USA > Ohio > Tuscarawas County > Portrait and biographical record of Tuscarawas County, Ohio > Part 8
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Tlic silver question precipitated a controversy between those who were in favor of the continu- ance of silver coinage and those who were op- posed, Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, even before his inauguration.
On June 2, 1886, President Cleveland married Frances, daughter of his deceased friend and part- ner, Oscar Folsom, of the Buffalo Bar. Their union has been blessed by the birth of two daugh- ters. In the campaign of ISSS, President Cleve- land was renominated by his party, but the Republican candidate, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, was victorious. In the nominations of 1892 these two candidates for the highest position in the gift of the people were again pitted against cach other, and in the ensuing election President Cleveland was victorious by an overwhelming majority.
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BENJAMIN HARRISON.
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BENJAMIN HARRISON.
ENJAMIN HARRISON, the twenty-third President, is the descendant of one of the historical families of this country. The first known head of the family was Maj .- Gen. Harrison, one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted followers and fighters. In the zenith of Cromwell's power it be- came the duty of this Harrison to participate in the trial of Charles I., and afterward to sign the death warrant of the king. He subsequently paid for this with his life, being hung October 13, 1660. His descendants came to America, and the next of the family that appears in history is Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great-grandfa- ther of the subject of this sketch, and after whom he was named. Benjamin Harrison was a meni- ber of the Continental Congress during the years 1774, 1775 and 1776, and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was three times elected Governor of Virginia.
Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a successful career as a soldier during the War of 1812, and with a clean record as Governor of the Northwestern Territory, was elected President of the United States in 1840. His career was cut short by death within one month after his in- auguration.
President Harrison was born at North Bend,
Hamilton County, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His life up to the time of his graduation from Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventful one of a country lad of a family of small means. His father was able to give him a good education, and nothing more. He became engaged while at college to the daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of a female school at Oxford. After graduating, he determined to enter upon the study of law. He went to Cincinnati and there read law for two years. At the expiration of that time young Har- rison received the only inheritance of his life-luis aunt, dying, left him a lot valued at $800. He regarded this legacy as a fortune, and decided to get married at once, take this money and go to some Eastern town and begin the practice of law. He sold his lot, and, with the money in his pocket. he started out with his young wife to fight for a place in the world. He decided to go to Indian- apolis, which was even at that time a town of promise. He met with slight encouragement at first, making scarcely anything the first year. He worked diligently, applying himself closely to his calling, built up an extensive practice and took a leading rank in the legal profession.
I11 1860, Mr. Harrison was nominated for the position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- gan his experience as a stump speaker. He can-
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BENJAMIN HARRISON.
vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by a handsome majority. In 1862 lie raised the Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its Colonel. His regiment was composed of the raw- est material, but Col. Harrison employed all his time at first in mastering military tactics and drill- ing his men, and when he came to move toward the East with Sherman, his regiment was one of the best drilled and organized in the army. At Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and for his bravery at Peachtree Creek he was made a Brigadier-General, Gen. Hooker speaking of him in the most complimentary terms.
During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the field, the Supreme Court declared the office of Supreme Court Reporter vaeant, and another person was elected to the position. From the time of leaving Indiana with his regiment until the fall of 1864 he had taken no leave of absence, but having been nominated that year for the same · offiee, he got a thirty-day leave of absenee, and during that time made a brilliant eanvass of the State, and was elected for another term. He then started to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a most trying attack made his way to the front in time to participate in the closing ineidents of the war.
In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-election as Reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 1876 he was a candidate for Governor. Although defeated, the brilliant campaign he made won for him a national reputation, and he was much sought after, especially in the East, to make speeches. In 1880, as usual, he took an active part in the campaign, and was elected to the United States Senate. Here he served for six years, and was known as one of the ablest men, best lawyers and strongest debaters in that body. With the ex- piration of his senatorial term he returned to the practice of liis profession, becoming the head of · one of the strongest firms in the State.
