, and two varnish manufactories; four large paper mills, and one of the most complete and extensive straw and tar board producing mills in the country.
The principal manufacturing establishment of Dayton, however, is the car works of
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VIEW OF THE DAYTON CAR WORKS, BARNEY & SMITH MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
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THE BARNEY & SMITH MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
A fine view of which we give, the most extensive and best managed establishment in the West, if not in the whole country. The ground-floors alone of the several buildings cover four acres, and with the second, third, and fourth floors of some of them, eight acres. The buildings are very extensive, substantial, and well arranged for the conven- ient handling of the very large amount of material used, amounting to over 30,000 feet of lumber and forty tons of wrought and pig iron per day.
In no way can we gain so clear a conception of the rapid increase in the manu- facturing interests of the State, as by tracing the history of some one establishment, in a single branch of industry, from its inception to its present magnitude.
In 1849 E. Thresher and E. E. Barney, under the firm name of E. Thresher & Co., began the erection of shops in Dayton, Ohio, for building railroad cars, on what would now be deemed a small scale, and with limited capital. From the first their cars were noted for the excellence of their material and workmanship. In 1854 E. Thresher, from failing health, sold his interest to C. Parker, and the business was conducted for ten years under the firm name of Barney, Parker & Co. During this period their business steadily increased, extending largely over the North-west, West, and South. In 1864, Mr. Parker's health having become impaired from too close and continued attention to business, he disposed of his interest to P. Smith, and the business was continued for three years under the firm name of Barney, Smith & Co. In 1867 the firm was incorporated under the laws of Ohio, assuming the name of The Barney & Smith Manufacturing Company, since which time they 'have rapidly enlarged their business, erecting new and more commodious brick buildings, and increasing their facilities by greatly improved machinery, until their manufactures amount in value from $1,000,coo to $2,000,000 per year, consuming 8,000,000 to 10,000, oco feet of lumber and 10,000 to 12,000 tons iron each year, giving amployment to 1,000 men. The Dayton Car Works, commencing with less than $120,000 capital, have now invested in their business more than $750,000, and have become one of the largest manufacturing establishments in the whole country.
Their buildings and a portion of their grounds, as now arranged, are shown in the cut we present. Railroad tracks are shown south of their grounds, one entering inside of their inclosure on the south side, and one through the center, affording ample facilities for receiving freight and shipping cars.
Passing through the main entrance, the first building shown at the right is the office, 35 x50 feet, three stories. The basement is used as a store-room; the first floor hand- somely fitted up for offices; the upper is occupied by the linen and curtain department of sleeping-cars. South of this is shown the freight-erecting shops, 97x 155 feet, one and a half stories. The lower is used for storing dressed lumber, and cutting it into suitable lengths for siding and roofing, making grain, side, and end doors, and painting the strips
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for double-board roof-cars. In the main room were numerous box-cars in various stages. In one part the lumber, just from the machines, dressed, bored, mortised, and tenoned, was taking shape in form of bodies; in another these bodies were being floored, sided, and roofed; and in still another these bodies, completed, were passing into the hands of the painters, -- all moving with the exact system and precision of clock-work, each man attending to his particular branch of the work. In passing through the different shops our attention was often called to workmen who have been employed on one class of work for twenty years and over-some in the fitting, others in the finishing, black- smith, and foundry shops, etc. By pursuing this system the company have been able to maintain a steady progress in the quality and style of their work.
The next two buildings, set at right-angles, one for freight trucks (50x150 feet), and one for painting cars (52x245 feet), were filled with trucks and cars. The next building to the right, with transfer-table between (52 x 182 feet), is the passenger set-up or body shop. The two four-story buildings, with tall sinoke-stacks, orie 82x90 feet and the other Gado feet, forty feet apart, connected by iron bridges, have the two first stories filled with fine wood-working machinery for passenger-car work; the two upper stories are filled with cabinet and carvers' benches and upholster rooms, A fine engine (two hundred horse-power) in one of the rooms furnishes the motive-power for the entire works; wire ropes, shown in the engraving, transmitting the power to the various buildings. Connecting one of these buildings with the passenger-body shop is the baggage-body shop (50x60 feet), the roof just showing over the roof of the former. To the left of these, the roof just appearing over the roof of the freight-car paint-shop, stands a building (82 x 165 feet) containing the freight wood-working machinery in great variety, having all the latest improvements.
On the left of the main entrance stands the blacksmith-shop (81 x 205 feet). Next beyond stands the machine-shop (63 x 120 feet), four stories. Still beyond is shown the wheel foundry (75 x 100 feet) and pitting house (30x60 feet), capacity 140 wheels per day. A continuation of this building is the soft-iron foundry (75x 150 feet). Beyond these is shown the sand and coke sheds and stabling. Still further on, hid by the cabinet-shops, is the oil and glass-house (30x60 feet), three stories, in the upper part of which the beautiful frescoed head-linings that adorn their passenger-cars are painted. Still further on, for a third of a mile, extends their large lumber-yard, with a railroad track through the middle, and bounded on three sides by the canal. Here and in the adjoining yards is piled lumber for 250 passenger-cars and 1,000 freight-cars-the usual stock carried amounting to 6,000,000 feet of lumber. After examining their ample facililities and immense stock of dry lumber, and noting the care given to the minutest details of their work, we can easily understand why this company have acquired such eminent reputation for the excellent quality of their work.
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