USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 45
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Right Rev. George F. Houck,
Chancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, was born on the 9th of July, 1847, at Tiffin, Ohio. His father, John Houck, was a native of Germany, and came to the United States with his parents when about four years of age. The Monsignor's ancestors settled in Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1829. Four years later they removed to Seneca County, where the father of the subject of this sketch after- ward became a successful merchant; he was engaged in the boot and shoe business for nearly fifty years in the city of Tiffin, where he died in 1889. His mother was also a native of Germany; she came to this country with her parents at the age of ten. In his youth Monsignor Houck was employed for some years in his father's store, and gave evidence even then of unusual executive ability. For a period of two years, during his father's ill- ness, he had complete charge of the business. His early education was obtained at St. Joseph's parochial school, Tiffin. For two years he was a student at Heidelberg College
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RIGHT REV. GEORGE F. HOUCK
in his native city. From his childhood Monsignor Houck had the desire to become a priest, but his father's counsel prevailed, and not until his twentieth year did he decide definitely upon his course in life. In September, 1867, he entered Mt. St. Mary's Seminary, Cincinnati, to pursue his studies for the priesthood. There he remained until June, 1874, completing in that time the course in classics, mental philosophy, and part of the theologieal course. In 1874 Bishop Gilmour of Cleveland recalled him to his own diocesan seminary to complete his studies, for to the diocese of Cleveland he belonged by birth and domieile. On the 4th of July, 1875, Monsignor Houck was ordained a priest in the cathedral at Cleveland. Bishop Fitzgerald, of Little Rock, Arkansas, performed the ceremony, Bishop Gilmour being in Europe on account of ili health. Four weeks later, the young priest was appointed pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Crestline, Crawford County, Ohio, where he remained until July, 1877, when Bishop Gilmour appointed him his Secretary and also made him Chancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland. His appointment as Chancellor was formally announced in the Diocesan Synod of May, 1882. He has held both positions continuously since then, having been reappointed by Bishop Horstman on his accession to the See of Cleveland as the sueeessor of the Right Rev. Dr. Gilmour. Chancellor Houck is a pricst of more than local reputation ; his name is favorably known far beyond the limits of the diocese of Cleveland. He is a man of great executive ability and of unremitting care and industry. Under his careful management the Chancery of the Diocese of Cleveland is noted for its system and its thorough business methods. Since 1877 Monsignor Houck has, with his other duties, served as Chaplain to St. Vineent's Hospital, and for the first eighteen years of that period he attended to the spiritual wants of the Catholic prisoners in the City Workhouse. He was appointed manager of the Catholie eemeteries of Cleveland in 1878, and held that position until 1903, when he resigned it. The purchase of Calvary Cemetery and the departure from old lines in its development and ornamentation are due in great measure to his efforts. Although his life has been altogether an unusually busy one, he has found time to devote to historical research and to writing local Catholic history. "The Church in Northern Ohio," "A History of Catholicity in Northern Ohio" and "A Biography of the Right Rev. Dr. Rappe," the first Bishop of Cleveland, are all from his pen. In recognition of his merits as a faithful priest and as an official of the Church in his diocese Pope Pius X conferred upon him the dignity of Monsignor, in July, 1904.
REV. PATRICK FARRELL, D. D.
Rev. Patrick Farrell, D. D.,
Of Cleveland, Ohio .- The parents of the Rev. Dr. Farrell, pastor of St. John's Catholic Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio, were born in Ireland. His father, William, came from near the city of Cork, and his mother, Anne Darragh, from Antrim. They were married in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1850, by the late Bishop Michael O'Connor. They reared a family of eight-four sons and four daughters. The subject of this sketeh is the fifth child. Mr. William Farrell located in 1851 in the village of East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was associated with the pioneers of Catholicity in that now thriv- ing pottery town. He served in the Civil War in the One Hundred and Fifteenth Ohio Regiment. He died in 1894. His widow survives him.
The Rev. Patrick Farrell, D.D., was born in East Liverpool, O., on the 28th of October, 1862.