The political campaign of 1888 was one of the most memorable in the history of our country. The convention which assembled in Chicago in ^ June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief stand- ard-bearer of the Republican party was great in every partieular, and on this account, and the at-
titude it assumed upon the vital questions of the day, chief among which was the tariff, awoke a deep interest in the campaign throughout the nation. Shortly after the nomination, delegations began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his home. This movement became popular, and from all sections of the country societies, clubs and delegations journeyed thither to pay their rc- spects to the distinguished statesman.
Mr. Harrison spoke daily all through the sun- mer and autumn to these visiting delegations, and so varied, masterly, and eloquent were his speeches that they at once placed him in the fore- most rank of American orators and statesmen. Elected by a handsome majority, he served his country faitlifully and well, and in 1892 was nom- inated for re-election; but the people demanded a change and he was defeated by his predecessor in office, Grover Cleveland.
On account of his eloquence as a speaker and his power as a debater, Gen. Harrison was ealled upon at an early age to take part in the dis- eussion of the great questions that then began to agitate the country. He was an uncompromising anti-slavery man, and was matehed against some of the most eminent Democratic speakers of liis State. No man who felt the touch of his blade desired to be pitted with him again. With all his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for ora- torical effect, but his words always went like bul- lets to the mark. He is purely American in his ideas, and is a splendid type of the American statesman. Gifted with quick perception, a logi- eal mind and a ready tongue, he is one of the most distinguished impromptu speakers in the nation. Many of these speechies sparkled with the rarest eloquence and contained arguments of great weight, and many of his terse statements have already become aphorisms. Original in thought, precise in logie, terse in statement, yet withal faultless in eloquence, lie is recognized as the sound statesman and brilliant orator of the day. During the last days of his administration Presi- dent Harrison suffered an irreparable loss in the death of his devoted wife, Caroline (Scott) Har- rison, a lady of many womanly charms and vir- tues. They were the parents of two children.
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TUSCARAWAS COUNTY,
OHIO.
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INTRODUCTORY.
SHE time has arrived when it becomes the duty of the people of this county to per- petuate the names of their pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age and the duty that men of the pres- ent time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In bio- graphical history is found a power to instruct man by precedent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this country from its primitive state may be preserved. Surely and rapidly the great and aged men, who in their prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number re- maining who can relate the incidents of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for the collection and preser- vation of events without delay, before all the early settlers are cut down by the scythe of Time.
To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to perserve the memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory has been in propor- tion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhu- mations made by the archeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people
to perpetuate the memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks were for the same purpose. Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and monu- ments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but this idea- to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them costly in the ex- treme, give but a faint idea of the lives and charac- ters of those whose memory they were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity ; the mausoleums, monuments and statues are crum- bling into dust.
It was left to modern ages to establish an intelli- gent, undecaying, immutable method of perpetuating a full history-immutable in that it is almost un- limited in extent and perpetual in its action; and this is through the art of printing.
To the present generation, however, we are in- debted for the introduction of the admirable system of local biography. By this system every man, though: he has not achieved what the world calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages.
The scythe of Time cuts down all; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which his chil- dren or friends may erect to his memory in the ceme. tery will crumble into dust and pass away; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind.
To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits, for the same reason we col- lect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone: to do this we are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public record.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
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HARLES C. WELTY, deceased, was one of the old and highly esteemed citizens of New Philadelphia. For a long period of years he was officially connected with the Citizens' National Bank of this place, having been appointed Cashier in 1879, a position he held up to the time of his demise; and in addition to this he was a stockholder in the bank.
The birth of our subject occurred February 1, 1843, in Canal Dover. His father, Elijah Welty, was one of the old settlers of that place, and was for many years one of her prominent merchants. - The mother, whose maiden name was Clarissa Cook, died when hier son, Charles, was only six weeks old. The father was called to his final rest in 1853. Both parents were active and prominent workers in the Methodist Church. Their only daughter, Clara, died when about eight years of age. The Welty family is of German origin, the founders of the branch in the United States having first lo- cated in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Clarissa Welty was a native of Bethany, Genesee County, N. Y.
