USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 51
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DAVID E. HILL
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was succeeded by Edwin H. and Calvin J. Merrill and Hezekiah Camp, the firm name being changed to Hill, Merrill & Co. This firm also engaged in the manufacture of the smaller sizes of sexangular water pipe, formed in molds, the orifice being bored out by machinery adapted to that purpose while the section was yet in the mold. About two years later, Messrs. Hill and Merrill invented improved patterns on the rude machinery then in use, and a part of the plant was subsequently devoted to that branch of the business by the firm. In 1855, Hill, Merrill & Co. was succeeded by Merrill, Powers & Co. About 1858 the Mer- rill interests were withdrawn, and Mr. Hill again took an active interest in the business, the firm name changing to Hill, Powers & Co. A year later Mr. Hill and Mr. Frank Adams became the sole owners, and under their direction the business was greatly extended and the capacity of the works doubled. The business growing to large proportions, it was decided to form a stock company, and in 1868, with David E. Hill, Frank Adams, David L. King, Lorenzo B. Austin and Ozias Barber as stockholders, the Hill & Adams Sewer Pipe Company came into existence. Again the business was still further extended, and a splendid plant erected. The works of this company were the first of their kind west of New York and the second in the United States. The name of this company was later changed into The Akron Sewer Pipe Company, with Mr. Hill as one of the principal stock- holders. In 1873 Mr. Hill organized the Hill Sewer Pipe Company, and became its Presi- dent and General Manager. Seeing the great possibilities which would ensue if the sewer pipe industry was consolidated under one head, Mr. Hill, in 1900, succeeded in incorporating under the name of The American Sewer Pipe Company practically all the large sewer pipe companies of the United States, and became its President. He died on the 5th of August, 1901. Mr. David E. Hill was a self-made man in the fullest sense of the word, and it was due to his own energy and native ability that he successfully rounded out a life of useful- ness. He was an important figure in many large enterprises outside of his own field of endeavor, and was as well known in the financial circles of New York as he was in his home city and State. Being public spirited by nature, broad in his conceptions of the duties of a citizen, he occupied many local positions of trust and carefully guarded the interests of the people among whom he spent the greater part of his life. Owing to his many lovable qualities, he made friends, not alone with those in the higher walks of life, but as well among the large masses of the people, who hold his name in kind remembrance. Mr. Hill was married in 1848, and was the father of three children, one of whom, Mr. George R. Hill, survives, and continues in the affairs of the national enterprise founded by his father.
Silas W. Hoffman,
A leading real estate broker of Cincinnati, was born on the 6th of October, 1844, at Hoff- man's Ferry, New York. His father, John Hoffman, a farmer, and owner of the ferry which took his name, was a native of Germany. and came to this country when but six weeks old. His mother was of German descent, and
SILAS W. HOFFMAN
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a native of New York. The son, Silas W. Hoffman, was educated in New York, and attended the Albany Business College, where he completed a course of special studies to fit him for a commercial career. He started in public life at the age of twenty-one years as bookkeeper and cashier for the New York & Erie Railroad at Dunkirk, New York, later coming to Cincinnati, where he was employed by H. J. Montgomery, No. 73 Pearl Street, for one year. In 1870 he was appointed by Probate Judge Frank Hafer First Deputy of the Probate Court. After he had had charge of that position for nine months, he was elected City Auditor. He held this office for seven years. During his incumbency he issued all the bonds for the Southern Railroad. In the years 1869-1870 he was a member of the Common Council from the old Seventeenth Ward. He also was a member of both the County and State Democratic Central Committees, being a Democrat all his active life. Socially, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, being one of the originators in Cincinnati. In 1865 Mr. Hoffman married Amanda M. Thompson, by which union he is the father of two children-a son, now practicing law in Chicago, and a daughter, who is a writer of note. His present office is to be found at 603 First National Bank Building, and his residence at No. 309 Ludlow Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Willis Fuller Sewall, A. B.,
