USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 39
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William S. Harris,
Member of the Senate of the Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixth General Assemblies from the Twenty-fourth-Twenty-sixth Districts, is a man of wide experience in legislative mat- ters, of sound judgment and good common sense. His Senatorial District comprises the counties of Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga, Summit and Portage, in the extreme northeastern portion of the State of Ohio. Senator Harris is a product of the Buckeye State, born at Saybrook, Ashtabula County, on the 14th of February, 1846, the son of Rufus Harris and Louisa B. Simonds, natives of New York and Vermont. Senator Harris received his edu- cation in the district schools of his home township, after which he attended Grand River Institute, Austinburg, Ohio. He then took up farming as a vocation, being of the third generation of his family that lived on the farm where he now resides. His grandparents came to Saybrook as early as 1818, when the historic Western Reserve was still sparely settled. Senator Harris is a faithful and enthusiastic Republican, and has always taken an active interest in the affairs of his party. In November, 1893, he was elected to the Seventy- first General Assembly, and re-elected in 1895, so that he came to the Senate in 1902 with
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four years' valuable experience in the lower House. While a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Harris was a member of the standing committees on County Affairs and Taxation, and introduced (in 1896) a Local Option Bill and other measures. As a member of the Senate he belonged to the Committees on Agriculture, Taxation, Common Schools, Privileges and Elections, and was Chairman of the important Finance Committee. He intro- duced, among other bills, a measure for the reconstruction of the Ohio canals. After the death of the lamented Marcus A. Hanna, when Charles Dick was elected to the place of his distinguished predecessor in the United States Senate, Senator Harris delivered a masterful speech in the Senate, nominating General Dick to his high office. Senator Harris was married to Miss Harriet M. Walker at Saybrook, Ohio, on the 24th of January, 1878.
WILLIAM S. HARRIS
Orla E. Harrison,
A striking instance of the influence of the young man in politics, and what can be accomplished by an unselfish devotion to public duty is shown in the career of Hon. O. E. Harrison, of Greenville, Darke County,
ORLA E. HARRISON
Ohio, one of the youngest members of the Senate of the Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixth General Assemblies. He had a grasp of State affairs not surpassed by any of his colleagues, and his influence was always directed toward the enactment of good laws. He had much to do with framing the laws known as the taxation scheme of the Nash Administration, and the school code of the Seventy-sixth General Assembly. The popularity of Senator Har- rison before the people was shown in the suc- cess of his campaigns for the Senate, he twice carrying a district always before Democratic by big majorities. Senator Harrison is a Darke County product, born there in 1873. He received his education in the public schools of Greenville and the National Normal Univer- sity, graduating from the last-named institution with the degree of Bachelor of Science. For five years after graduation he taught school with great success, afterward serving as Prin- cipal of the Franklin High School. He read law with Judge James I. Allread in Greenville,
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and was admitted to the bar in 1897, becoming a member of the law firm of Allread, Tee- gardin & Harrison, one of the leading legal firms in Greenville. Senator Harrison has always taken a great interest in public affairs, serving for some time as the Secretary of the Darke County Agricultural Society. He is Past Chancellor Commander of Lodge No. 161, Knights of Pythias, of Greenville, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1898 he was married to Miss Virginia Eidson, daughter of the late Frank M. Eidson. While a member of the Senate of two General Assemblies, Senator Harrison was Chairman and member of a number of very important standing committees, and at all times he was diligent and faithful in the public's service, and his constituents were pleased with the record he made as their servant. Mr. Harrison is special counsel to the Attorney General of Ohio at the present time.
