USA > Ohio > Auglaize County > Portrait and biographical record of Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the Presidents of the United States > Part 10
USA > Ohio > Logan County > Portrait and biographical record of Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the Presidents of the United States > Part 10
USA > Ohio > Shelby County > Portrait and biographical record of Auglaize, Logan and Shelby Counties, Ohio : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with biographies and portraits of all the Presidents of the United States > Part 10
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In 1884, Indge Lawrence was elected a member of the Philosophical Society of Washington, D. C., a very seleet body of learned and seientifie gentle- men, which publishes a volume annually. In the month of May, 1889, he was elected a member of the Census Analytical Association of the United States, and made Vice-president of the section on wool. The object of the association, which consists of only fifty members, is to create a system of verifi- cation of all statistical data of the United States.
The office of First Comptroller of the Treasury Department is second in importance only to that of the Secretary. He is a law officer, who decides
questions arising as to the payment of money into and out of the Treasury. Hamilton declared that "the Comptroller is a check upon the Secretary." From his decision there is no appeal, he cannot be overruled by the Secretary nor the President, though he may overrule the Secretary in the al- lowance of claims. By authority of the Secretary, two volumes of the "Decisions of Comptroller Law- rence" were published, the first ever issued, and Congress then passed the joint resolution of Au- gust 3, 1882, authorizing one volume of the De- cisions to be printed each year thereafter, and under this, four additional volumes were printed. They for the first time distinctly enunciated the great system of "executive national common law," and furnished a fund of legal learning found in no other works. They have been highly com- mended by jurists. statesmen, and law-writers. Burroughs, in his "Law of Public Securities," . quotes largely from these Decisions. At one time, the Supreme Court of the District of Colum- bia undertook by mandamus to eompel the Treas- urer of the United States to pay a claim disallowed by the Comptroller, but his decision was sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States. 4 Lawrence, 261.
Mr. Lawrence is author of:
"The Law of Claims against Goverments." Washington, Government Print, 1875.
"The Law of Religious Societies." American Law Register. 1873.
"The Organization of the Treasury Department." Washington, Government Print, 1881.
"The Law of limpeachable Crimes." American Law Register, September, 1867.
"Introductory and Coneluding Chapters to Lec- tures of J. B. Helwig, D. D." Dayton U. B. Pub- lishing House, 1876.
"Chapters in American History of Champaign and Logan Counties." 1872.
"The Causes of the Rebellion," being the intro- ductory chapter to "Reminiscences of the War," by Rev. A. R. Howbert, D. D. 1888.
"Decisions of the First Comptroller." 6 vols. Washington Government Print. 1880-85.
Five "Annual Reports," as First Comptroller. 1880-84.
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"The Treaty Question."
"Sketch of the Life and Public Services of John Sherman." 1888.
Numerous "Reports in Congress."
"Lives of the First Comptrollers." now ready for the press.
The Government of Japan, through a London, England, book house, in 1887 procured copies of the "Decisions of the First Comptrollers," for use in organizing the Treasury Department of that country. The Japanese Legation at Washington in June, 1874, procured copies of "The Law of Claims," to be used as authority on questions grow- ing out of the rebellion in that country of the Tycoon against the Mikado. The Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish, ordered extra copies printed for distribution to foreign governments, and they have been quoted in arguments before every mixed commission since organized to adjust claims be- tween the I'nited States and foreign countries. In 1874, IIon. Elihu B. Washburn, United States Minister to France, procured copies for distribn- tion to publicists in that country, and he said of it: "It is wonderfully able and exhaustive. It has gone to the very bottom of the whole business. It is one of the most valuable contributions of the times to national and international law. It ren- ders immense service to the country by 'laying down the law' on these subjects." It has been ever since regarded and quoted in Congress as an author- rity, and has been twice re-printed by authority of Congress.
Ilis work on the "Law of Religious Societies" has been declared to be "a marvel of learning upon the subject." D. D. Chapin, in The Churchman, as quoted in "Current Comment and Legal Mis- cellany," (Vol. 1 .. No. 5. Philadelphia, May 15. 1889.)
ITis Alma Mater conferred upon Judge Lawrence the degree of A. M .. in cursu. and on the 25th of June, 1873, conferred on him the degree of L.L. D . and Wittenberg College subsequently conferred on him the same degree.