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He was graduated from the High School of his native town before he had completed his seventeenth year. The class, one of the first of the school in point of time, numbered only three. One of them is now a prominent and wealthy business man of East Liverpool, the third being a leading minister of the Methodist Protestant Church in California. In1881 Patrick Farrell entered St. Charles' College, Marvland, and in June, 1885, he finished his classical course with the highest honors in a class of twenty-four. In January, 1886, on the recommendation of his teachers, he was sent by Bishop Gil- mour to Rome, Italy, to enter the American College for the course of higher ecclesiastical studies. In 1887 he took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. On the 27th of July, 1890, he was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Parocchi in the Church of St. Apollinaris. The title of Doctor of Divin- ity was conferred on him in 1891. Returning to Cleveland, he was appointed by Monsignor Boff, then Administrator of the Diocese, to the post of curate at St. John's Cathedral, in which capacity he continued until November, 1900, when he was placed in charge of that important congregation.
During the pastorate of Father Vahey, as well as that of Monsignor Thorpe, Dr. Farrell took a prominent part in parish work. A recognized authority on the liturgy of the Church, he is master of ceremonies at all episcopal functions in the cathedral and frequently outside. The organization of the Marquette Club, a society of young men, well known throughout the city, is a mark of his zeal in behalf of the younger people of the parish. The frequent exhibitions of musical and literary talent displayed by the members of the club afford ample proof of the wisdom of proper direction for them, and the present pastor of the Cathedral has been the soul of the organization, from its incep- tion to the present. Dr. Farrell was acting Chancellor of the diocese from April to October, 1895. For three semesters in 1898-99 he taught Sacred Scripture in the Diocesan Seminary, fulfill- ing his duties as assistant at the Cathedral at the same time. In recognition of his learning he was made a member of the Diocesan Board of Examiners, whose duty it is to conduct the examination of the seminarists, as well as the junior clergy. His priestly career of about ten years, whether as as- sistant pastor, or professor, has been most successful ; ever gentle, kind and forbearing, he has endeared himself to the people among whom God has cast his lot. He is firm when firmness is required, always direct and forcible in utterance, especially when preaching the Word of Divine Truth, but like the Master Whom he follows, gen- tleness and amiability are the chords by which he draws hearts to God. The head of the first church of the diocese, which he administers with marked ability, bespeaks the confidence of his Bishop in placing one so young in such prominence. May he long continue to be in the service of God as a true shepherd of souls, is the prayer of his people.
Gottlieb Fecker,
In the realm of astronomy in the United States, Gottlieb Fecker ranks a master of high repute. Superintendent of the instrument department of the famous Cleveland firm, The Warner & Swasey Company, he had and has ample opportunity to manifest his creative genius. He was born in 1856 at Karlsruhe, South Germany, and emigrated to America in 1887. Fully prepared by thorough studies in optics and instruments of precision under the supervision of the best teachers of Germany,
GOTTLIEB FECKER
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he immediately acquired high honors among the astronomers of this country by means of a number of important improvements in astronomical instruments which he constructed and invented at Washington, D. C. These instruments went to various observatories, such as the United States Naval Observatory, etc., and were awarded diplomas by the Chicago Exposition and a gold medal at the exposition of Paris in 1900. Many professional men send unsolicited testimonials of their appreciation from all over the world. It requires a scientific treatise to appreciate the work of Fecker during his stay at Washington. For the observatory at Georgetown alone he constructed the new photo-chronograph, a new photo- graphic transit and zenith-telescope, etc., which is known in the recent German astronomic books as "Constructeur G. N. Saegmueller." In Cleveland he found the desired oppor- tunity to fully develop his abilities. There he gloriously solved the difficult problem through a new method of finishing the best automatic machine for the division of the fine circles, which standard dividing, when tested by Professor Morley, proved such exactness in its work that it excelled all other machines in this line by more than fifty per cent. This invention enhanced the reputation of the firm, and there is now no observatory in the
United States which is not in possession of astronomic instruments that have not passed through the hands of Master Fecker, whose great skill has succeeded in giving to the astronomers the finest tools for measuring all spherical distances. Recently Fecker occu- pied himself with the poro-prismatic telescopes. He constructed for them new adjusting apparatus, which are the best of their kind known. But all these accomplishments of late date are by far not so important as the invention he made on behalf of the United States Government for his firm of the new range-finder which renders it possible by our artillery to determine the position of a man-of-war on the waters from our forts, with such a pre- cision that our disappearing rapid-firing guns are enabled to accurately strike them with their shells at a distance of twelve thousand yards. Our naval officers are so enthusiastic about the excellency of this new range-finder that the Warner & Swasey Company has every reason to be particularly proud of the guiding genius from whose fertile brain this wonderful invention has emanated. It goes without saying that Fecker is a most many- sided man of profound knowledge, and fully deserves the high honors which make him a truly progressive representative, not only of Ohio, but of our whole glorious country. Mr. Fecker is married and the father of a talented son, who will most certainly follow the foot- steps of his famous father should Providence permit him to live.
