USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 32
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Joseph G. Obermeyre,
Chief Deputy to the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Ohio, belongs to the best known younger members of the Hamilton County Bar. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born September 27, 1862, at Latrobe, in Westmore- land County. His father, Joseph G. Ober- meyre, was born in Bavaria and emigrated to the United States about 1840; his mother, Elizabeth (Wittmann) Obermeyre, belonged to an old Bavarian family that dates back to the Twelfth Century. They married in the old country and, after having migrated, settled in Western Pennsylvania. Young Obermeyre obtained his education in the schools of the city of Pittsburgh and at St. John's College in Minnesota. After leaving college he taught languages at the old Wesleyan College, Cin- cinnati, for seven years, after which he took up the study of law and graduated from the Cincinnati Law School in 1889, being admitted to practice in the same year. He immediately JOSEPH G. OBERMEYRE engaged in the general practice of his chosen profession, and was associated with the late Colonel W. E. Bundy, and for a time was a member of the firm of Bundy, Obermeyre & Woods, Cincinnati. Mr. Obermeyre has always been a faithful supporter of Republican principles, and for many years has taken an active part in Hamilton County politics. In the fall of 1899 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for the State Legislature from Hamilton County, but owing to the disturbances of the Fusion movement in Hamilton County at that time was defeated by a small margin with the rest of the ticket. Two years later, in February, 1902, he was offered and accepted the responsible position of Chief Dep- uty to the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Ohio, which he now holds. Mr. Obermeyre was married to Miss Annie Moore Woodworth, a grand-daughter of the late Colonel R. M.
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Moore, ex-Mayor of Cincinnati, in 1896. They have one daughter. Mr. Obermeyre has his temporary residence in Columbus, Ohio.
Andrew Sheets Iddings,
Attorney at law and Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court of Ohio, was born on the 18th of October, 1880, at Dayton, Ohio. His father, the late Charles D. Iddings, descending from an ancestry the chief American figure of which was the Revolutionary hero, "Mad Anthony" Wayne, was prominent in the legal profession and in politics. Charles D. Iddings and his wife, Belle Sheets, were both native Daytonians, and Andrew was the second of three sons. He received his education at pri- vate schools and at the Steele High School in Dayton, from which he graduated first in a class of two hundred. He entered public life early, devoting part of his time to Republican politics, where his services were soon recog- nized and rewarded by his appointment in December, 1899 as Deputy Collector of United States Internal Revenue, with office at Dayton. He resigned this position in 1902 to become Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court at Colum- bus, which position he now occupies. During this time Mr. Iddings has been active in State and local politics, and has won for himself an enviable popularity. He is by profession an attorney, having been admitted to the Bar in June, 1903, and, as his other duties permit, practices law. In the year 1902 his attention was attracted to the wonderful possibilities of Western Canada, and at the invitation of the Canadian Government he made an extensive ANDREW SHEETS IDDINGS tour of investigation through that country, detailing his observations in some recent pub- lications from his pen, "A Transcontinental Panorama" and "Canada's Great West." The following year Mr. Iddings, in company with his brother, made further observations there, involving a one thousand mile horse-back trip of exploration into the northern wilds of Athabasca. As a director of The Western Canada Land Company of Dayton he is one of the leading spirits of a large immigration and colonization enterprise which is just begin- ning to attract attention in Ohio. Mr. Iddings is unmarried, and a member of the Pres- byterian Church.
Wade H. Ellis,
Attorney General of the State of Ohio, is one of the leading members of the Hamilton County Bar. He was one of the chief factors in the drawing of the new municipal code of Ohio, which went into effect on the first Monday in May, 1903, and in which the interests of the people of Ohio had been concentrated. Mr. Ellis belongs to the class of men who must succeed, because they know no such word as "fail." He is thirty-eight years old, and a product of the State of Kentucky, being born in Covington. He obtained his education
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in the Cincinnati public schools, and he has spent most of his life in the Queen City. Mr. Ellis started into public life as a reporter on the Cincinnati Times Star and the Commercial Gazette, in 1886; and in 1887, at the age of twenty, became the city editor of the "Sun." A little later, desiring to finish his education, he left newspaper work and entered the Wash- ington Lee University of Virginia. He also took the law course at this university, won the law scholarship and graduated with the honors of his class. Returning to practice law in Cincinnati, Mr. Ellis accepted the position of managing editor of the Tribune, and at the consolidation of the Tribune with the Com- mercial Gazette, he became managing editor of the new Commercial Tribune, which latter position he held until 1897, when he was appointed First Assistant Corporation Counsel of Cincinnati. He served in that capacity for three years under Mr. Ellis G. Kinkead, and for two and a half years under Mr. Charles J. Hunt, resigning on the Ist of January, 1903, to enter private practice. Prior to the extraor- dinary session of the Legislature, in 1902, Governor Nash requested Mr. Ellis and Mr. Nicholas Longworth to assist him in framing the new code for the government of the munici- palities of the State. This work gained for Mr. Ellis a wide reputation throughout the State. At the Republican State Convention, held in June, 1903, in the city of Columbus, Mr. Ellis was nominated by acclamation for the office of Attorney General. His election followed in November of the same year. WADE H. ELLIS Attorney General Ellis has for many years been an earnest and effective advocate of Republican principles. He has been a member of the Blaine Club since 1895, and also of the Stamina Republican League. He resides in Cincinnati.