A distinguished citizen of Ohio, who has hon- orably represented the United States in a foreign country, but who differs politically with Judge Lawrence. recently said of him:
"Few American citizens equal him in the quali- ties that go to make up a great man and useful public servant. He is a man of tireless energies, of prodigions learning, of sound judgment, and of absolnte honesty. Moreover, his views are broad and charitable, his disposition confiding and friendly, and his character noble and generous. His simple manners are pleasing, while his easy flowing eloquence never wearies. Jealonsy never enters his manly breast. ** He has always and easily risen to the high level of the responsi- ble and commanding positions he has held. As a statistical scholar he has no equal in Ohio. He is clear and methodical, broad and accurate, and in- dustrious beyond' ordinary mortals. Ile is an au- thor of established reputation. Some of his works show great research and ability, and are quoted as authority in foreign countries."*
The entire career of Judge Lawrence has been guided by a sense of duty and he subordinated ambition to principle. In 1854, a Committee of the Know Nothing Order tendered him a nomina- tion as a candidate for Congress, with a certainty of success, but lie declined it, because he could not indorse their opposition to adopted citizens, or proseription for religious opinions. Hle commenced his career as a Whig, making political speeches in the great campaign of 18.10, even before he had reached the age of majority. Ile adhered to the Whig party until it was disbanded. Early in 1854. when the Douglas Kansas-Nebraska Bill was pressed for passage in the Senate, with its specious declara- tion in favor of "popular sovereignty" as a con- trivance to extend slavery. he was among the first and foremost to denounce it and ask the co-opera- tion of "free-soil" Whigs and Democrats to unite to resent the aggression of the slave-power. He was then a member of the Ohio Senate, in which Hon. Norton S. Townsend, afterward Member of Congress, and now a Professor in the Ohio State University, was also a member. A public meeting was called at Columbus, which was addressed by Ilon. John W. Andrews and others. and resolu- tions adopted denouncing the Douglas bill. On the 22d of February. 1854. a public meeting at
* Hon. James H. Anderson, in Wyandotte County (Ohio) Repub- lican, of May 16. 1><0, formerly Consul to Nuremberg,
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Marysville was addressed by Hon. Joseph R. Swan. Norton S. Townsend and William Lawrence in opposition to the Douglas bill. The speech of the latter was published in full in the Marysville Tribune.
Soon after this, some of the leading men in the Legislature and other citizens of Columbus organ- ized and appointed a committee, consisting of Lawrence, Townsend and Hon. Ephraim R. Eekley. a member of the Senate, to address letters to lead- ing Whigs, Democrats and Free-Soilers all over the State, inviting them to attend a State convention in Columbus to nominate candidates for State otti- ces and to adopt a platform against slavery exten- sion.+ County conventions were held and dele- gates appointed. The State Convention was held and Joseph R. Swan was nominated as a candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court, and a platform was adopted. The convention was called the "Fusion Convention." a fusion of Whigs. Democrats and Free-Soilers, and it was a grand success. The com- mittee which set this ball in motion held its sessions in Mr. Lawrence's rooms. at the Neil House. and opened the way for a new political party. The same elements which started this movement and which composed the convention originated and managed the State Convention of 1855, formally held as the first Republican State Convention.
In these proceedings the Republican party was organized and took form and name. From that time onward, Mr. Lawrence has been an earnest. effective Republican. While he resided in Wash- ington. D. C., the Ohio Republican Club was or- ganized in the summer of 1880. Mr. Lawrence was unanimously elected its first President, and so continued by annual elections until under Cleve- land's administration it was disbanded, in 1885.
Hon. William Lawrence was married December 20, 1843, at McConnellsville to Cornelia, daughter of llon. William Hawkins. an excellent lady of rare intelligence, who had been associated with him in teaching school at that place in 1839. she died February 29, 1844. He was married March 20. 1815. to Caroline M., daughter of Henry Miller.
an excellent lady whose many virtues have through long years blessed his home. She was born at Port Republic, Rockingham County, Va., January 20, 1828, was baptized at MeGackeysville Lutheran Church, educated at the Granville (Ohio) Presby- terian Female Seminary. and was there a room- mate of Cecelia Stewart, now wife of Hon. John Sherman. Three sons, Joseph II., William II. and John M., and three daughters, Cornelia. Frances C. and Mary Temperance, are the children of this union. Joseph II., a lawyer, died May 7, 1885.