Librarian of the Toledo Public Library, was born on the 12th of August, 1866, at Ches- terville, Maine, in the neighborhood of which town his ancestors have continuously lived since the beginning of the Seventeenth Cen- tury. His father, Howard Sewall, was engaged in the lumber business in that State, and was born in the same town. Florilla (Fuller) Sewall, the mother, was a native of Jay, Maine. The Sewall family is one which has been iden- tified with the history of New England from the earliest days, the founder of the family emigrating from Coventry, England, in 1632, landing in Boston, Massachusetts. The great- grandfather of Mr. Willis Fuller Sewall was Dummer Sewall, a private in the Revolution- ary Army, and whose oldest child was the first white child born in Chesterville, Maine, the family home. His great-great-grandfather, Colonel Dummer Sewall, was a surveyor at WILLIS FULLER SEWALL, A. B. Bath, Maine, and prominent during the Revo- lutionary War. The Maine Sewalls are for the most part descended from John, a younger brother of Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, who figured prominently in the witchcraft trials. Willis Fuller Sewall received his early education in the town schools of his birthplace, and at the college preparatory schools ; Wilson Academy, Wilton, Maine, and Westbrook Sem- inary, Deering, Maine, graduating from the former in 1883 and the latter in 1886. After the termination of his preparatory studies he attended Tuft's College, at Medford, Massachu- setts, and the New York State Library School, graduating from Tuft's College in 1890 with the degree of B.A. The age of twenty-four years found him instructor in French and
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English composition and Assistant Librarian at Tuft's College. He afterwards became indexer to the New York State Commission in Lunacy, Albany, New York; cataloguer oi the Sauppe Collection of Classical Philology, at Bryn Mawr College Library; Librarian, Wilmington (Delaware) Institute Free Library ; and cataloguer, Erolier Club Library, New York City. On the 30th of October, 1894, he married Kate Louise Howe, of Albany, New York, by which union he is the father of one son, Howard Howe Sewall. In political belief Mr. Sewall is a Republican.
Edward Leonard Young,
Editor, of Norwalk, Ohio, was born at New Haven, Huron County, Ohio, on the 19th day of January, 1864. He is the son of Morgan and Amelia House Young, both of whom were natives of this State. Mr. Young was one of eight children, born on a farm, all of whom were carefully reared by honorable and self- sacrificing parents. The education of Mr. Young was obtained entirely in the common schools of his birthplace. At the age of twenty-one years he started in life as local editor of the Norwalk (Ohio) "Chronicle," advancing to editor-in-chief at the age of twenty-five, and continuing in that position until July, 1892, when he was elected State Secretary of the Knights of the Maccabees, a fraternal insurance association. This position he still occupies, as well as that of Supreme Editor of the order, in charge of "The Bee Hive," the official organ of the society. He is also Secretary of the C. F. Jackson Co., Nor- EDWARD LEONARD YOUNG walk, Ohio, department stores in Norwalk and Findlay, Ohio; director of the Citizens' Banking Company, and interested in The McCrillis Handle Company, The Hull Umbrella Company and The Miller Anchor Company, all of Norwalk, Ohio. From the foregoing it will be seen that Mr. Young is a busy man, with many interests to hold his attention; nevertheless, he finds time to take an active interest in the following societies and orders: The Knights of the Maccabees, Royal Arcanum, Modern Woodmen, the Ben Hur, Protected Home Circle, Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows. He is President of the Ohio Fra- ternal League, and Past President of the National Fraternal Press Association. On the 20th of March, 1884, he married Carrie M. Houfstater, and has one son by that union, Arthur Young, aged sixteen at time of this writing. The family attends the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which body the father early in life became affiliated.
Charles C. Curran,
Of New York City, who stands in the first rank of American painters, and enjoys a more than national reputation, was born of Ohio parents, who were temporarily teaching school at Hartford, Kentucky. He graduated from the public High School of Sandusky, Ohio, after which he spent part of a year at the Cincinnati Art School. Mr. Curran sub-
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sequently attended the school of the American Artists' Association of New York, and for two years the Julian Academy, Paris, France. Returning to his native country, he opened a Studio in the metropolis of the East, and since that time has played an important part in the life of American art. As a painter, Mr. Curran has never adopted any particular line of art studies. He paints what comes in his way and appeals to his fancy. He is strong as a colorist, not fearing to attack the most difficult problems of light and shade. Many fine ideai pictures have come from his brush. Mr. Cur- ran has been awarded the following prizes : The Clarke Prize; the Hallgarten Prize at the Academy, New York; the Carnegie Prize at the 1904 exhibition of American Artists, New York, and the Corcoran Prize, 1905, Washing- ton, D. C. His works also received honorable mention and medals at the Salon in Paris, and CHARLES C. CURRAN a medal, etc., at the St. Louis Exhibition. Mr. Curran was elected a member of the National Academy of Design, and is a member of the Salamagundi Society, the Lotus Club of New York, etc. He is also an instructor at the school of the American Artists' Society, and was employed by the American Art Directors of the late Paris Exposition as one of the judges to select the paintings for exhibition at this exposition, and to have charge of said exhibit. He also served in the same capacity at the Buffalo Exposition. Personally, Mr. Curran is a quiet, unobtrusive man, but one who thoroughly enjoys the social life of his friends, and is very popular among his fellows. His wife is a daughter of the Hon. Charles P. Wickham, of Norwalk, Ohio. They have two sons and one daughter. Mr. Curran's father, the Hon. Ulysses T. Curran, is Judge of the Probate Court of Erie County, Ohio.