George H. Jones,
First Assistant Attorney General of Ohio, located at Columbus, was born on the 30th of June, 1857, at Portsmouth, Ohio. His father, David D. Jones, was engaged in the grocery business for many years in that city, and he, as well as his wife, Mrs. Margarth (Griffith) Jones, were natives of Wales. Both came over to this country when very young. The son, George H. Jones, obtained his education at the city of his birth, and later entered the Cin- cinnati Law School, from which institution he graduated in 1877, with the degree of L. B. Starting in public life at the age of twenty-one years as a lawyer, he became associated with that eminent jurist of Portsmouth, Colonel Henry Ewing Jones, with whom he remained for a number of years. In politics Mr. Jones has always been an active and aggressive . Republican, and has served his party in many capacities. In the year of 1883 he was appointed a member of the United States Shipping Commission, Puget Sound, Washington. Remaining there a number of years, he became a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion, which met in the year of 1889 to frame the first Constitution of the new State of
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Washington. During his stay in the Northwest he was made President of the School Board at Port Townsend, Washington. In 1898, President Mckinley appointed him special United States Attorney at Washington, D. C. Two years later, Mr. Jones returned to his native State, located at Columbus, and became a member of the law firm of Jones & Kinney, with offices in the Spahr Building. When Mr. Sheets was elected Attorney General of the State of Ohio he appointed Mr. Jones First Assistant Attorney General. During his incumbency many important cases came before him, requiring the keenest attention and careful study. That his efforts were appreciated is proven by the fact that upon the election of Attorney General Ellis, Mr. Jones was reappointed to the office which he so ably filled under Mr. Ellis' predecessor. Mr. Jones has taken an active part in the military affairs of the country and while in the State of Washington, was Captain in the militia. On the 25th of October, 1883, he was united in marriage to Ada B. Finch. His official headquarters are in the Capitol Building, Columbus, Ohio.
Smith W. Bennett,
Special Counsel in the department of the Attorney General of Ohio, is a man of extraor- dinary ability, who undoubtedly has a brilliant career before him. His relation to the department has been a unique one. It was for Mr. Bennett, and to fit the terms of his employ- ment, and to define his duties, that the Legislature created the title "Special Counsel." While acting under the general direction of the Attorney General there have been assigned to him some of the most difficult cases originated in the office. These cases have taken him before all the higher courts, State and Federal, including the highest of all. This rigid test of his ability has not diminished the consider- able reputation which was his when he received his appointment. It was his efficient work in the department of the Attorney General which influenced Governor Nash, himself a lawyer, to select Mr. Bennett as a member of the "Governor's Committee," to draft the munici- pal code, a committee of which no other State officer was a member. Mr. Bennett's acquaint- ance with municipal law made his assistance invaluable in creating the original draft of the code, which the Governor recommended to the Legislature. During the special session of the Legislature, in 1902, Mr. Bennett was called upon time and again by the Code Committee of Senate and House for argument and con- ferences. After the enactment of the code SMITH W. BENNETT the Attorney General assigned to Mr. Bennett the not always easy, but decidedly exacting labor of construing for the benefit of city and village officers and Councilmen the numerous mooted points in the new omnibus charter for municipalities. Mr. Bennett is a native of Pennsylvania. He was born in Apollo, Armstrong County, on the 8th of May, 1859. His parents moved to Bucyrus, Crawford County, Ohio, when he was four years old, and this