OIIN J. HAUSS, who is perhaps the largest dealer in drugs. books, wall paper, paints, ete., in this part of Ohio, is one of the shrewdest. as well as most popular and sue- cessful, young business men in Auglaize County. and has risen from the tow path to a position of prominence and wealth, although he is only thirty- six years old. Hle is a native of St. Mary's. his present place of residence and business, being born in this city September 10, 1856. His father, Fred- erick llanss, was born in Baden, Germany, nearly seventy years ago, and came to America when a young man. He landed at New York, came thence to Ohio, and was at St. Mary's during the cholera epidemie in 1849. He went from here to New Or- leans. He was originally a rope-maker in the old country, but he engaged in the cooper's trade, with which he was familiar, in the Crescent City. Re- turning to St. Mary's after a year's sojourn in New Orleans, he carried on coopering at this point a few years. lle then embarked in mercantile pursuits, and built up a large trade, which he con- ducted several years, becoming one of the leading merchants and citizens of St. Mary's. For the past twenty years, he has been living five miles north of the city. where he is still engaged in busi- ness, and also farms to some extent. While he lived in Germany, he was in the German army under Gen. Seigle. Both he and his good wife are members in high standing of the German
* A copy of one of these letters will be found in a speech delis- ered by Hon. Thomas Ewing, soon after this, and which will doubt- less be in his published works.
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Evangelical Church. The latter is also of German birth, and her maiden name was Elizabeth Kneirim. She is the mother of eight children, of whom six are living, our subject being the eldest.
Our subject was educated in the public schools, and at the age of fourteen he left home to begin the struggle of life in earnest, obtaining work on the tow path of the Miami and Erie Canal. year later, he was promoted to a position on a store boat, where he became familiar with one form of mercantile business. He remained in that place two years, and was paid $35 a month. October 14, 1872, he entered the drug store of W. II. Dolls to learn the details of the drug business., and he was with him for thirteen years. rising to be his chief clerk, and becoming a very competent drug- gist. In 1884, he established a business of his own at St. Mary's purchasing a small drug store in partnership with Robert B. Gordon, Jr. They did business together under the firm name of Hauss &. Gordon for three years. In 1887, Mr. Hauss bought Mr. Gordon's interest in the concern, and has since conducted it himself. He has greatly increased his business, enlarging his accommoda- tions to keep pace with his rapidly growing trade, and he now has a fine two-story brick building, in which he occupies a double storeroom, which is elegantly fitted up, its appointments being equal to the fine establishments of the kind in the larger cities, and he carries a heavy stock of the articles enumerated in the beginning of this sketch. It is said that he is probably doing the largest business in his line in the county. He is a large property- holder, having extensive real-estate interests in the city, including six houses and lots and a large number of building lots favorably located in the city, beside his business block, and he has money well invested in other directions. He is also somewhat of a farmer, having recently pur- chased a valuable farm, and is placing thereon a fine set of farm buildings.
No name stands higher in financial circles than our subject's. Ile entered upon his career with no capital, and that he is to-day, at no late period in life, a wealthy man. he owes not only to his devo- tion to his business and to his far-sighted business policy, but to the honorable principles that have
guided him in every transaction however small, prompting him to deal with the utmost fairness with all, with no tendency to he grasping or over- reaching, and causing him to make it a point to pay cash for everything that he buys, so that he does not owe a dollar to any man. His ability and genial disposition have brought him to the front in local politics and in the public and social life of the city. Ile is an advocate of the Democratic party, and has been a member of the City Council and Clerk of St. Mary's Township. Ile belongs to the Masonie lodge, Knight Templars, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and to the Encampment. Both he and his wife belong to the German Evan- gelical Church.
Mr. Ilauss was married June 30. 1887, to Miss Bertha F. Freyman, who presides with true grace over their attractive home. Mrs. Hauss is a native of Wapakoneta, and a daughter of Frederick Freyman, a farmer of this county, and a Pennsyl- vaman by birth.
R. ISAAC A. DORAN. It is to the skill and science of the druggist that suffering humanity looks for alleviation of pain. The physician may successfully diagnose, but it is the chemist who prepares the remedy. When, therefore, as in the case of the gentleman whose name forms the subject of this sketch, the two professions, that of the physician and that of the druggist, are combined. how doubly important becomes the establishment conducted by Dr. Isaac A. Doran, at Rushsylvania, Logan County, Ohio.