Lewis M. Hosea,
Judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati, is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Ohio, and a prominent member of the bar of Hamilton County. On his father's side he is of French Huguenot extraction, his ancestors settling in North Carolina about 1698. Shortly prior to the Revolution they removed to Boston, Mass., where Robert Hosea, father of Judge Hosea, was born in 1811. His grandfather brought his family across the mountains to Chillicothe about 1820, where Major Hosea's father was educated with Gov- ernor William Allen, the elder Pendletons, Waddells, and others since well known. The family removed to Cincinnati in the '30's, and the father owned and operated various steam- boats on Western and Southern waters. In 1844 he established the wholesale grocery house of Hosea & Frazer, for many years the leading business of its kind in the West. The mother of Major Hosea was of English ances- try, and descended from Sir William Black- stone. Her immediate ancestors came from Maine to Chillicothe, Ohio, and lived for a time in Alabama. In removing to Cincinnati, the parents of Major Hosea, being conscien- tiously opposed to slavery, brought with them several slaves whom they freed and who remained until death family pensioners. In 1861 the elder Hosea was Chairman of the Citizens' Committee to welcome and protect Mr. Lincoln, who spoke in Cincinnati on his way to Washington. Judge Hosea was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on the 16th of LEWIS M. HOSEA December, 1842, during the temporary sojourn of his parents at that place. They returned to Cincinnati when he was six months old, and he has always lived there. In April, 1861, while a student at Antioch College, Greene County, Ohio, he enlisted under the first call of President Lincoln, as a private in the Sixth Ohio Volunteers, but was soon commissioned as Lieutenant and later as Captain in the regular army, and served throughout the war in the field, participating in all the battles of the Army of the
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Cumberland, from Shiloh to Nashville. receiving official personal mention for gallantry in the battles of Perryville, Kentucky, and Chickamauga, Georgia. After the battles of Franklin and Nashville, he served with General James H. Wilson in the cavalry campaign resulting in the capture of Jeff Davis, and was commissioned Major by brevet "for gallantry at the battles of Selma and Georgia." In May, 1865, Major Hosea was sent through the Con- federate lines as a despatch bearer to report results of the campaign to Generals Grant and Sherman, the incident being mentioned by General Sherman in his memoirs and by General Cox in his posthumous book. He resigned from the military service in December, 1865. Judge Hosea has always been a Republican, and cast his first vote for the immortal Lincoln in 1864. In 1870 he was Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of Hamilton County by appoint- ment of the Court of Common Pleas, but afterwards declined all tenders for office until nominated for State Senator in 1901. After his retirement from the army Major Hosea graduated from the Cincinnati Law School, and entered upon the practice of his profession in 1868. He has in later years been principally engaged in practice in the Federal Courts and the United States Supreme Court, and as consulting counsel for manufacturing firms and corporations. He was for many years a director of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute and Chairman of its department of science and arts; he was Commissioner of the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Miami Medical College, and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1902 Major Hosea was Commander of the Loyal Legion of Ohio, also Commander of Encampment No. 41 of the Union Veteran Legion, and is now a member of Jones Post, G. A. R., and of Avon Lodge, F. & A. M. Upon taking his seat as Senator from Hamilton County at the opening of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly, Major Hosea at once took a leading position among his colleagues. Having spent some time abroad in the study of internal improve- ments and other questions of public interest, he opposed the abandonment of the canals and introduced the resolution providing for the public debate in joint session, that settled the attitude of the State in regard to these waterways. He was also Chairman of the joint committees that prepared the Mckinley Memorial Program in the House on the 29th of January, 1902, and one of the speakers on that occasion. In the Senate, Major Hosea was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and did excellent service, besides serving as a mem- ber on a number of other important committees. In April, 1903, Major Hosea was elected Judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati by a large majority.