Henry Hudson Prettyman,
Of London, Ohio, one of the representative business men of the State, was born in Milford, Kent County, State of Delaware, on the 27th of September, 1854, coming of a long line of English ancestry, whose first American repre- sentatives settled in Delaware, in 1692. His father, Dr. John S. Prettyman, was a physician of prominence in that State. Colonel Pretty- man received part of his education in Europe,
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HENRY HUDSON PRETTYMAN
afterward finishing his literary training in this country. He purchased the old Republican newspaper, "The News and Advertiser," in Delaware, and edited the same for several years. Upon leaving his native State in 1880, he became a resident of New York City, where he remained for several years, going thence to London, England, where he was identified with large business interests. In 1877, Colonel Prettyman was married to the daughter of Major Peter Buffenburg, of Ohio. He settled in Madison County, this State, in 1892, and has since been one of the most enterprising and foremost citizens of that county. Energetic and forceful in character, and an enthusiastic Republican, he has on his merit won a position among the leaders of the Republican party of Ohio. His large experience in the business world, wide acquaintance with prominent men of affairs, both in the United States and Europe, has made him a man of pronounced liberal views, and given him the power of keen discernment and prompt action. Notwithstanding the active interest which Colonel Prettyman has always evidenced in public affairs of Ohio, he has never held any elective office, or a lucrative appointment, steadfastly refusing to accept same although many times tendered him. After the election of Governor Bushnell, Colonel Prettyman became a mem- ber of the Governor's staff, a purely honorary position. He is manager of one of the largest farms, if not the largest, east of the Mississippi River, and personally supervises the opera- tion of cultivating and marketing the products of 5,400 acres of productive land. Besides that, he has large corporate interests, and is a promoter of national and European reputation.
John Luther Vance,
President of the Ohio Valley Improvement Association, is a man of national reputation, by reason of his aggressiveness in the move- ment of giving the Ohio River a permanent stage of at least nine feet of water. Mr. Vance is a native Ohioan, being born in Gallipolis, Gallia County, on the 19th of July, 1839. His parents were Alexander and Eliza A. Vance. Mr. Vance was educated in the public schools of his native town, and received an academic education in the Gallia Academy. At seven- teen he taught in the public schools adjoining Gallipolis, and one year later became Deputy Clerk of Courts of Gallia County. Entering the Cincinnati Law School in the fall of 1860, he took a course in law, and in the same year was appointed on the staff of General Con- stable, of the Ohio Militia. The day after he graduated from the Cincinnati Law School, in April, 1861, he was ordered to report at Gallipolis for military duty. He recruited and organized the first troops in Gallia County, JOHN LUTHER VANCE and on the 3d of June, 1861, he began recruit- ing a three years' company. On the 5th of July, 1861, he joined the Union Army, with the rank of Captain in Company B of the Fourth Virginia Infantry. For meritorious and valorous service he was promoted on the 28th of April, 1862, to the position of Major, and on the 3Ist of May, in the same year, he became Lieutenant Colonel of the same regiment,