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city has been his home ever since. After receiving his education in the schools of Bucyrus, Mr. Bennett read law with Congressman S. R. Harris, of Bucyrus, and was admitted to the Bar in 1882, after which he immediately took up the practice of his profession. He had not long to wait for recognition, for two years later he was invited to form a partnership by General E. B. Finley, a connection which lasted thirteen years. During the last four years of this period Judge Thomas Beer was also a partner, under the firm name of Finley, Beer & Bennett. On the Ist of May, 1898, Mr. Bennett entered the Attorney General's office to assume charge of special litigation under Attorney General Monnett, and he was reap- pointed by Attorney Generals Sheet and Ellis. A lawyer to his finger tips, Mr. Bennett's interest in his profession has made him an active, working member of the State Bar Asso- ciation, of which he was Secretary in 1901 and 1902. In 1901 he read before this association a notable paper on "The Operation of the Double Stock Liability in Ohio." It was the first forcible attack on the bad effect of the double liability provision of the State Constitution, and as such commanded general attention throughout the State. It bore fruit also, for it resulted in the adoption by the Legislature of the resolution to submit to the voters the question of amending the constitution and to throw out this highly detrimental section which has driven millions of Ohio capital to incorporate in foreign States. The resolution, endorsed by the Republican and Democratic State Conventions, was adopted by the people in the fall election of 1903. Mr. Bennett was also in the front of the agitation for the relief of the individual tax payer from the burden of supporting the State Government. In politics, Mr. Bennett has been a Republican of unswerving loyalty. His office is located in the new part of the State Building, at Columbus, Ohio.
Edmund A. Jones,
State School Commissioner of Ohio, is one of the distinguished educators of the State, and for over a quarter of a century he was at the head of the public schools of Massillon, of which city he is an honored and influential citizen. Mr. Jones is a New Englander by birth and an Ohioan by adoption, and was born on the IIth of February, 1842, at Rock- ville, Massachusetts, the son of Elisha Adams and Rhoda Ellis Jones. His great-grandfather was Simpson Jones, a native of Medway, Massachusetts, and an agriculturist by occu- pation. Elisha Adams Jones, the grandfather of the School Commissioner, was born in Mas- sachusetts in 1781 and died in 1860. He was well educated, taught school for many years, and in later life was a farmer. He was prom- inent in his community and served as a Captain of the Massachusetts militia. The father of Mr. Edmund A. Jones was born in October, 1815, and died in October, 1899. He was also a teacher, and followed farming. Rhoda Ellis, EDMUND A. JONES the professor's mother, was born in Medway, Massachusetts, in 1820, and was the daughter of Moses Ellis, also a native of Massachusetts and a descendant of one of the old families of that commonwealth. She was a lady of more
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than ordinary intelligence and education, having been a student of the old Bradford Acad- emy. Her death occurred in 1873. Mr. Edmund A. Jones received his early education in the common schools, and was fitted for college at Mt. Hollis Academy. In 1860 he entered Amherst College, where he pursued his studies for two years, leaving the college in the fall of 1862 to enlist in Company B, Forty-second Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry. With this regiment he was sent first to New Orleans to join Banks' expedition. The first battle he participated in was Bayou La Fourche, in June, 1863, in which engagement he was seriously wounded in the left shoulder. While the wound was most painful and needed attention, he was compelled to remain on duty for three days thereafter, before he was ordered to New Orleans to have it properly dressed. He held the rank of Fifth Sergeant, and was recommended by his Lieutenant Colonel for promotion for meritorious service. In July, 1863, he was honorably discharged and mustered out of service at Boston, when he resumed his studies at Amherst College, graduating from this institution in 1865 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Three years later he received the degree of Master of Arts. While at Amherst he was President of the Sophomore class of '64, and of the Senior class of '65. Mr. Jones began his educational work in 1865 as professor of Latin and gymnastic instructor at Lake Forest, Illinois. At the close of his second year he was made Assistant Principal, and so continued until the fourth year, when he was advanced to the post of Principal of the Academy. In October, 1869 he came to Massillon, as Superintendent of the city schools, in which position he served for four years. He then resigned to accept a similar position at Marietta, Ohio, to which he had been elected without solicitation on his part, and without ever having even met a member of the Board of Education of that city. But so pleased had been the people of Massillon with his administration of school affairs in their city that, in 1875, he was elected and induced to accept the Superintendency at this place again, and from that time on has continued at the head of the city schools, his administration proving so uniformly successful and satisfactory that he