After the death of his mother, Charles C. Welty was taken into the home of his father's sister, Mrs. II. T. Stockwell, of Canal Dover. The boyhood days of our subject were passed in that town, where lic received good educational advantages.
When the war broke out, he responded to the President's call for troops, and enlisted in New Philadelphia, in Company A, Fifty-first Ohio In- fantry. The date of his enlistment was September 7, 1861. and he continued to serve in the ranks until the close of the war. As he was possessed of the essential qualifications for clerical work, he was given a position in the Quartermaster's depart- ment, and March 1, 1863, was promoted to be Com- pany Sergeant. He was again promoted, January 6, 1865, to the rank of Second Lieutenant of Com- pany F. in the same regiment. and on the 1st of the following July was made First Lieutenant. Later he became active Regiment Quartermaster. which position he filled until mustered out of serv- ice at Victoria, Tex., October 3, 1865. He was finally discharged at Camp Meigs, on October 12. In every position which he occupied he was faith- ful and reliable, being popular with the soldiers as well as with his superior officers.
After the war, Mr. Welty went to New York City and became a salesman for the dry-goods house of Bradley & Welty. For a time he traveled, but about 1872 entered into partnership with J. M. Kennedy, and purchased a steam flourmill, which he conducted for several years. In 1877 he ob- tained a position in the Citizens' National Bank,
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with which he was ever afterward connected dur- ing the remainder of his life.
In this city was celebrated the marriage of Charles Welty and Mary E. Hull, November 25, 1869. Mrs. Welty is a daughter of John S. and Mary A. (McElroy) Hull. The former is a na- tive of Washington County, Pa., but early became a resident of Cadiz, Ohio, where he was engaged in merchandising with the Kilgores. After com- ing to this city he continued to be employed in commercial pursuits for many years. Though he was past the age of military duty, he was & true patriot, and enlisted in 1861 in the Eightieth Ohio Infantry, being assigned to the commissary serv- ice, with the rank of Sergeant. Under President Jolinson he was Postmaster of New Philadelphia. Though well along in years, he still enjoys good health, as does also his devoted wife. She is a na- tive of Belmont County, Ohio, and was married in 1842. Both she and her husband are members of the Presbyterian Church. To Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Welty were born five children: Emma C .; Clara L., Mrs. Albert G. Reeves, of this city; Frank M., who is in the Citizens' National Bank; Anna M. and Mary F., who are at home. Mrs. Welty and her daughter Emma hold membership with the Pres- byterian Church.
For several terms Charles C. Weity was a mem- ber of the City Council, and in politics was a stanch Republican. Fraternally he was a member of Andrew Crawford Post No. 6, G. A. R .; the Loyal Legion, and of Philos Couneil No. 390, R. A. Of the latter he was a charter member and was Treasurer from its organization to the time of his death. A kind-hearted and generous man, Mr. Welty possessed those attributes of character which make sincere friends, and for one and all he had a pleasant smile and a good word. Ile loved everything that was beautiful in nature and hu- manity, and was particularly fond of music. A devoted and indulgent husband and father, his home was to him the dearest spot on earth. After a brief illness he was called to his final rest, March 11, 1894. Ilis death was a shock to the whole community, and his many friends deeply mourn his loss. The funeral services were conducted under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church.
The following resolutions on the death of C. C. Welty were passed at a meeting of the business men of New Philadelphia:
"WHEREAS, On Sunday, the 11 inst., Charles C. Welty, an esteemed citizen and honored represen- tative of the business interests of our city, was bid- den to enter the portals of death, and to take upon himself the mantle of eternity, with God's supreme gift to mankind-immortality-we place this trib- ute on record in memory of our departed friend and co-laborer; and
"Resolved, That we recognize in the death of our friend the loss of a valued companion and the wise counsels of a far-seeing man of business;
"Resolved, That we will ever hold in fondest memory the honest, sterling qualities of our friend as a citizen, a business man and Christian, trusting that his short life with us may be for the better- ment of his friends who indite these lines;
"Resolved, That we express our deepest sympa- thy for his widow and children, and pray that God may watch over them to that degree which is the hope of the Christian;
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to his family, and that they be published in the papers of our city.