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and was finally promoted to the command of his regiment. At Wheeling, W. Va., on the 11th of November, 1864, he was mustered out of service, after an honorable and distinguished career. During the war he participated in forty-seven (47) battles and minor engagements, among them the battles of Fayetteville, Cotton Hill, Loop Creek, Charleston; also in the Vicksburg campaign, Raymond, Champion Hills, the siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, Mission Ridge, Winchester, Lynchburg, the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864, and many other engagements. Five times he was wounded in battles, without serious effects, and one time, at Vicksburg, was very severely wounded. After his retirement from the army, Colonel Vance engaged in the steamboat business, and was blown up on the steamer "Cottage" on the Kanawha River. He was seriously injured by the explosion, but recovered without permanent injury. In 1867 he began the publication of the Gallipolis "Bulletin," in which he continued his interests until 1900, when he sold out. During his active career as a steam- boat man, he saw the dire necessity of improving the great waterways of the Ohio Valley, and in 1895 assisted in the organization of the Ohio Valley Improvement Association, by which he was honored with the position of President of that body. Through his untiring efforts he secured appropriations from the National Congress for the building of a number of important dams on the upper Ohio River, and his influence has been so marked that the scheme of increasing the depth of the Ohio to a nine-foot stage, has been agitated in the halls of Congress, and there is every reason to believe that the work will be accomplished. Colonel Vance still occupies his position as President in that organization, having been re-elected ever since it was formed. In political belief, Colonel Vance has always been a Democrat. In 1865, he was nominated for Representative and four years later as State Senator, but both of these times he was defeated. In 1874 he was elected a member of Congress from the Eleventh Ohio District, serving one term. He received the nomination for the same position in 1876, and again in 1884, but was defeated on both occasions, the district being heavily Republican. In 1872 Colonel Vance was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and has been a delegate to many State conventions, as well as a member of State Central and Executive Committees of his party. Governor Campbell appointed him Quartermaster General and Commissary General of Ohio in 1889. In the same year he began the agitation for erecting a hospital for epileptics, secured the passage of a bill in the Legislature, favoring the project, and was appointed a member of the com- mission to select a site and have plans prepared. He was President of the commission, and the hospital was located at Gallipolis, the first of its kind in the world. Colonel Vance has always been a public spirited man, and has taken an active part in all matters pertaining to the public welfare. His sympathies are broad and his nature kindly. Combined with this, he has a force of character which can not be dominated by any influence contrary to his idea of the right. For many years he has been a member of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, and was honored by unanimous election as a life member of that body, and for a period of twelve years was President of the Gallipolis Board of Trade. He is a prominent member of the G. A. R. and the Loyal Legion; a member of the Ohio Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, in which body he occupied the chair during 1891 and 1892. He also holds a life membership in the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, is a thirty- second-degree Mason, and an Elk. He has been a trustee of the Rio Grande College for many years, and, in 1896, he was appointed by Governor Bushnell a trustee of the Boys' Industrial School of Ohio, to which position he was reappointed by Governor Nash, and, later, again re- appointed by Governor Herrick. Mr. Vance was married on the 4th of October, 1866, to Miss Emily Shepard, his first cousin, and on her mother's side a descendant of an old French family, which settled at Gallipolis in 1817. By this union Colonel Vance is the father of three sons.