Robert Walker Tayler,
United States Judge for the Northern Dis- trict of Ohio, and ex-Congressman from the Eighteenth Congressional District of Ohio, was born on the 26th of November, 1852, at Youngstown, Ohio. He is the son of Robert Walker Tayler, who was Auditor of the State of Ohio from 1860 to 1863, and First Comp- troller of the United States Treasury from 1863 to 1878, a native of Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania. His mother, Louisa Maria Woodbridge
ROBERT WALKER TAYLER
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Tayler, was born in Youngstown. Mr. Tayler is the great-great-grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He received his education in the public schools, at Georgetown College, District of Columbia, and Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio, from which latter institution he graduated with the class of 1872, receiving the degree of A.B. Immediately upon leaving college, he accepted a position as teacher in the High School of Lisbon, holding same until 1873, when he was made Superintendent of Schools of that city. This position he filled until 1875. In the years of 1875 and 1876 Mr. Tayler was editor of the Buckeye State. Newspaper, published at Lisbon. One year later Mr. Tayler was admitted to the bar, and he immedi- ately embarked in the practice of his profession. He started in public life at the age of twenty-seven, when, in 1880, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Columbiana County, a position he held for two successive terms. In 1894 Mr. Tayler was elected to Congress, representing the Eighteenth Congressional District of Ohio. He was re-elected to the same position in 1896, 1898 and 1900, serving altogether from the 4th of March, 1895, to the 4th of March, 1903. In 1902 he was again nominated for Congress, but he declined, as he intended to resume the general practice of law. After the expiration of his fourth term, Mr. Tayler went to Youngstown, becoming a member of the firm of Arrel, McVey & Tayler, and practiced until January, 1905, when he was appointed United States Judge for the Northern District of Ohio. While a member of Congress, he was for the period of six years Chairman of the Committee on Elections, and in 1899 and 1900 he served as Chairman of the special committee on the case of Brig- ham H. Roberts, Representative-elect from Utah. In 1903 and 1904 he was counsel for the protestants in the case of Reed Smoot, Senator from Utah in the United States Senate. Judge Tayler was married to Miss Helen Vance on the 18th of May, 1876. He resides at Cleveland.
Harrison Wilson,
Of Sidney, Ohio, one of the Judges of the Second Circuit Court of Ohio, is a native of the Buckeye State. He was born on a farm near Cadiz, on the 15th of March, 1841. For several generations his ancestors lived in Vir- ginia. His grandfather, Thomas Wilson, who served in the Revolutionary War for seven years and received wounds from which he never recovered, emigrated to Ohio when the father of Judge Wilson, Thomas Wilson, Jr., was only three years of age. The family settled in Jefferson County, on military lands granted to the grandfather for his patriotic services in behalf of the independence of the American colonies. Judge Wilson's mother, HARRISON WILSON Mary Harper Wilson, who was related through her mother to the famous Jackson family of Virginia, died when her son was five years of age. When Judge Wilson was seven years old, the family moved to a farm in the adjoining county of Belmont, and the ensuing period of six years was passed in farm work and attend- ing the district schools. At the age of thirteen his father placed him and his two brothers
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in the Albany Manual Training School, Athens County, Ohio, and then removed to Iowa, where he passed the remaining years of his life, dying in 1876. Judge Wilson matriculated from the Ohio University at Athens, in which he completed three years of a college course, teaching each winter to support himself at college during the remainder of the year. At the close of his junior year he enlisted as a soldier, on the 21st of June, 1861. He was mustered in as a private in Company I, Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was appointed Corporal, and served in the ranks of his company in West Virginia, until the 7th of Decem- ber of the same year, when he received an appointment as Second Lieutenant. He was assigned to the Twentieth Ohio Infantry, under its reorganization for three years' service. Continuing with this regiment until the close of the war, he was advanced from the lowest rank of commissioned officer to the command of the regiment, without skipping an inter- mediate position. His promotions were successively to First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel. For a period of nine months he also served as Adjutant. Shirking no duty, asking no soft places, he was in all of the engagements under General Grant from Fort Donaldson to Vicksburg; under Sherman from Chattanooga, and from Atlanta to the Sea; through the Carolinas to Washington, and in the grand review which marked the overthrow of the rebellion. His bravery was attested to by the medal of honor conferred "for gallant services on the field" at the battle of Raymond. At the close of the war Colonel Wilson settled at Sidney and took up the study of law with the late Attorney General James Murray. He