"W. W. BOWERS, "JOHN BURRY, "JOHN A. ZEEB, "EDWARD W. DICK, "Committee."
"RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT .- Again has the unre- lenting reaper, Death, come into our midst and taken from us in the prime of life our beloved friend and business associate, C. C. Welty. Al- thoughi never again shall we look upon his bright and smiling countenance, we, the surviving men- bers of his business association, desire to express in some public manner the loss of one who was so dear to us all.
WHEREAS, It has pleased Divine Providence to remove from our midst our dear friend, C. C. Welty, who departed this life March 11, 1894,
"Resolved, That in the death of our Cashier, C. C. Welty, this bank loses an officer who was al- ways prompt to advance its interest, devoted to its welfare and prosperity; one who was wise in
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council, fearless in action, and an honest man, whose virtues endeared him not only to the Direc- tors and officers of this bank, but to all with whom he was brouglit in contact;
"Resolved, That the Directors of this bank tender their heart-felt sympathies to the family and rela- tives in this their sad affliction;
"Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the county papers, and that a copy be sent to the family of the deceased.
"S. O'DONNELL, Pres. "B. P. SCOTT, Cashier."
P HILIP A. GARVER was born at Navarre, Stark County, Olio, on the 8th day of February, 1835. His father, John William Garver, was a native of Baden, Germany, and his mother, Elizabeth Wysbrod, was a native of Switz- erland. His parents emigrated to America in 1832, and settled at Bethlehem, Stark County, Ohio, where the father followed the trade of carpenter and house-builder. During a period of forty years he labored most of the time at Massillon, Ohio, where he aided and superintended the framework in the construction of many of the older and best buildings in that city.
Philip A. Garver is the eldest of seven brothers and two sisters, who are all still living, except- ing one brother, Emil Garver, who died last sum- mer, at Defiance, Olio. In his boyhood days the education of the youth of the country seldom extended further than a few months' attendance each year at a subscription school, kept in the primitive log schoolhouse, taught by very ordi- nary teachers, whose best qualifications usually consisted in the fact that they did not spare the rod. Here the subject of this sketch made the best of his opportunities, and his early schoolmates are still wont to congratulate him on their remem-
brance of the fact that he always stood first in his elasses. Ilis reputation as the best speller, the best reader, the best writer and the best cipherer in the township was undisputed. When prizes were contended for in educational and literary contests, lie always carried off the first. In this connection he acknowledges with gratitude that his parents gave liim every aid and facility to bet- ter his education which the support and education of a large family, with very meager means, per- mitted. Running the streets of the then busy vil- lages of Bethlehem, Navarre and Rochester (now one town), playing with like companions along the banks of the Ohio Canal and the beautiful Tuscarawas River, and laboring at odd jobs until the age of sixteen, he was fired with the ambition to become a school teacher. At this time teaching be- gan to lift itself to a higher plane; well qualified teachers were in good demand; better schoolhouses were being built, and the new and excellent school system provided by the laws of Ohio made the profession more honorable and remunerative. As a first preparation to this end, and by the exereise of great economy, as well as a little financial aid received from his father, he was enabled to pay his way for two terms at the Mt. Union Semi- nary. He was granted his first certificate (for nine months) at New Philadelphia, Ohio, on the 14th day of October, 1853, by P. W. Hardesty, P. H. Haag (who wrote liis full name with capital let- ters) and M. H. Bartilson, County School Exami- ners. This certificate is still in his possession, and is highly prized as a souvenir.