has been re-elected from time to time, practically without opposition. For ten or twelve years Mr. Jones was a member of the Board of Examiners of Stark County, and was President of the Board several years. In 1889 he was elected Principal of the West Cleveland High School at an advanced salary, but the Massillon Board of Education, unwilling to relinquish him, promptly met the raise, and retained his services. Mr. Jones was a member of the Ohio State Board of Examiners from 1887 to 1895. He assisted in the organization of the State Teachers' Reading Circle in 1883, and for several years was Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer. He has been a member of the Board of Control continuously to the present time. He is a member of the Ohio Teachers' Association, and in 1892 was President of the same. He has been Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Charity Rotch School for many years, and Treasurer of the McClymonds Public Library. He has been a trustee of the Presbyterian Church for twenty years or more; also an Elder, and for more than a quarter of a century was Superintendent of the Sunday School. He is an active member and Past Commander of Hart Post, No. 134, Grand Army of the Republic, and has been President of the Stark County Soldiers' Relief Commission for sixteen years. He was a delegate to the Grand Army of the Republic National Convention at Boston in 1890. He helped to organize the Massillon Board of Trade, and has served as its Secretary from the time of its organi- zation. On June 4, 1903, Mr. Jones received the Republican nomination for State Com- missioner of Common Schools. In November of the same year he was elected by a plurality of 117,169, receiving the largest vote ever given a candidate for that office. On the 23d of December, 1873, Mr. Jones married Flora Richards, who was born in Massillon. She was
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a daughter of Warren C. and Helen (Ford) Richards. One son, Walter Elisha was born, on the 4th of March, 1883. There was also a daughter, Flora Ellis, born in December, 1879, but who died the same year. The son graduated from the Massillon High School, afterward attending the Hudson Preparatory School and Amherst College, from which he graduated in June, 1904. Mr. Jones has long been a popular lecturer before county insti- tutes and teachers' associations. In June, 1903, he received the degree of Doctor of Philos- ophy from the Ohio University at Athens.
Joseph Hugh Snyder,
Assistant State School Commissioner of Ohio, and an educator of great prominence, was born on the 16th of December, 1852, at West Massillon, Indiana. Both his parents were natives of this country, his father, Dr. Joseph Snyder, being born in Pennsylvania, and his mother, Eliza Smith Snyder, in the Buckeye State. Mr. Snyder obtained a very careful education. He is a graduate from the Ohio Central College, located at Iberia, where he completed his course of study, receiving the degree of B. S. in 1882. Heidelberg Uni- versity, at Tiffin, Ohio, later conferred upon him the degree of A. M. During all his active life, Mr. Snyder has been closely identified with the educational interests of the State of Ohio, and has filled a number of responsible positions. He was made principal of the High School at Crestline, Ohio, in 1878, holding this position until 1884, when he took charge of the Superintendency of the public schools of JOSEPH HUGH SNYDER Mt. Gilead, Ohio. Here he remained for a period of six years, during which time the schools of that city were raised to a standard of high efficiency. From 1890 to 1900, Mr. Snyder was Superintendent of the public schools of Tiffin, Ohio, and later he occupied the same position in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, resigning same at the close of the school year of 1904. On the IIth of July, 1904, Mr. Snyder assumed the duties of his present position as Assistant State School Commissioner, which place was tendered to him by the present School Commis- sioner, Mr. E. A. Jones. For a period of six years Mr. Snyder was a member of the Mor- row County Board of School Examiners. He is interested also in mercantile affairs, being Vice President of the Tiffin Art Metal Company, manufacturers of steel ceilings and orna- mental iron work. In politics, Mr. Snyder is a firm believer in the principles of the Repub- lican party, and has on different occasions taken an active interest in the affairs of his party. Socially, he belongs to the different branches of Masonry; he is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a Knight Templar. On the 11th of May, 1876, he was married to Miss Mary Fate, who died on the 28th of June, 1902, leaving one daughter, Aura G. Snyder, who is now the wife of Mr. George C. Kalbfleisch, of Tiffin. Mr. Snyder's office is located in the State Capitol, Columbus, Ohio.
