USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 48
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Dr. Leonidas S. Ebright,
One of the leading physicians and prominent citizens of Akron, Ohio, and Postmaster of that thriving city, is a son of George and Rachel (Hathaway) Ebright, and was ushered into life in Fairfield County, Ohio, on the 26th of September, 1844. He enjoyed the advan- tage of the common schools of his native county, and had not yet emerged from the 'teens at the time the Civil War came on. Patriotic and ambitious, he was eager to join the ranks of the Union army, and in May, 1862, before he was eighteen, he enlisted as a member of the Eighty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With this regiment he served until October, 1862, when he was discharged by reason of expiration of term of service. He enlisted again on the Ist of April, 1864, in the Eighty- eighth O. V. I., when he was assigned to clerical work, in which capacity he served until discharged, in July, 1865. In February, 1866, the subject of this sketch came to Akron, Ohio, and began the study of medicine in the office of Drs. William Bowen and Thomas McEbright later matriculating at Charity Hospital Medical College, where he graduated in February, 1869. Still later he spent thirteen months in Germany, where he further prepared himself for his chosen profession and upon his return to America located in Akron, where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of medicine, and where his skill as a physician and his gentlemanly bearing have gained him LEONIDAS S. EBRIGHT a large and representative patronage. He has the honor to belong to numerous medical societies, County, State and National, and has served four years as one of the health officers of Akron. In 1880 he was the choice of a large constituency for a seat in the Ohio State Legislature. He was President of the Decennial Real Estate Board of Equalization of Akron for the year 1890. On the 27th of July, 1897, Dr. Ebright was appointed Postmaster at the city of Akron. He has always been an enthusiastic Republican. For four years he was Surgeon General of Ohio, with the rank of Brigadier General. The Doctor has a wife and two daughters. He was married on the 15th of November, 1883, to Miss Julia A. Bissell, of Sharon, Medina County, Ohio.
Melvin L. Milligan,
One of the active business men of the city of Springfield, Ohio, was born on the 28tl of July, 1860, in Perry County, Ohio. His parents were Alfred P. and Rachel Iliff Milligan. Mr. Milligan was reared on a farm, and received his early education in the district schools of Perry and Morgan Counties, later attending the Zanesville Business College and the Ohio Wesleyan University, from which latter institution he graduated in 1884. The degree A.M. was conferred upon him three years later. After his graduation from college, Mr. Milligan took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of
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Ohio. Subsequently he went to Kansas City, Missouri, where he opened an office, but later he became connected with the Associated Press. In the fall of 1891 he returned to Ohio, locating in Springfield, and since that time has been a representative of the industrial inter- ests of that city, becoming financially connected with the Springfield Foundry Company, incorporated in 1892 with a capital of $300,000. For four years Mr. Milligan acted as Presi- dent of that company, until 1902, when the Springfield Foundry Company was merged with and reorganized as the Fairbanks Machine Tool Company, of which corporation he is now the President and. General Manager. In 1901, Mr. Milligan became the chief executive of the city of Springfield, serving in that capacity for one term. In political affairs Mr. Milligan is recognized as a leader in the Republican ranks, and his name has been identified with Ohio Republican politics for many years. A public spirited man, he has assisted all enter- prises for the benefit of the people of his city. On the 30th of August, 1887, Mr. Milligan was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Fairbanks, a sister of the now Vice President of the United States. Five children are the issue of this union.
D. O. Caswell,
A leading real estate dealer of Cleveland, Ohio, is a native of this State, and was born in Medina County on the 17th of April, 1857, the son of Charles Caswell, a native of Brattleboro, Vermont, and Sarah A. Landon, a descendant of an old New England family, whose members took an active and prominent part in the American struggle for freedom and indepen- dence. The Caswell family dates its history in the State of Ohio from the year 1831, when Mr. Caswell's father became a pioneer in the county mentioned above. He was of English origin, born in 1808, and died in 1859. The subject of this sketch received his education in the public schools of the State and at the Nor- mal College at Lodi, Ohio. When eighteen years of age he entered the drug business at Lodi for the purpose of studying pharmacy, remaining there two years. At the termination of that period, Dr. N. H. Ambler, his cousin, D. O. CASWELL offered him a position in Cleveland to assist him in managing his large real estate business. Upon the death of Dr. Ambler, Mr. Caswell was appointed administrator of his estate, and while engaged in that capacity he developed into the real estate business in Cleveland on his own account, and became a general buyer and seller of real estate. Mr. Caswell has taken a keen interest in the development of the city and the public welfare, and gave to the city the Ambler Parkway, as well as aiding to obtain the Shaker property in the same manner and for the same purpose. By his enterprise, in all about three hundred and fifty acres have been accrued to the welfare of the people. Among the Republicans of Cleveland few occupy a more prominent position than Mr. Caswell. Not alone by reason of his active interest in political affairs, but as well by his natural affable- ness of manner, broadness of mind and intellectual attainments. In 1892 he served as Coun-
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cilman from the Sixth District, and was re-elected in the following year by the largest majority on the Republican ticket. He is a member of leading social and business organiza- tions in his home city, and was formerly Captain of the Cleveland Gatling Gun Battery. Mr. Caswell is married, and is the proud father of three boys. His offices are located in the Chamber of Commerce Building, Cleveland, Ohio.