Mr. Garver taught his first school, of one hun- dred days, in Franklin Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, at $1 per day. At the end of the term he liad given such good satisfaction, that the Directors met on the last day and re-engaged him to continue the school eighty days longer, to cover all the money the district had in the treasury, thus making a continuons term of one hundred and eiglity days. He then returned to Mt. Union Seminary, and with the money he had saved was able to pay his own way, and avail himself of every facility and benefit afforded hy this humble but useful institution, which has since grown to be one of the noble colleges of the land. Ilere lie
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attended school five terms in all, off and on, alter- nately teaching winter schools at Navarre and its vicinity. He was the first teacher in his township to have his wages raised to $1.50 per day, and well remembers how strenuously some of the tax-payers protested against the paying of such an outrageous price, through fear that it would bankrupt the treas- ury.
Having taken an active part in the election of James Buchanan to the Presidency in 1856, by making speeches in every school district in the township, our subjeet was honored the spring following by his party nominating and electing him Justice of the Peace, at the age of twenty. two years. He thien served two successive terms in this office, with satisfaction to his constituency and honor to himself, and had the reputation of keeping the best records in the county. During this time. in partnership with his brother Alexander, he purchased the drug store owned by Dr. James L. Leeper, of Navarre, and together they conducted the business for several years.
On the 8th day of October, 1858, Mr. Garver was married to Franceska Kapizky, a very esti- mable and well educated young lady, who, a few years previously, had emigrated to this country from Bavaria, Germany, and who was engaged in teaching music at Navarre and Bolivar. As a pianist she had few, if any, equals in the country, and is still noted for her musical accomplishments, and her ability toentertain her friends with charm- ing and delightful music, though now of an age when such things are usually laid aside in accord- ance with the sedateness of whitening years. She has made her husband a most excellent helpmate in all his undertakings, and in the rearing and ed- ucating of their five children has developed qual- ities and made an impress for their moral, as well as material, good which they will remember with pride. They had nine children, four of whom died in infancy.
In the fall of 1864 our subject took the su- perintendency of Meyer Bros. & Co.'s wholesale drug business at Ft. Wayne, Ind., at a salary of $2,000 per year. This firm has branch houses at St. Louis, Kansas City, Ft. Worth, Tex., and a
large importing trade in New York City, and has the reputation of transacting the largest similar business in the world.
During the late Civil War Mr. Garver took an active part in the recruiting service, and swore into the military service of the United States not less than five hundred soldiers. Among his most treasured possessions bearing on this work are au- tograph letters received by him from Gen. Ed M. Canby, Gen. James A. IIardie, of the War Depart- ment, and William II. Seward, Secretary, and F. W. Seward, Assistant Secretary, of the State Depart- ment at Washington. He also served two years and nine months as First Sergeant of Company D, of the Forty-fifth Regiment, Ohio National Guards, and one hundred days in Company H, of the One Hundred and Sixty-second Regiment, Ohio Volun- teer Infantry. During a part of his service. his company was on detached duty, recruiting the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment of United States Colored Infantry in the state of Kentucky. To detail the humorous, pathetic and serious inci- dents, observations and experiences connected with this invasion of slavedom for the purpose of enlist- ing the negro as a soldier in the United States army, would require a volume. It was no easy task, but a regiment of over one thousand stalwart colored men was recruited from the slaves of Kentucky, which, physically speaking, had no superior in the United States army. Among his most highly prized papers is the executive order of thanks and cer- tificate of honorable serviee issued by President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to the Ohio National Guards for their services. In this connection the military record of his father's family is worthy of mention. His father served six years in the First Regiment of the Line in the army of the Grand Duke of Ba- den, and his honorable discharge is now in the possession of the subject of this sketch. Ilis broth- er Emil enlisted in Company F, of the Nineteenth Ohio Volunteers, and was severely wounded in the battle of Pittsburg Landing. His brother Charles served three years, and to the close of the war, in Company E, of the One Hundred and Fourth Ohio Volunteers. His brother Kossuth, who is now
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