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Charles Burleigh Galbreath,
Was born in Fairfield Township, Columbiana County, February 25, 1858. His early life was spent on the farm. At the age of seventeen he began teaching in the rural schools. In June of 1879 he completed a course in the Lisbon High School and in September of the same year entered Mt. Union College, from which he was graduated in 1883. Later this institution conferred upon him the degree of A. M. He was Superintendent of the Wilmot (Ohio) schools from 1883 to 1885, when he resigned to accept the Superintendency of the East Palestine (Ohio) schools, where he remained eight years. Although unanimously re-elected for two years more, he resigned to accept a position in Mt. Hope College, and was later promoted to the Presidency of that institution. While in East Palestine he was for two years editor of "The Reveille," now "The Reveille Echo." While teaching he fre- quently did institute work. He was School Examiner of Columbiana County from 1885 to 1893. In 1886 he was granted a life certificate by the State Board of Examiners. In 1896 he was elected State Librarian by the Library Commission created by the Seventy-second General Assembly. Since entering upon the duties of his present position, a number of changes have been inaugurated in the manage- ment of the State Library. It is now open on CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH equal terms to all citizens of the State. A system of traveling libraries has been organ- ized and these collections of books have been sent to patronizing communities in every county of Ohio. Among all the States of the Union Ohio leads in the number of traveling libraries issued. Within the period of his adminis- tration the number of volumes in the State Library has more than doubled. He is a member of the Ohio Library Association, the American Library Association, and the National Asso- ciation of State Librarians. Of the last-named organization he was President in 1900. He is a life member of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society. Under the direction of Colonel Ethan Allen, of New York, Mr. Galbreath, in 1897, organized the Columbus Branch of the Cuban League of America, of which he was Secretary. This League, which was organized for the purpose of aiding the Cubans, had two thousand members in Columbus, and was active in the advocacy of armed intervention just before the Spanish-American War. Mr. Galbreath is author of the following books and monographs: "Sketches of Ohio Libraries," "First Newspaper in Ohio," "Daniel Decatur Emmett, Author of 'Dixie,'" "Samuel Lewis, Ohio's Militant Educator and Reformer," "Alexander Coffman Ross, Author of 'Tippecanoe and Tyler too,'" and "Benjamin Russel Hanby, Author of 'Darling Nellie Gray.'" He has written other sketches and has contributed to library and educa- tional journals.
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Isaac B. Cameron,
Of Lisbon, Columbiana County, under the Nash administration Treasurer of State, was born in the city of Nairn, Scotland. When he was yet an infant, his widowed mother emigrated to America, to better her condition and provide greater facilities for the educa- tion of her family, of which the subject of this sketch was the youngest of six, believing that in so doing she could afford them more abundant opportunities for success in life. Upon arriving in this country the family located on a farm in Jefferson County, a short distance south of Salineville, removing thence about the year 1855 into the village. Here the children of the family were reared. Young Cameron attended the public schools there and graduated from the Iron City Business College in Pittsburg. At an early age he accepted a position as a bookkeeper for a local mercantile firm, where he remained until 1874. His busi- ness abilities soon advanced him to a partner- ship in the business, which was successfully conducted until 1880, when Mr. Cameron became the sole owner, after which the busi- ness continued to grow and prosper until 1893, when he was elected Treasurer of Columbiana County by the largest majority ever given to any candidate for any office in that county up to that time. He was re-elected in 1895. The business system he introduced and enforced during the four years of his incumbency in that office established a standard and created a ISAAC B. CAMERON model worthy the emulation of all public officers. When, in 1898, the First National Bank at Lisbon was declared to be insolvent, Mr. Cameron having but a short time previously retired from the office of County Treasurer, was the unanimous choice alike of the creditors and stockholders for appointment as receiver, such was their confidence in his ability to disentangle the labyrinth of complications result- ing from the reckless conduct of its affairs upon the part of its management. In this work he was engaged for more than a year, during which time he brought order out of chaos. He succeeded in fixing the responsibility for the failure of the bank, and also the books were miserably kept and outrageously falsified, he obtained judgments in every suit brought by him, having for its object the recovery of funds belonging to the wrecked institution, thus proving the wisdom of those interested in their selection of him for receiver. Mr. Cameron was nominated for the office of Treasurer of State at the Republican State Convention, held in the city of Columbus on the 2d of June, 1899, on the first ballot, and he was elected in November, 1899, by a large majority. He was inducted into office on the first Monday in January, 1900, since which time he has completely remodeled the interior of the office and inaugurated a much-needed system for expediently and safely conducting the large volume of business of the department, which aggregates in receipts and disbursements many millions of dollars annually. In order that the funds of the State might be safely cared for, and the securities required by law be deposited with the Treasurer of State might be
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