Paul E. Werner,
President and General Manager of The Werner Company, at Akron, Ohio .- Paul E. Werner was born on the 5th of May, 1850, in a narrow valley of the Suabian Alps, near Goeppingen, in the Kingdom of Wurttemberg. His father was an official in the civil service of the State, and died only in February, of 1904, at the high age of ninety-five, having been decorated several times by the King and the government for long, meritorious and honor- able services.
The subject of this sketch attended the schools of his native country until he came to this country, arriving at Cleveland in 1868, where his first occupation was the performance of manual labor on the streets of the West Side of Cleveland. A diligent study of the English language soon enabled him to improve his position, and for a short time he served as clerk in a grocery and dry goods store at Cleveland. After that he came to Akron, where he found employment as clerk in various PAUL E. WERNER stores, first in a grocery store, then in a drug store, and then in a clothing store. In 1872 he obtained a position as bookkeeper and cashier of Miller, Thomas & Co., at that time a prominent firm of lumber dealers, and manufacturers of building materials and contractors. This position he held for three years. He then acquired the ownership of a German newspaper published at Akron, Ohio, entitled "The Akron Germania." After having embarked in the newspaper business, and finding it difficult to make ends meet, he undertook the publication of English daily and weekly newspapers. In connection with the newspapers which he owned, he established a commercial printing depart- ment on a moderate scale. In 1885 he disposed of all his newspapers, devoting himself entirely to the general printing business, in which direction he succeeded rapidly, and had in his employ in the year 1888 about one hundred and twenty-five people. Not satisfied with his facilities and equipments at that time, he enlisted additional capital and organized a stock company under the name of "The Werner Printing and Lithographing Company," which name was afterwards changed to "The Werner Printing and Manufacturing Company." With the large increase of facilities the business increased very rapidly, so that in 1888 a further large increase of capital was acquired, and the land purchased where the great book factory of The Werner Company is located at Akron, Ohio, to-day. Large buildings, specifically designed for the business, were erected immediately and occupied on the Ist of January, 1890. In 1892 the capital of the company was again increased and its name changed to
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"The Werner Company." From that time on, year after year, additional equipment and additional buildings were added, so that in the year 1893 the establishment easily ranked as the largest book factory on the American continent, which position it has maintained until the present day.
The business of The Werner Company comprises under one roof and under one man- agement all the kindred graphic trades. It supplies the means of the material subsistence directly and indirectly for from 4,000 to 5,000 of Akron's inhabitants.
The following statistics will be of interest :
During the year 1903 it received raw materials and shipped out finished products repre- senting a capacity of over 1,500 carloads, comprising over 3,500,000 volumes of large books, over 20,000,000 catalogues, and millions of other miscellaneous articles.
If the books which were manufactured by The Werner Company during the past year were piled up one on top of the other, this pile would reach 110 miles into the air. If the books were laid side by side the long way, the string would reach 600 miles.
The raw materials required for the products of this company for the past year comprise over 3,500 different kinds. The principal articles are paper, cloth, leather and gold. If the sheets of paper consumed during the past year were laid side by side they would encircle the globe nearly five times. The cloth consumed was over 5,500,000 square feet. The leather consumed of various kinds required the slaughter of 28,000 cows and steers, a herd of 35,000 sheep and 40,000 Persian and Morocco goats. Over 3,500,000 leaves of gold were consumed.
As an evidence of the widespread reputation of this great business, originated, organized and managed at all times since its existence by the subject of this sketch, it may be stated that not one single traveling man is employed to keep continually in full operation this great manufacturing institution.