was admitted to the bar in 1873, and for six years thereafter was associated in partnership with General Murray, until the latter's death, in 1879. From that time until his election as Judge, in 1895, Colonel Wilson continued in the practice at Sidney. He built up a profitable business, with a large clientage. In 1895 he was chosen to the bench of the Second Circuit for the residue of the term of Judge Shauck, who had been pro- moted to the Supreme Bench. At the November election in 1896 he was re-elected for the full term, beginning on the 9th of February, 1897. After the close of this term, having served with distinction, Judge Wilson was re-elected to a second term. Judge Wilson was a capable trial lawyer and a strong advocate before he became a Judge. Politically, he has always been a Republican. His personal popularity made him an available candidate of his party for Congress, in 1878, and while not hoping for election, he was able to reduce the Democratic majority from 5,000 to 1,800. Judge Wilson is a member of the Ohio State Commandery of the Loyal Legion. He takes a lively interest in affairs of the organiza- tion to perpetuate the history and memories of the war. Judge Wilson was married on the Ist of January, 1867, to Mary C. Fry, of Sidney. The union has been blessed with a family of eight children.
James I. Allread,
Judge of the Common Pleas Court of the Second Subdivision of the Second Judicial District of Ohio, is a native of Ohio. He was born on a farm near Arcanum, Darke County, on the 29th of September, 1858. His ancestors were pioneers and early settlers in Western Ohio. They came to that section of the State when it was but little less than a wilderness, and with their own labors succeeded in claiming the forest for the abode of man. Judge Allread early knew what it was to toil. He obtained his education in the public schools at Arcanum, and later attended the High School at Greenville, after which he read law in the office of the late Judge William Allen, at Greenville, was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of Ohio on the 6th of October, 1880, and immediately began the practice of his chosen profession in the city of Greenville. He was in the high tide of his career when he was appointed Circuit Judge bv Governor Mckinley, to fill the vacancy caused by the
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election of Judge Shauck, of Montgomery County to the Supreme Bench. The term Judge Allread filled was from the 8th of Feb- ruary to the 16th of November, 1895, and in that time he became known among the best Judges of that circuit. At the Republican National Convention of 1892, at Minneapolis, and of 1896, at St. Louis, Judge Allread repre- sented the Fourth Congressional District. In January, 1901, he was appointed Chief Clerk under Secretary of State Laylin, a place he occupied so creditably. On the 24th of April, 1902, he was nominated by acclamation for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas by the Republican Judicial Convention at Troy, for the Second Subdivision of the Second Judicial District, consisting of the counties of Darke, Miami, Champaign, Clark and Preble. The district was reliably Republican, and Judge Allread was elected in November, 1902, by a large majority. His term began on the 15th of May, 1903. On the Ist day of August, 1883. JAMES I. ALLREAD Judge Allread was married to Emma S. Roland and two children, Marie and Charles Harold, have been the result of the union. Judge All- read lives with his family at Greenville, Ohio. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
EDGAR ALONZO BELDEN
Edgar Alonzo Belden,
Of Hamilton, Ohio, Judge of the Common Pleas Court, was born on the 28th of Novem- ber, 1855, in the city of Hamilton, Butler County, this State. He is the son of Samuel C. Belden, a manufacturer, and Mary Fitton Belden, both of whom were born in this country, the former being a native of Massa- chusetts and the latter a native of Ohio. He received his early education in the common schools of his home city, graduating from the Hamilton High School in 1872. In 1881, after years of preparatory study, Judge Belden was. admitted to the bar, and began the practice of his chosen profession at Hamilton, gaining a high standing among his fellow practitioners. At the age of forty-six, he started in public life as a candidate for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and was elected to that position in November, 1901, and on the 9th of February, 1902, he assumed the duties of that office. He is a member of the bench of the
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Second Ohio Judicial District. In political belief, Judge Belden has always been affiliated with the Republican party, and in 1884 he received the nomination for the office of Prose- cuting Attorney of Butler County, but was defeated, the county being overwhelmingly Democratic. In the fall of 1901, however, he was elected to his present responsible position by a majority of 717, several of the Democratic candidates for other offices at the same elec- tion receiving majorities of over 2,800. On the 22d of May, 1888, Judge Belden was united in marriage to Lizzie Potter, daughter of Mr. L. B. Potter, of Hamilton. Two children are the issue of this union, Horace and Lucia Belden. He and his family attend the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Hamilton, in which city they also reside.