This gentleman was born in Westmoreland County. Greensburgh. Pa .. on the 23d of July, 1820. and his father. Thomas Doran, was also a native of the Keystone State. The latter was a blacksmith by trade, and was a teamster, hanling goods with many teams from Philadelphia to Bal- timore and Pittsburgh. He also kept hotei for many years. He came to Butler County, Ohio. in 1826. and located at Bethany, where he carried on
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a blacksmith shop and a hotel for some time. From there he moved to Sidney, Shelby County, Ohio, bought a farm about a mile and a half east of Sidney, and there his death occurred in 1882. His father was a native of France. The mother of our subject, Jane (Hayes) Doran, was a native of Pennsylvania, and died in Shelby County, Ohio, in 1880.
Of the tive children born to this estimable couple, three sons and one daughter, all reached mature years and beeame the heads of families. They were Isaac A., James H., deceased; Thomas S., residing in Sidney, Ohio, a retired farmer; and Hannah, the widow of Joseph Johnston, who resides two miles east of Sidney, Ohio. Our subjeet, the eldest of this family, was but six years of age when he came with his parents to Ohio, and his first schooling was in the log schoolhouse in Butler County. When a young man, he worked on the canal and was Captain of one of the canal boats for some time. Ile was trained to work hard, and has cut cordwood for twenty-five cents a cord, and has also split rails at the same price. Ile first began the study of medicine with Dr. P. B. Beman, remained with him about four years, and during that time attended the Eelectic Medical College of Cincinnati. Later, he came to Logan County, Ohio, located in Rushsylvania, and was the first Eclectic physician in the county, and the third physician in the village. In 1868, he started his drug store in connection with his practice and lias been very successful in both.
Dr. Doran was married the first time in January, 1852, to Miss Sarah A. Elam, a native of Greene County, Ohio, who died in January, 1878. Two children were born to this union: Thomas B., de- ceased, and Clarence E., a railroad man, now of New- ark, Ohio, who is married and has a family. Our subject's second marriage was with Eliza Stepben- son, a native of Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, born February 5, 1837, and the daughter of John and Elizabeth S. (Stahl) Stephenson, natives re- spectively of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Stephenson settled in Darke County, Ohio, in 1818. Dr. Doran was a member of the Ohio Eclectic Medical Association, and is a mem- ber of the Ohio Pharmacy Association, of which
he is an active member. Mrs. Doran is a member of the same and assists in the drug store.
A strong Republican in politics, the Doctor ad- voeates the principles of his party, and was Post- master in Rushsylvania from 1854 until 1883. He was one of the incorporators of the village, and the first Clerk of the Board. He was made a Mason at Sidney, Ohio, in 1843, in Lodge No. 73, and has been an active member of that fraternity. He owns a farm of sixty-five acres adjoining the village, also fifty lots in the village, and has built six houses.
P ROF. HENRY WINTWORTH, Superin- tendent of the Public Schools of Bellefon- taine, was born in Richland County, Ohio. January 20, 1853. His parents, John and Sarah (Blow) Whitworth, were born, reared and married in England, whence they emigrated to America early in the year 1852, settling in Rich- land County, Ohio. The father was a local minis- ter in the Primitive Methodist Church in England. and after coming to the United States, united with the Methodist Episcopal Church and was ordained to the ministry. He is a man of great piety and earnestness in the work of the Lord, and is highly esteemed by all with whom he has been brought in contact. As a preacher, he shows unusual familiar- ity with the Scriptures and intense fervorand zeal.
Our subject is one of three surviving children. the others being Mrs. Mattie J. Smith and Mrs. Mary A. Wheaton. The rudiments of his educa- tion were gained in the distriet and village schools in the vicinity of the parental home, and after completing the common-school studies. he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware in 1871. graduating from that famous institution in 1877. In September of the same year. he came to Belle- fontaine to accept the position of teacher in the High School, serving as Principal for five years. In 1882, he was promoted to the Superintendency
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of the city schools, which position he has sinee filled with marked ability and to the satisfac- tion of all.
The fine school building at Bellefontaine was finished in 1878, during his first year as Principal of the High School. The school has about eight hundred attendants, and is divided into twelve grades, four each of Primary. Grammar and High School, twelve years being required to finish the course. He has been connected with the schools for ten years and has been instrumental in advance- ing the standard of education and gaining increased facilities for the children of the city. For five years he has been County Examiner of Logan County, a position requiring unusual taet and ability, and in which he has served with credit and success.