Lewis B. Houck,
Attorney-at-law at Mount Vernon, Ohio, and member of the Senate of the Seventy-sixth General Assembly, representing the Seventeenth-Twenty-eighth joint district in that body, was born on the 19th day of April, 1867, at Bladensburg, Jackson Township, Knox County, Ohio. He is the son of Washington Houck, a leading merchant and pioneer citizen of Knox County, who came to Ohio in 1822 from Pennsylvania, his native State. The village of Bladensburg was laid out by him, and he later filled all local positions of trust in the com- munity of which he was the founder. He was the organizer of and an Elder in the Disciple Church, the first in the State, and which was founded in the above mentioned community in 1822. A man of a most kindly nature, coupled with indomitable will and energy, he easily held the foremost place in the affection of the people. Senator Lewis B. Houck received his early education in the country schools and the Normal School at Martinsburg. Later he entered Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio. The early age of fifteen finds him teaching school, and at the age of twenty he became Superintendent of Schools at Bladens- burg, which position he held for three years. He was appointed School Examiner of Knox
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County in 1888, and held that position for a period of nine years, during which time he was the youngest Examiner in the State. He was Clerk of Jackson Township from 1889 to 1895 ; member of the City Council from the Second Ward, Mount Vernon, from 1897 to 1903, and President of that body from 1901 to 1903. In the fall of the latter year he was elected to the position of State Senator, an office he filled with marked success. In political belief, Senator Houck is a Democrat, and is one of the most able and convincing orators of his party in the central part of the State. In many campaigns he has served his party faithfully, as well on the stump as in its councils. He took his seat in the Senate of the Seventy-sixth General Assembly when that body was organ- ized, and he soon became the recognized leader of the Democratic minority. His ability and energy was evidenced during the whole session of the Legislature, and he took an active interest in all the measures before that body. He introduced the following bills, all of which became laws: A marriage law, providing what persons shall be permitted to marry and the qualifications necessary to obtain a license ; defining duties of Chiefs of Police, and their compensations ; to provide for the payment of actual expenses of persons bitten or injured by mad dogs; to provide for a uniform system for the recording of real estate left by descent ; to provide for a record of wills devising real estate, as well as being the author of seven LEWIS B. HOUCK other bills of minor importance. He was a member of the following standing committees : Enrollment (Chairman), Common Schools, Colleges and Universities, Judiciary, Labor, Printing and Claims. Socially, Senator Houck is a member of many fraternal circles-a Mason, Knight Templar, K. of P., I. O. O. F., Royal Arcanum, K. G. E. and Red Men. On many occasions he has represented those orders in the Grand bodies. In the truest sense of the word he is a self-made man, as all the honors shown him have been received by his own efforts. On the 12th of December, 1894, Senator Houck was united in marriage to Arla B. Nicholls, and is the father of one child, Daniel Houck. Senator Houck is not a member of any church, but is a firm believer in the Christian doctrines and teachings of the Disciple Church as instilled in him by his parents. He resides in one of the finest residences in Mount Vernon, and has law offices located at III South Main Street, that city.
Oran F. Hypes,
A prominent business man of Springfield, Ohio, member of the House of Representa- tives of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly and State Senator in the Seventy-sixth General Assembly of Ohio, is a native of the State in which he resides. He was born on the 18th of December, 1862, in the city of Xenia, Ohio. His father, Samuel Henry Hypes, was also a native of Xenia, where the family had removed from Virginia. The paternal ancestors hailed from Bingen on the Rhine, emigrated to a farm near the Natural Bridge, Virginia,
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prior to the American Revolution, in which they took an active and honorable part. They were religious people, and identified with early Methodism. His mother, Hannah Van Brocklin Hypes, of Oneida, New York, was in her maiden days a teacher, having been educated at the Genesee (New York) Academy. Her parents were Garrett Van Brocklin, a native of Holland, and Regina Cooper, the latter being related to Peter Cooper and J. Fenimore Cooper. Mr. Oran F. Hypes received his education in the public schools of Xenia, Ohio, graduating from High School with the class of 1879. He holds the degree of A. B. In the same year he became associated in the hat business at Xenia with Captain Nelson A. Fulton, removing to Springfield in 1883, where shortly afterward he began busi- ness on his own account. He has ever since been actively identified with the business inter- ests of that city. Mr. Hypes has served officially with the Board of Trade and Com- mercial Club, and is a charter member and Vice President of the latter organization. He is a director of the Y. M. C. A. and President of the Board of Trustees of the Clark County Children's Home. Mr. Hypes comes from Whig-Republican ancestry, his own Repub- lican affiliation and service beginning before he had reached the voting age. With him Republicanism is a living issue. He believes ORAN F. HYPES not only in talking Republican doctrine, but in placing it into practical operation by assist- ing to arouse a voting interest among his people. In the fall