Paul E. Werner was married to Miss Lucy Anna Denaple in 1873, who died in 1900, leaving three sons, aged twenty-eight, twenty-seven and twenty-six years, respectively. The oldest, Edward, is Superintendent of the factory of The Werner Company ; Frank, the second son, is a portrait artist at Berlin, Germany ; and the youngest, Richard, is Vice President of The Werner Company. The oldest and the youngest of the three sons are married, and live at Akron, Ohio, at the residence of their father.
CHARLES S. BOSCH
Charles S. Bosch,
Mayor of the thriving city of Hamilton, Ohio, was born on the IIth of July, 1858, in Butler County, Ohio. He is the son of Fred Bosch, a well-known farmer and business man, who emigrated to this country from Germany in 1849. Mayor Bosch received his early edu- cation in the public schools of Hamilton, and at the age of but thirteen years started to earn his living expenses by his own efforts, working in a printing shop for some time. Later he engaged in the cigar business and then became connected with the C., H. & D. R. R., with which corporation he remained for a period of
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eleven years. He early in life espoused the principles of the Democratic party, and becoming actively engaged in the ranks of the Democrats of Hamilton and Butler County. In 1888 Mayor Bosch entered his political career, being elected a member of the Board of Education of Hamilton, a position he filled in a most satisfactory manner for four years. In 1893 he was elected Mayor of the city of Hamilton, and it speaks well for the ability, integrity and popularity of Mayor Bosch, that he was re-elected to that honorable position five successive times, a record probably not duplicated in the political history of Ohio. Mayor Bosch is a very busy man. He is interested in various commercial enterprises of Hamilton, and is con- stantly employed in attending to his various duties. He belongs to the following societies and orders : Elks, Royal Arcanum, A. O. U. W. and K. of P. In 1883 Mayor Bosch was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Schwab, and by this union he is the father of two daughters and one son.
F. J. King,
Mayor of the fast-growing city of Lorain, Lorain County, Ohio, was born on the 19th of July, 1843, in Avon Township, Lorain County, and is the son of Henry King, a farmer, and a pioneer settler of the Western Reserve, and Elizabeth Simmons, a native of England. Both parents emigrated to this country from Albion about 1834. Mr. F. J. King received his early education in the district schools of his native township, and attended Berea College for two years. He returned to the farm and worked there until he had reached the age of thirty- one. When he was but sixteen years of age he was engaged as teacher in the district schools of Lorain and Cuyahoga County, fol- lowing that profession until after the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in the Union army in 1862, becoming a member of the Seventy - seventh Tennessee Infantry Regi- ment. Previous to that he had tried to enlist three times, but on account of physical disability was not accepted until the above F. J. KING mentioned date. He was detailed to the Quar- termaster Department, and spent nearly all the time of his service there, and in 1864 was honorably discharged for disability contracted during his term of service. After leaving the army he again engaged in the profession of teaching and the occupation of farming, until be became thirty-one years of age, when he gave up farming and continuously taught until 1877. Then he removed to Lorain, and went into the grocery business, in which he was fairly successful until 1893, when he sold out and went into the employ of a publishing house, taking charge of a given territory, until 1900. In that year he was appointed member of the City Board of Equalization, and remained in that capacity until 1902, when he was elected Mayor of the city of Lorain. His first term expired in 1903, owing to the introduction of the new code governing the cities of Ohio, and he was again elected under that code in the spring election of the latter year. Mayor King is a convinced Democrat. It might be mentioned in passing that Mayor King was born in a log house
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in Avon Township. At the time of his birth and until he left it, at the age of nine years, this township was a wilderness, and to-day it is one of the richest parts of Lorain County. In 1879 he was married to Ellen Lee, a cousin of Robert E. and Fitzhugh Lee. By this union he is the father of one daughter.
J. H. Leonard,
Among the different State institutions of Ohio one of the most important is the Ohio State Reformatory, located at Mansfield, devoted to the punishment and correction of youthful criminals. As it is not only the inten- tion of the State to punish its criminals of minor age for deeds committed, but also to reform them and make them useful and self- supporting members of society, it is of vital importance to have at the head of institutions of that kind men whose lives and precepts will J. H. LEONARD act as an incentive towards the right, and who are able to direct the minds of the young into the proper channels. It is therefore easily understood that the office of Superintendent of that great institution is a very responsible one. It can be truthfully said, however, that Mr. J. H. Leonard is particularly adapted for that position. He is a man who combines executive ability with the thoroughness of an able educator. Before he was appointed by Governor Nash to his present position of trust, he was Principal of the Youngstown High Schools, and has in fact been connected with the educa- tional interests of the State in different capaci- ties all his active life. He is a man of broad knowledge, human sympathies and good com- mon sense. While he is a strict disciplinarian, he always keeps in mind the fact that for each criminal there is the possibility of an honorable and useful future. He consequently combines justice with gentleness, and the results have proved that Mr. Leonard's methods are correct. Since his acceptance of his very responsible position there has never been the least criticism of the institution which has been entrusted to his care.