Judge Milton Clark,
Is a native of Warren County, born on a farm near the Little Miami in Deerfield Town- ship, on the 27th of October, 1848, the youngest son of Samuel and Ruth Crawford Clark. His father was an intelligent and thrifty farmer, and one of the most esteemed men in a com- munity of more than average intelligence. Milton grew up on the farm, attended the country school, and to prepare himself for college, walked daily nearly three miles to Maineville Academy; graduated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, 1873; taught school, and graduated at the Cincinnati Law School, 1875; had a law office in Cincinnati for four years; removed to Lebanon in 1879, and practiced his profession, securing the respect of lawyers, judges and the public. Except a term as Town Councilman, was first elected to office in 1895 to fill a vacancy on the Com- mon Pleas Bench; was re-elected for full terms of this office in 1896 and 1901. The JUDGE MILTON CLARK three times he received the endorsement of his own county for Judge the name of no opposing candidate was presented, and it is believed that on each occasion he was the choice of the members of the bar, and he himself maintained that he would not accept a position on the bench against the wishes of the members of his own profession. In 1878 he was married to Miss Isabel Gordon. Judge and Mrs. Clark, with their two children, reside in a beautiful home, with spacious grounds, in the south part of Lebanon.
Marcus G. Evans,
Judge of the Common Pleas Court in the Third (Columbus) Subdivision of the Fifth Judicial District, was born in Frankfort, Ross County, Ohio, and educated in the common schools of that village. His ancestors on his paternal side were early pioneers, and settled in Highland County, Ohio, before the admission of the State into the Union. On his maternal side Judge Evans is of Huguenot descent, and his ancestors were closely connected with the early history of the nation, some of whom were soldiers and fought for the colonies in the War of the American Revolution. Judge Marcus G. Evans is the son of Dr. John
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Baxter Evans and Lucinda (Wilson) Evans, and is the youngest of five children. After his course in the village school, Judge Evans entered the South Salem Academy, where he remained one year. He then entered Miami University for one year, and, on account of Miami closing temporarily, matriculated at the University of Wooster, and there graduated in the Classical Course in 1877. The succeeding year he was Principal of the union schools at his native town of Frankfort. In addition to his duties as teacher, he studied law under the preceptorage of his brother, William Edgar Evans (afterwards Judge of the Court of Common Pleas), and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1879. He at once began the practice of law at Chillicothe, and in 1885 was elected on the Republican ticket Prosecuting Attorney of Ross County, and re-elected in 1888. In 1892 Judge Evans was married to Miss Stella Margaret Nelson, of Columbus, at which time, with a view to seeking a wider field for his work, he moved to Columbus and began the practice of his profession. In 1893 Judge Evans was invited to, and did, deliver a course of lectures on commercial law, to the Senior class of the Law Department of the Ohio State University, and in the years 1895- 1896 he was appointed by the Supreme Court on the commission to examine applicants for admission to the bar. The year following Judge Evans was appointed as one of the MARCUS G. EVANS Republican members of the Board of Elections of the city of Columbus, and served until February, 1902, when he resigned. He was Presi- dent of the Board for nearly three years immediately preceding the time of his retirement, and resigned from the Board in order to become a candidate for Common Pleas Judge. He was elected as such at the November election of 1902. Judge Evans has always been a conscientious and active working Republican. His active political work began in the Garfield campaign, in 1880. During this campaign he devoted most of his time in the councils of his party and on the stump in Southern Ohio. He was ardent in the work of the Ohio Republican League Clubs, and served as a representative of his district in the directory of the organization in the years 1890-1891. Judge Evans in his fraternal rela- tions is a member of the Masonic fraternity, a member of Mt. Vernon Commandery, K. T., of Columbus, and of the Columbus Lodge of Elks.
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