USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 33
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properly classified and securely stored, Mr. Cameron planned and has had constructed in the Treasurer's Office a large steel vault, made by skilled workmen of the best material known to the art and weighing some twenty tons. In this vault he has built for the storage of bonds and other securities steel filing cases, all the compartments of which are so numbered and lettered that, in connection with a card index system installed by him, any security or paper of value entrusted to his keeping may be easily located and readily produced. At the Republican State Convention in 1901, Mr. Cameron was nominated by acclamation for Treasurer of State for a second term and again elected in November. Mr. Cameron has been one of the prominent leaders of his party in Columbiana County for many years. After his second term of office Mr. Cameron retired to private life. Mr. Cameron is a thirty- second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, a member of the I. O. O. F., a K. of P. and an Elk.
Charles Cameron Green,
Cashier of the State Treasury, was born and reared in Columbiana County, Ohio, his birth occurring on the 6th of April, 1873, in the village of Salineville. His father was acci- dentally killed on the Ist of September, 1877, leaving destitute his widow and three small children. She removed immediately to East Liverpool, where, by her daily earnings in a factory for the manufacture of pottery, she was enabled by heroic efforts to hold the children together and give them each the benefit of a few years in the public schools. At the age of twelve years Charles was serving as messenger and office boy in the office of the Knowles, Tayler & Knowles Pottery Company at East Liverpool, where he remained for eight years, having been promoted from time to time, until his experience had embraced the usual routine of their office duties, he having assisted at various times in each of the office departments. He left the employ of the Knowles Company CHARLES CAMERON GREEN in September, 1893, for the purpose of attend- ing school. Later he served as chief clerk in the Boyce Foundry and Machine Works, at East Liverpool, until he accepted the cashiership of the Columbiana County Treasury, under Treasurer-elect I. B. Cameron, where he remained as cashier and confidential clerk for five years and four months, discharging faith- fully every trust reposed in him, to the entire satisfaction of his employer and the taxpayers in general. His appointment to the situation of cashier of the State Treasury came unso- licited from Treasurer of State Cameron, his former employer. He was reappointed to the same position by Treasurer Mckinnon, after that gentleman took charge of the office in 1904. Mr. Greene is a member of the Elks, I. O. O. F. and F. & A. M.
Elmer G. Biddison,
Of Athens, Ohio, who during the administration of Governor Nash filled the important office of Chief Inspector of Mines of Ohio, was born in Monroe Township, Perry County, Ohio, on the 23d of October, 1863. His early life was spent on a farm located in Trimble
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Township, Athens County, and he received his early education in the schools of that town- ship. In the year 1880 the development of the Sunday Creek Valley coal fields was begun, and Mr. Biddison, being desirous of securing a better education than that afforded in the country schools, engaged in work at the coal mines with a view of being better able to earn means to accomplish his purpose. Enough funds were earned through laboring in the mines and in other vocations to defray his expenses for three years' schooling at the Ohio University, at Athens, Ohio. After he had finished his education, in 1887, Mr. Biddison engaged in mining engineering, and followed that vocation until the Ist of December, 1891, at which time he was elected County Surveyor of Athens County. He served in this capacity for a period of six years. At the expiration of his term of office, Mr. Biddison was elected Treasurer of Athens County, holding that position for four years. On the Ist of May, 1900, Mr. Biddison was appointed Chief Inspector of Mines by Governor George K. Nash, and for four years he filled that position with marked success. He is a stalwart Repub- lican, and lives with his family in Athens, of which pretty city he is one of the most respected and esteemed citizens.
Orrin B. Gould,
Warden of the Ohio Penitentiary, was appointed to that position to succeed the late Warden Hershey, by unanimous vote of the Board of Managers of that institution, in the fall of 1904. Mr. Gould is one of the best-known Republicans in the State, and Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee. He is a native of Scioto County, Ohio, being born and raised in that part of the State, where he also holds large interests in industrial and business enterprises. For a number of years he has acted as President of the Wellston City Council, but other than that he has never accepted any political position of preferment, notwithstanding his prominence in politics, save that of the office mentioned above. Mr. Gould has dominated the politics of Jackson County for many years, and without any ques- tion is one of the most influential men in the Tenth Congressional District of Ohio. He is a man of commanding physique, good natured, large hearted, and at the same time a man of remarkable aggressiveness and stability of character. Mr. Gould is the owner of two farms in Scioto County, the management of which has been given the same careful atten- tion which has been evidenced in all affairs of his active life. Mr. Gould is happily married and lives with his interesting family in Well- ston, Jackson County, Ohio, while his offices are located in the State Prison at Colum- ORRIN B. GOULD bus, Ohio.