Paul Schob,
A well-known music engraver and printer at Cincinnati, Ohio, is a native of Zeitz, Great Duchy Saxony Meiningen, Germany, and was born on the 18th of January, 1868. He is the
PAUL SCHOB
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son of Herman Schob, who was a well-known and prosperous innkeeper in the above men- tioned city. At the age of thirteen years Mr. Paul Schob was apprenticed to a music engraver, where the boy learned the business in which in after years he has become very successful. In 1886 Mr. Schob left the Fatherland and emigrated to the United States, taking up the business of music engraver in Cincinnati. Thanks to his ability and executive talent, he now enjoys the distinction of having the largest business in his line in the United States and Canada, and from his place of business, located on the corner of Fourth and Elm Streets millions of sheet music are distributed to all parts of this and other countries. Mr. Schob is a member of the following societies and orders, in which he is immensely popular: Masonic fraternity, Cincinnati Liederkranz, Cincinnati Turn-Verein; and he is also a director of the Volunteer Bowling and Minstrel Club. In 1894 Mr. Schob was united in marriage to Miss Laura Motzkus. A visit to the establishment conducted by Mr. Schob will well repay any- one interested in his line of work.
Levi Tucker Scofield,
Architect, Sculptor and Engineer, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 9th of November, 1842, son of William and Mary (Coon) Sco- field. His father settled at Cleveland as early as 1816, building the first house erected on Walnut Street. The name was originally spelled Schofield, but in the year 1852 William Schofield and his brothers decided to leave out the "h," though the letter is still used occasion- ally, especially in legal documents.
Levi T. Scofield received his early education in the public schools of Cleveland, in which city he also first studied engineering and architecture. In 1860 he removed to Cincin- nati to continue his studies, but upon the outbreak of the Civil War he returned and enlisted in the First Regiment of Ohio Light Artillery. When his term expired he was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the One Hundred and Third Ohio Infantry, from which rank he was promoted First Lieutenant in February, 1863, and Captain in November, LEVI TUCKER SCOFIELD 1864. During his infantry service his engineer- ing abilities were appreciated by his superior officers, and he was frequently assigned to engineering work. He participated in the pursuit of Kirby Smith in 1862 and of John Morgan in 1863 ; went with Burnside in his campaign across the Cumberland Mountains, and served at the siege of Knoxville, as well as at the repulse of Longstreet.
From June, 1863, to June, 1865, Scofield's service was continuous as an engineer officer. He was in the battles of the Atlanta campaign and the campaign of Nashville; took part in the pursuit of Hood to the Tennessee River, and served in North Carolina early in 1865, being present at the capture of Raleigh and the surrender of General Johnson.
After the establishment of peace he at first made his home in New York City, but soon returned to Cleveland, where he has resided up to the present time (1905). Since 1867 he
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has engaged in the erection of many public buildings, such as the Cleveland High School (1878) ; the Athens and Columbus Asylums for the Insane (1869) ; the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Xenia, Ohio (1871) ; the Raleigh Penitentiary (1870) ; the Cleveland House of Correction (1867) ; the Mansfield Reformatory (1884), and the Schofield Building (1901). The Schofield Building, of which he is both architect and owner, is located on the corner of Euclid avenue and Erie Street, Cleveland, Ohio. It is fourteen stories in height; measures 210 feet to the top of the tower, contains 429 offices in thirteen stories, and has banks, stores, a machinery hall, and a coal depot in its first story and basement. The net cost of the structure was $600,000.