of 1901 he was elected a mem- ber of the House of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly, representing Clarke County in a vigorous, business-like way. He was Chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Lands, a member of the Insurance Committee, and Secretary of the Taxation Committee that formulated and made into laws the important taxation legislation of that Assembly. At the extraordinary session Mr. Hypes was appointed by Speaker Mckinnon a member of the Special Code Committee to report a municipal code to the House. His services were of the most satisfactory character to the people. The result was that in 1903 Mr. Hypes was nominated and elected State Senator, representing the counties of Clarke, Champaign and Madison in the upper House of the Seventy-sixth General Assembly. In the Senate he served as Chairman of the Committee of Privileges and Elections; he was Secretary of the Committee on Finance, and a member of the Committees on Claims, City Affairs, Banks and Banking, Roads and Highways, Insurance and Geological Survey. He also served on the Conference Committee reporting the new school code. Among the bills he introduced, and which became laws, are the following: Hypes General Election Law, amend- ments to taxation laws and school laws, a law providing penalty for impersonating officers, and other laws of general import; likewise, measures of more direct interest to Springfield. Shortly after reaching his majority, Senator Hypes identified himself with the Masonic Order, where, in later years, he was chosen to serve as Master of Anthony Lodge, F. & A. M.,
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as Thrice Illustrious Master of Springfield Council, No. 17, R. & S. M., and as Eminent Commander of Palestine Commandery, No. 33, Knights Templar. On the Ioth of Septem- ber, 1889, Senator Hypes was married to Miss Jessie B. Johnson, of Springfield, Ohio. Two children are the issue of that marriage, Dorothy and Douglas Van Brocklin Hypes. The Hypes family attends High Street M. E. Church at Springfield, Ohio.
J. Edward Hurst,
One of the leading citizens of New Philadelphia and Tuscarawas County, is a native Ohioan, born on the Ist of December, 1866, on a farm near New Philadelphia. When a child he removed with his parents to Clay County, Illinois, where they resided for a period of six years, thence returning to Ohio and locating on a farm in Franklin Township, Tuscarawas County, living there until he was twenty-one years of age. Mr. Hurst received his education in the common schools of Tus- carawas County and the New Philadelphia Normal School. He then taught school for a period of four years, and since 1894 he has been engaged in the insurance and real estate business in New Philadelphia. His parents, Frederick Hurst and Rose Ann Haney Hurst, were natives of Switzerland, emigrating to this country in the '50's and locating in Tus- carawas County, where they married on the 13th of January, 1866. Eight children, six sons and two daughters were the issue of their union, of which J. E. Hurst was the eldest. Frederick Hurst served in the War of the Rebellion as a member of the One Hundred and Sixty-first and One Hundred and Eighty- fifth Regiments, O. V. I. Senator Hurst has always been a Democrat, taking an active interest in politics. In February, 1891, he was appointed by Judge J. H. Mitchell Deputy Clerk of the Probate Court of Tuscarawas County, retiring three years later, Judge Mitchell having been defeated for a second term. In 1895 Senator Hurst was nominated J. EDWARD HURST for Representative and defeated with the entire Democratic ticket in the Republican landslide of that year. In the spring of 1899 he was elected from a Strong Republican ward to serve as member of the City Council of New Philadelphia, but declined a renomination. In the same year he was nominated on the first ballot by the Senatorial Convention held at Coshocton, for State Senator for the Eighteenth- Nineteenth joint district, though there were four other candidates in the field, and elected by a handsome majority. He was renominated by the Senatorial Convention held at New- comerstown, on the 20th of August, 1901, and re-elected, leading the ticket by 215 votes. His defeated opponent, Mr. Taylor, of Cambridge, Ohio, contested the election, but Mr. Hurst was allowed to retain his seat by the unanimous vote of the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections. The one-term rule had been in force in the district ever since its establishment, but it remained for Senator Hurst's popularity to break it. In the Sev-
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enty-fourth General Assembly, Mr. Hurst was a member of committees as follows: Chair- man of Fees and Salaries, Finance, Taxation, Municipal Corporations No. 2, Insurance, Mines and Mining, Agriculture and State Buildings. In the Senate of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly : Chairman Fees and Salaries; Finance, Insurance, Municipal Corpora- tions No. 2, Public Works and Public Lands, Claims, Sanitary Laws and Regulations, Banks and Building and Loan Associations, Geological Survey, Mines and Mining. On the 17th of December, 1887, Senator Hurst married Ellen, the youngest daughter of Hon. E. R. Beufer, and they have three children, two daughters and one son. Senator Hurst is a char- ter member of New Philadelphia Lodge, No. 510, B. P. O. E., a member of Modern Wood- men of America, and of Kaldenbaugh Camp, S. of V. In the summer of 1904 he was nominated by the Democratic Congregational Convention of the Seventeenth District of Ohio for member in the lower House of the National Congress, but owing to the unprece- dented popularity of President Roosevelt, he lost the election during the tidal wave of Repub- lican victory. He lives with his family in the beautiful little city of New Philadelphia, Ohio.