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Jacob F. Burket,
Has been a familiar figure in Ohio for many years, owing to his prominent connection with the Bench and Bar of the State. For over thirty years he was an attorney in active practice in Findlay, and from the 9th of February, 1893, until the 9th of February, 1904, he was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. His family is of Swiss origin, the name there being spelled B-u-r-k-h-a-r-d-t. In 1758 his great-grandparents came to America from Basel, Switzerland (where the family has resided since 1490), accompanied by their son John, at that time about four years old, and afterwards grandfather of Jacob F. Burket. They settled at, or near, Reading, Pennsylvania. John Burkhardt grew to manhood at that place and on the Ist of November, 1778, at Reading, Pennsylvania, he joined Von Heer's Light Dragoons, which were organized under a special act of the Continental Congress as a body guard, or life guard, for General Washington, and served in that capacity until the close of the war. John Burkhardt, after the close of the war, married Barbara Fox at Reading, Pennsylvania. After her death he married Catherine Fox, a sister, and by the two wives was the father of eighteen children, among the younger of whom was a son named Solomon, who was born on the 4th of November, 1806, and was the father of Jacob F. Burket. The family name of Burkhardt in the transition from the German to the English was pro- nounced, and became, Burket. This change occurred about the year 1800. Solomon Burket married Mary Brehm, who was born on the 21st of October, 1799, at Green Castle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. She was a daughter of George Brehm, who was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 13th of January, 1773, and Margaret (Myer) Brehm, who was born on the 22d of March, 1772, at, or near, Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She died in Perry County, Ohio, on the 20th of June, 1849. The Brehm family originally came from Bremen, Germany. George Brehm was the son of Philip and Catherine Brehm, and was the grandson of George Christopher and Anna Margaret Brehm. George Christopher Brehm landed at Philadelphia in the ship Edinburg and qualified under the laws of the colony of Pennsylvania on the 15th of September, 1751. George Brehm, the grandfather of Jacob F. Burket, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was at Ft. Findlay, Ohio, during his service. He died on the IIth of January, 1857. Both George Brehm and his wife, Margaret (Myer) Brehm are buried in the family burial ground on their old farm in Reading Township, Perry County, Ohio. Jacob F. Burket was born in Perry County, Ohio, on the old Brehm farm, three miles south of Somerset, on the 25th of March, 1837. His father, Solo- mon Burket, resided in Perry County, Ohio, until 1838, when he removed to Han- cock County, twelve miles southwest of the city of Findlay, where he resided and cleared a farm. He died on the 6th day of March, 1847. In chopping, he cut his foot and his death was caused by blood poisoning. He left a widow and nine children, of whom Jacob F. was the youngest boy. When the family removed to Hancock County, that region was new, and the only means of education were the country schools of those times, which Jacob attended, and had attained what was regarded as a good country education, when, at the age of seventeen, he took up his residence with his brother-in-law, Jacob Folk, at Findlay, and worked with him at carpentering for over a year, attending school in the winter. He then taught school in winters, attending the High School at Findlay during the spring and fall terms, and completed his education at the Seneca County Academy in 1859, that being then the best school in Northwestern Ohio. After getting through school, he commenced reading law in the office of Judge John M. Palmer. Shortly thereafter James A. Bope formed a partnership with Judge Palmer, and Mr. Burket continued in the office of Palmer & Bope for nearly one year, when he entered the law office of Goit & Browns and read with them until he was admitted to the bar, on the Ist of July, 1861. In the fall
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of 1861 he moved to Ottawa, Putnam County, Ohio, and began the practice of law there, but in April, 1862, he came back to Findlay and opened a law office, and in the fall of the same year he and Hon. Henry Brown formed a partnership for the practice of law as Brown & Burket. This firm continued until the Ist of May, 1869, and had a very extensive business for those years. After the dissolution of the firm of Brown & Burket, he continued the practice of law by himself until the Ist of January, 1888, when his son, Harlan F., became associated with him, under the firm name of Burket & Burket, and that firm continued until he took his seat on the Supreme Bench of Ohio, on the 9th day of February, 1893, where he remained until the close of his second term, the 9th of February, 1904. His practice extended over a period of thirty-two years, and during that time he appeared as an attorney of record in the courts of over one-half of the counties in the State, as well as in the District, Circuit and Supreme Courts of the United States. His practice was varied, including all courts of record, and involving all manner of questions, so that he became what is known as an all- round lawyer, familiar with every branch of the law; but his later years at the bar were taken up mostly with railroad and other corporation practice. His opinions as a Judge of the Supreme Court are found in Volumes 50 to 69, both inclusive, of the Ohio State Reports.