One of his most celebrated works is the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, standing in the Public Square of Cleveland, of which he was both architect and sculptor (1894). At its dedication the principal speech was delivered by William McKinley, at that time Governor of Ohio. The procession on that occasion was one of the greatest and most comprehensive ever seen in the streets of Cleveland. The total cost of the monument was $314,500, of which amount $257,000 was paid by the county and $57,500 was contributed by the architect. The tax was distributed over fourteen years, and amounted to one and nine-tenths mills on every one hundred dollars of the taxable value of the property through- out the country. The esplanade is 100 feet square, the tablet room is 40 feet square, and the total height of the top of the crowning figure of Liberty is 125 feet. The building is of black Quincy granite, the shaft is of the same material, polished, and the esplanade is of red Medina stone. There are over 100 tons of cast bronze in the statuary, doors, grills, etc., and the names of ten thousand soldiers are engraved on the tablets. Before this magnifi- cent monument could be erected, more than two and one-half years of litigation had to be traversed. The Common Pleas and Circuit Courts enjoined the commission, but its mem- bers were twelve old veterans who "had never learned to know when they were licked," as Scofield puts it; and they carried the fight first to the Supreme Court of the State, and then to the United States Court, in both of which the decisions of the lower courts were reversed. To the work of designing and building the monument Mr. Scofield devoted seven and one-half years without compensation, and when the co-operation of the County Com- missioners was refused, he sacrificed his private fortune in order to defray expenses.
Mr. Scofield is a member of the military orders of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He was married at Kingsville, Ohio, on the 26th of June, 1867, to Elizabeth C., daughter of Marshall and Sarah Wright, and has four sons and a daughter. His disposition is very kindly and affable, and some of his success is probably due to this fact. Yet with all his affability he is not by any means a man to be imposed upon, for his eyes penetrate to the motives in a man's mind ; and while he is apparently unsuspecting, he is really judging his interviewer in the most generous but accurate manner. He possesses a keen sense of humor, and when relaxed from professional cares enters into the spirit of a joke with the greatest enjoyment. Benev- olence is one of his largest traits, and he shows it in all his dealings, whether in the bestowal of a slight favor or the granting of his support to a great philanthropic movement. His ideals are high, and his insight into the beauties of art clear and concise. He is a man of vigorous mental processes, grasping the most abstruse problems and reducing them to a basis of simplicity. Many of the most remarkable difficulties have been surmounted by his resolute self-reliance and indefatigable energy, and the unswerving faithfulness with which he is inseparably affiliated has permanently enriched every position occupied.
The character of Levi T. Scofield, in all its details, is a matter for emulation of the youth of the land.
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Herbert T. Mechling,
City Auditor of Lancaster, Ohio, one of the foremost Democrats in his part of Ohio, was born on the 7th of October, 1861, at Greensburg, West Moreland County, Pennsylvania. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, the Rev. G. W. Mechling, D.D., is a descendant of Peter Mechling, who in 1726 left his Fatherland and settled in Philadelphia, joining the colony established in 1686 by the immortal Pastorius. His mother, Amanda Trimble Mech- ling, was a native of Columbus. Her ancestors had taken their abode in the American colonies prior to the Revolutionary War, and on both sides of his family member have fought on the battlefields of the War of Independence, the war with England in 1812, and the War of the Rebellion. When a boy of four years, Mr. Mechling came to Lancaster with his parents, and in that city he received his early education, carefully guarded and supervised by his father. He later attended Eastman College in Poughkeepsie, New York, graduat- ing from the same in 1881 with the degree of M.A. At the age of twenty years Mr. Mechling started into active life as a bookkeeper in the Fairfield County Bank at Lancaster, remaining there for one year, when he resigned to accept a position with the firm of Simon Butler & Co., wholesale grocers at Columbus. This position he filled for six years, when he returned to Lancaster and became manager of the Alle- gheny Quarries, continuing there for five years. A staunch and uncompromising Democrat, Mr. Mechling has always taken an active part in the ranks of his party men, and has occupied many positions of trust with credit to himself HERBERT T. MECHLING and the people that honored him. He has filled the offices of Secretary of the Election Board and of the Sinking Fund Trustees, as well as that of Tax Commissioner. In 1895 Mr. Mechling was elected City Clerk of Lancaster, and that his services were satisfactory was proven by the fact that he was re-elected to his position in 1897, again in 1899, and finally in 1901. At the expiration of his fourth term in office, his party selected him as its candidate for City Auditor. His election was a foregone conclusion by reason of his great popularity and his reputation as a conservative, capable and thoroughly trustworthy representative of the people. For five years Mr. Mechling has been connected with the O. N. G., and he is a member of the A. I. U. In 1892 he was married to Miss Anna Goetz, an accomplished young lady of Lancaster, and by that union he is the father of a boy and a girl. He resides at No. 513 North Columbus Street, and his offices are located in the City Hall of Lancaster.
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