June 26, 1883, Prof. Whitworth was united in marriage with Miss Katie Kernan, an estimable and accomplished lady, who has passed her entire life in Bellefontaine. One son. Kernan B., has blessed the union. The religious home of Prof. and Mrs. Whitworth is in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and they are ever foremost in religious and benev- olent undertakings. Their culture and fine social qualities render them pleasant companions where- ever they may be, and they are welcome guests in the best cireles of society. The Professor is identified with the Masonic fraternity, in which he is a leading member. llis broad information and extensive knowledge of men and events qualify him most admirably for the position which he has so long and ably filled, and he is numbered among the most cultured citizens of Bellefontaine.
S OLOMON BAMBERGER is one of the fore- most business men of St. Mary's, who has been the chief promoter of many of its leading enterprises, and is identified with various of its mercantile. manufacturing and finan- cial interests. lle was born in Bavaria. Germany. Jannary 12, 1816, a son of a Bavarian merchant.
David Bamberger, who died in his native land in 1890, at the venerable age of seventy-nine years.
Our subjeet is the third of nine children, all of whom are living. Ile laid the foundation of his education in the common schools of his country, and subsequently completed it in a commercial college at Bamberg. Ambitious to see something of the world and to try life in America, where he felt confident he could win his way to a fortune, he turned his back on his pleasant old home and on his childhood friends when only fourteen years of age, in the year 1860, and, embarking at Bremen in October, landed at New York two weeks later. Thenee he came to Ohio, and. for the next five years his life was passed in Sandusky, where he clerked for a short time, and then engaged in the clothing business for himself. In 1865, he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was in business three . years. In 1868, he returned Eastward, and spent a year as a elerk in a dry-goods store in New York City. In 1869, he again took up his residence in Ohio, coming to St. Mary's, where he has since en- gaged in the clothing business, with the exception of the year 1886, which he passed in New York.
In 1887, Mr. Bamberger and two other gentle- men built the Fountain Hotel, in which he has a one-third interest, and he oceupies a fine and hand- somely fitted-up store in the building, in which he carries a complete line of gentlemen's clothing, such as is furnished by the best establishments of the kind in the large cities of the country. Our subjeet's attention is by no means confined to the management of this coneern, but he has launched out in other directions, and has made himself a publie benefactor by his far-seeing and well directed enterprise. In 1880. he associated himself with T. E. Hollingsworth in the lumber business. which they still carry on. He is President of the People's Building and Loan Association, which is in a flour- ishing condition under his careful and capable management; and he is Treasurer and stockholder of the Bimel Carriage Company, which was organ- ized in 1892; and in 1890 he helped to organize the llome Banking Company, of which he is Vice- president. lle is a member of the Bamberger de Hollingsworth Oil Company, which has four wells, all producing a good supply of oil: he has also
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valuable property interests in St. Mary's, including his large and handsomely appointed frame resi- dence on the corner of South and Main Streets, which he erected in 1887. Ile is President of the Graphie Publishing Company, which issues the Republican organ of this city, and, as with every- thing else with which his name is connected, is well conducted on a sound and paying basis. In politics, he acts with the Republican party. He was a member of the Board of Education one term, and takes a friendly interest in the schools of the eity. Socially, he is a Mason of the highest stand- ing. He is Master of Mercer Masonic Lodge No. 121, and is High Priest of St. Mary's Chapter No. 51.
Mr. Bamberger was married in 1874. in New York City, to Miss Lena Colin, a native of that city, and a daughter of L. H. Cohn, who was a Ger- man by birth, and was a fresco painter in that city. Three children have blessed the congenial wedded life of our subject and his amiable wife, whom they have named respectively Ray, Louis and Gilbert.
E DWARD PERPUS, Mayor, merchant and insurance agent of New Bremen, Ohio. is one of the most thorough-going, prominent and substantial business men of the place. Ile has one of the finest business establishments in the town, and by his long and intimate connection with the progress and development of the county, enjoys the respect and esteem of a wide circle of personal and business acquaintances. He began life at the bottom of the ladder, but by good man- agement and naturally fine qualifications, he has attained a position of which any man might be proud. Mr. Purpus was born in Germany on the 15th of January, 1847. and bis parents, Lewis and Louisa Purpus, were also natives of that country.
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