On the 6th day of August, 1859, he was married to Miss Pamy D. Walters in Lenawee County, Michigan. She died on the 6th of June, 1900, aged sixty-one years and two months. Their family consisted of six children, five boys and one girl. Harlan F., Charles O. and John F. are attorneys. Will J. died on the 27th of July, 1902. Reginald Burket is teller in the American National Bank, of Findlay, and L. W. Eoff, the husband of the only daughter, Lillie B., is cashier of the same bank.
After retiring as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Judge Burket formed a part- nership with his sons, Harlan F. and John F., who were practicing up to that time under the firm name of Burket & Burket, and the present firm name is Burket, Burket & Burket.
In politics Judge Burket is a Republican, and has always supported the nominees of that party. He was chosen Elector on the Garfield and Arthur ticket in 1880, and still retains the tickets cast by him for those candidates in the Electoral College at Columbus on the 7th of December, 1880. Judge Burket is a member of the Lutheran Church, the Society of the Sons of American Revolution, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He served as Grand Master of the Odd Fellows in Ohio from May, 1882, to May, 1883, and has also served six years as Representative in the Grand Lodge of Ohio. Judge Burket was a director of the First National Bank of Findlay for many years, and also its attorney. In 1887 he organized the American National Bank of Findlay, and was elected its President, which position he still retains. He is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association and also of the American Bar Association. He resides with his family at 521 West Sandusky Street in the city of Findlay, in a fine residence surrounded by large and beautiful grounds.
Paul Fischer,
Of Columbus, Ohio, State Veterinarian, was born on the 19th of January, 1869, in the city of Cincinnati. His father, Julius Fischer, was a leaf tobacco merchant in that city, and like his mother, Julia Floto-Fischer, was a native of Germany, who emigrated to this coun- try from Hannover in 1848. The mother came from Cassel, and crossed the Atlantic in 1859. Mr. Paul Fischer was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati; the Ohio State Univer- sity, at Columbus, Ohio; the Royal Veterinary Colleges of Hannover, Dresden, the Imperial Veterinary College at Berlin, and the Charite Hospital of Berlin. He studied under the famous Prof. Dr. Robert Koch and Prof. Dr. Paul Ehrlich. Mr. Fischer holds the degrees of B. Sc. and D. V. M. from the Ohio State University, from which institution he graduated
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in 1891 and 1892. Dr. Fischer has held many important positions in the service of the States of Ohio and Kansas. He was assistant under Prof. H. J. Detmers, of the O. S. U., from 1892 to 1895; Professor of Agriculture and Veterinary Science at the Agricultural College of Utah from 1895 to 1897; Professor of Vet- erinary Science and Biology at the Kansas Agricultural College, and Veterinarian of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station from 1897 to 1900; Bacteriologist of the Kansas State Board of Health, and Honorarv Veteri- narian of the Kansas State Board of Agricul- ture ; State Veterinarian of Kansas from 1897 to 1900; Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the Ohio State University from 1900 to 1903, and State Veterinarian of Ohio, which position he holds at the present time, being an incum- bent in that office since 1902. His duties are PAUL FISCHER control of infectious and contagious diseases of live stock of the State, and control of traffic in animals, as far as this is necessary to prevent the introduction of diseases of animals into the State, or from any part of the State to another. Dr. Fischer became a benedict on the 22d of December, 1897, when he was united in marriage to Miss Loretta Smith, of Loveland, Ohio. Ilis residence is located at Arlington, Columbus, and his office in the Capitol Building, with the State Board of Live Stock Commissioners, Columbus, Ohio.