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William C. Margedant,
Deceased, one of the men by whose energy the city of Hamilton, Ohio, has become an industrial center, was born on the 15th of November, 1835, in the city of Duesseldorf, Rhenish-Prussia. His father was a German railroad officer, who carefully educated the son in the public schools of Duesseldorf, as well as in the Polytechnical and Technical Schools of that city. He then attended the Academy of Fine Arts and Paintings, and subsequently received practical mechanical instructions in the shops of the railroad company, where his father was an officer. Emigrating to America in 1854, he arrived in Cincinnati, and found employment with C. A. Latta, assisting in building the first fire engine made in this country. Later he went to Hamilton, and after working in the shop of Owens, Lane & Dyer, he became associated with the Bentel & Margedant Company, designers and manufacturers of woodworking machinery. This company is still in existence, carrying on a large and lucrative business under the same name, and has gained an international reputation. For many years. Mr. Margedant was President of that company, and largely to his ability can be ascribed the tremendous success of the con- cern. Captain Margedant was a very public spirited man, and took a very active interest in all movements for the development of the city of his adoption. For a number of years he was physical instructor and speaker of the Hamilton Gymnastic Society, as well as Presi- dent of the United German Societies. He was a member of the Board of School Examiners and President of the Citizens' War Committee in 1898. He was organizer of the Centennial celebration in 1876, the Hamilton Centennial in 1891, and the Columbus celebration in 1892, as well as the Electric Light Celebration in 1895. During the Columbian Exposition he was President of the Executive Board of Judges of Award, also President of the Pioneers', Soldiers' and Sailors' Permanent Monument Association of Hamilton, and Pres- ident of Mercy Hospital from its founding WILLIAM C. MARGEDANT until the time of his death. Captain Margedant has an enviable record as a soldier. On the first call of President Lincoln for 75,000 men on the 15th of April, 1861, he organized on that day a company of forty-eight volunteers, most of whom were members of a gymnastic association of Hamilton. They were all drilled in the manual of arms, that being part of their exercises. In the evening of the same day W. C. Margedant and his company left for Cincinnati to join the Ninth Regiment, O. V. I., which was largely composed of well-trained athletes. The original organization of the regiment consisted of two thousand privates, besides officers, each company mustering two hundred men. The election of officers took place on the 16th of April, one day after. W. C. Marge- dant was elected Captain on the first ballot, receiving 197 votes. Upon his refusal to accept any official rank, he was again elected a second and a third time, with an addition of one
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vote on each ballot, when he accepted the Captaincy. The regiment soon afterward left for the front at Philippi, West Virginia, and Captain Margedant remained in the service until the expiration of the three months for which he had originally enlisted. Refusing pro- motion in the regiment, he was appointed topographical engineer at Buchanan, West Vir- ginia, on the staff of General W. S. Rosecrans, by the order of Major General George B. McClellan, commanding the Army of Western Virginia. Captain Margedant participated in the first battles of the war, namely Philippi, Beverly, Camp Garnet, Rich Mountain, Car- nifex Ferry, and in all the battles and skirmishes of Gault Ridge, Hawk's Nest, Sewell Mountain, Fayetteville, New River, etc. He organized and compiled for this region of Western Virginia the first detailed topographical maps, making surveys under great difficul- ties in the enemy's line. He also organized an army engineer service. General Rosecrans spoke most highly of Captain Margedant's services in his official report to President Lincoln of the battles of Rich Mountain and Carnifex Ferry. Again Captain Margedant's name was prominently mentioned in the official report of Brigadier General Rosecrans after the battle of Cross Lanes, West Virginia. When General John C. Fremont took command of the army, Captain Margedant became a member of his staff, acting for Colonel Reynolds, U. S. A., where he rendered valuable services. Brigadier Major R. C. Schenck, U. S. A., officially recognized his energy, activity and ability during the battles in the Shenandoalı Valley. Captain Margedant later served on the staff of General Franz Siegel and took part in all the battles and engagements with the army of the Potomac. He again joined General W. S. Rosecrans at his request on the IIth of March, 1863, and took part in all the battles from Stone River to Chickamauga, and later in the siege of Chattanooga, Lookout Moun- tain and Missionary Ridge, as well as all the battles up to Atlanta, Georgia. For his services he was reported directly to President Lincoln by General Rosecrans, commanding the Army of the Cumberland. He remained in the service of the staff of Major General Rosecrans as Superintendent Topographical Engineer, until Major General George H. Thomas suc- ceeded Rosecrans in the command in the army, when Captain Margedant was retained on the personal staff of the former gentleman. He subsequently took part in the battles of Ringold, Tunnel Hill, Daiton, Resaca, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Kennesaw Mountain, and until the siege of Atlanta, when his time of service and commission having expired, General Thomas issued the following special order "Captain Margedant's services being greatly needed with this army, he is hereby ordered to remain in the field, and will not be mustered out of service. By command of Major General George H. Thomas." He there- fore remained in the service until the latter part of 1864, when he became very sick and was transported to the North. His war record shows him to have participated in thirty-six battles and engagements. Captain Margedant was married in Hamilton on the 28th of Jan- uary, 1864, to Caroline Sohn. Nine children resulted from that union. In politics, Captain Margedant was a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party. His death occurred on the 12th of January, 1900.
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