Charles A. Judson,
Collector of Customs at the port of Sandusky, Ohio, civil engineer and State Senator from the Thirtieth District, composed of the counties of Huron, Erie, Sandusky and Ottawa, was born on the IIth day of August, 1856, in Florence Township, Erie County, Ohio. He was reared on a farm and received his early education in the district schools of his county. He lived on the farm until twenty years old, taught school for several winters and finally spent one year in the academy at Delaware, Ohio, and four years in Oberlin College, from which institution he has since received the degree of A. M. In 1882 Mr. Judson graduated from the latter institution and came in the same year to Sandusky, where he engaged in the practice of civil engineering, which he has followed until appointed to his present position as Collector of Customs. Senator Judson was City Engineer of Sandusky for seven years and Superintendent of its water works for thirteen years. He has always been a faithful Republican, and was Chairman of the Repub- lican Executive Committee of Erie County, during the campaigns of 1899, 1900 and 1902. In the summer of 1901 the Republicans of the Thirtieth District nominated him for the State Senate and elected him at the following elec- CHARLES A. JUDSON tion by a large majority. Senator Judson was Chairman of the Committee on Fish Culture Photo by Baker, Columbus, O. and Game, and a member of the following Senatorial committees of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly : Ditches and Drains, Federal Relations, Finance, Geological Survey, Insurance, Public Printing, Privileges and Elections, Sanitary Laws and Regulations, Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. Having served with distinction, he was re-elected to a second term. As a member of the Senate of the Seventy-sixth Gen-
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eral Assembly he was Chairman of the Committee on Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, and a member of the standing committees on Drainage and Irrigation, Fish Culture and Game, Library, Village Affairs, Railroads and Telegraphs, Roads and Highways, Sanitary Laws and Regulations. In April, 1904, Senator Judson was appointed Collector of Customs of the port of Sandusky. Senator Judson was married in 1883 to Miss Roxie E. Lowry, of Berlin Heights, Ohio, and has a family of six children. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and Secretary and Treasurer of the Erie County Investment Company, doing an abstract, loan, real estate and insurance business at Sandusky, and one of the directors of the American Banking Company of the same city.
Gordon F. Lauman,
Of Lucasville, Ohio, member of the Sen- ate of the Seventy-sixth General Assembly from the Seventh District, composed of the counties of Scioto, Adams, Pike and Jackson, was born in Fleming County, Ken- tucky, on the 17th of November, 1840. He came with his family to Aberdecn, Brown County, Ohio, in about 1845, lived in Chilli- cothe in 1846 and in Waverly in 1847. Soon he had to struggle for his existence, for as early as 1850 he worked for James Emmit at milling and distilling. He held this job for three years, when he accepted a position in the store of Emmitte, Myer & Co., and continued in their employ until the war broke out. When Presi- dent Lincoln issued his call for volunteers. Senator Lauman enlisted on the 17th of April, 1861, in Company G, First O. V. I., from Portsmouth, Ohio. He was wounded on the 17th of June at Vienna, Virginia, and was dis- charged at E Street Hospital, Washington, GORDON F. LAUMAN D. C., at the expiration of three months. Since 1872 Senator Lauman was in the merchandise Photo by Baker, Columbus, O. business, and at the same time was interested in farming. Three years ago he retired from business, renting his farm. He was married twice, being married first to Miss Mary L. Wat- kins, on the 6th of October, 1864. His wife died on the 22d of October, 1892, and on the 28th of November, 1895, he was married toMary E. Dever. Senator Lauman has held several township offices. In the fall of 1903 he was elected to the Senate of the Seventy- sixth General Assembly by a large majority. The Senator was a member of the standing committees on Agriculture, Benevolent Institutions, Fees and Salaries, Mines and Mining, Sanitary Laws and Regulations, Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, and Taxation.
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