Edward Davenport Howard,
Attorney at law, at Columbus, Ohio, and Chief Clerk to the Secretary of State, is a native of the county in which he makes his home. He was born on the ist of March, 1868, on a farm in Blendon Township, Franklin County, the son of Mitchell C. Howard and Kate Thompson Howard, both natives of Franklin County, Ohio. Senator Howard received his education in the district schools of his native county, at Central College Acad- emy, at Otterbein University and at the Ohio State University, from which latter university he graduated in 1894, receiving the degree of Master of Laws. After leaving Otterbein Col- lege, Senator Howard secured a position in the city passenger and ticket department of the I., B. & W. R. R. at Columbus; later he was transferred successively to the same depart- ments in the B. & O. and the Big Four, and to the advertising department of the C., B. & Q.
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EDWARD DAVENPORT HOWARD
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R. R., at Chicago. While in the employ in the railroad offices he made a constant and diligent study of law, and was admitted to the bar just prior to his graduation from the Ohio State University in 1894, having resigned his position to complete his studies uninterrupt- edly. In November, 1894, Senator Howard was appointed Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of Franklin County, and as such, during the next three years, he took part in the most important litigation that ever occurred in that county. At the conclusion of his term of office he took up the practice of his profession, which has proved to be a very successful one. Senator Howard has always been an earnest, faithful worker in the ranks of the Republican party, and is a prominent factor among the Republicans of the Capital City. In August, 1899, the nomination for Senator, representing the Tenth District, composed of the counties of Franklin and Pickaway, was unanimously tendercd him by the Republican Senatorial convention, and his election over the usual Democratic majority in the district was a convincing proof of his availability as a candidate. Being the youngest member of the Senate of the Seventy-fourth General Assembly in point of age, he enjoyed the dis- tinction of being the second Republican to be elected to the Senate in all the history of the Tenth Senatorial District. While a member of the Senate Mr. Howard rendered valuable services as chairman and member of a number of important committees. In May, 1902, Senator Howard was appointed to his present position in the office of the Secretary of State by Mr. Laylin, to succeed Judge Allread, who entered upon his duties as Judge of the Common Pleas Court.
George Elmer Wood,
Editor and proprietor of the Bellevue News at Bellevue, Ohio, and Stationery Clerk in the office of the Secretary of State, was born on the 3d of August, 1860, in Walworth County, Wisconsin. His parents, John G. Wood, and Almira C. (Mills) Wood, were natives of New York. Mr. Wood comes from sturdy New England stock. His grandfather. Archelaus Wood, was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and took part under General George Washington in the campaign at Valley Forge. Mr. George E. Wood received his education in the common schools and at the Iowa State College at Ames, Iowa. When he had reached the age of twenty-one he began his political career as Recorder of Monticello, Iowa. For a number of years he followed the professions of teaching and law. A Republican all his active life, Mr. Wood has taken a prominent part in the work of his party, and has been honored for his services by many positions of trust. While living at Monticello, Iowa, he GEORGE ELMER WOOD was elected Justice of the Peace, in 1882, when he was but twenty-two years of age. In 1884 he was appointed Deputy County Recorder and acting County Recorder of Jones County, Iowa. In 1885 he was elected County Super- intendent of Schools in the same county. In this capacity he was of an incalculable value
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to the schools of Jones County, and started a new era of usefulness for them. Ever since that time he has been accorded the credit of putting the schools there on a higher and more efficient level. Coming to Ohio in 1888, he settled in Bellevue, and became the pro- prietor of the Bellevue News, which he has ever since published. He established a daily edition of this paper recently, and it has been accorded a generous welcome by the people of Bellevue and vicinity.
Secretary of State Laylin appointed him to his present position as Stationery Clerk in his office, which position he has ably filled for the last four years. His duties in that office are to purchase and dispense the stationery, paper and supplies used by the various State departments of Ohio. He is well and favorably known in many fraternal circles, belonging to the various Masonic bodies, including the order of the Knight Templars and the Scot- tish Rite Consistory (thirty-second degree). He is also a member of the Mystic Shrine and the K. of P. He is a Past Master of the Masonic "Blue Lodge," Past T. I. M. of Masonic Council and Past Eminent Commander of Norwalk Commandery. He was married to Miss Jessie Denison, of Anamosa, Iowa, on the 29th of August, 1888.
Daniel J. Ryan,
Ex-Secretary of State and attorney at law at Columbus, Ohio, was born in Cincinnati on the Ist of January, 1855. His parents were born in Ireland and came to this country about 1850, settling in Cincinnati. They afterwards removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where young Ryan received his education in the public schools, passing through all the grades. He was graduated from the High School in 1875. For a year before leaving school he was entered as a law student in the office of Judge James W. Bannon, where he continued his studies after graduating. In February, 1877, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio. He at once commenced prac- tice alone at Portsmouth, and the following April was elected City Solicitor, and re-elected in 1879, serving until the spring of 1881. In 1883 he was elected member of the Ohio House of Representatives, and was re-elected in 1885. During his service he was Speaker pro tem and Chairman of the Committee of Public DANIEL J. RVAN Works. At the expiration of his legislative duties he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1888 he was elected Secretary of State of Ohio, and in 1890 re-elected for a second term. He resigned the office, however, in 1891, to accept the appointment of Commissioner in Chief for Ohio of the World's Columbian Exposition, the duties of which required his services until May, 1894. While Secretary of State he assisted in the compilation of Smith & Benedict's edition of the Revised Statutes of Ohio. He has since been engaged in his practice in Columbus. Mr. Ryan has always been a Republican. He was the first President of the Ohio Republican League, and presided in New York over the first convention of the Republican Clubs, which met in 1887. For many years Mr. Ryan has been one of the Trustees of the Ohio Historical Society. He was
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appointed by the Exhibitors' Association at the World's Fair as one of the commissioners to the Antwerp Exposition in 1894. Governor Mckinley appointed Mr. Ryan as delegate to the National Water Ways Convention, which met in Vicksburg in 1894. In the practice of law Mr. Ryan has been identified with many important cases in Ohio, which attracted attention both in and out of the State, among which might be mentioned the case touching the constitutionality of the abandonment of the Hocking Canal, and litigation relating to the Food Department of the State. On the 10th of January, 1884, Mr. Ryan was married to Myra L. Kerr, of Portsmouth, Ohio.
Charles Kinney,
Ex-Secretary of State of the State of Ohio, was born in Springville, Kentucky, on the 7th of July, 1850, the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Cox) Kinney. His father died in 1861, shortly after which he removed with his mother to Columbus, Indiana, where he received his primary education in the public schools, gradu- ating therefrom in 1866. While residing in Columbus he learned the trade of a printer, which occupation he followed until 1871, when the family removed to Portsmouth, Ohio. Here he engaged in various mercantile pursuits until 1877, when he was appointed Deputy Treas- urer of Scioto County ; was nominated by the Republican party of that county and elected County Treasurer in 1883, and re-elected in 1885. In 1889 he was appointed assistant to Secretary of State Daniel J. Ryan, of Ports- mouth, with whom he had been associated for a number of years. Mr. Kinney was nominated by the Republican party of Ohio as a candidate for Secretary of State, and elected in 1896, CHARLES KINNEY and re-elected in 1898, serving two terms of two years each. After his retirement from office in 1901 he formed a law partnership at Columbus, Ohio, with George H. Jones, formerly of Portsmouth, under the firm name of Jones & Kinney. Mr. Kinney was married, in 1879, to Letitia H. Yoakley, daughter of John Yoakley, of Portsmouth, Ohio.
Horace Ankeney,
The man of modesty and worth naturally shrinks from the task of writing a sketch of himself for a work of this kind, for the reason that, in writing of one's self, it is difficult to avoid even the appearance of egotism, hence the preparation of this sketch has devolved on another than the person concerned.
Horace Ankeney was born in Beaver Creek Township, Greene County, Ohio, on the IIth of February, 1850. His father, Samuel Ankeney, was a Marylander and his mother, Margaret Gettard, an Ohioan. They are both deceased. The father was an admirer of Horace Mann, when that great educator was connected with Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio. He also admired Horace Greeley, and for years was a constant reader of
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