USA > Ohio > Representative citizens of Ohio : memorial-genealogical > Part 34
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Colonel Arthur Latham Conger
States. Mr. Conger held a controlling interest in the Muncie Land Company and was an important factor in the upbuilding of Mun- cie, Kokomo, Elwood, and Hartford City, Indiana. He was also heavily interested financially in the Zanesville Street Railway Company. He was one of the organizers of the American Harvest- ing Machine Company and served as president of the National Association of Agricultural Implement and Vehicle Manufac- turers. He was a director of the Second National Bank of Akron, and was interested in the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, the Akron Woolen and Felt Company, various street railway systems and most every important industry in the city of Akron. Mr. Conger was one of the promoters of the Pittsburgh & Akron Railroad, was a director of the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Rail- road, and was associated with the late Senator Calvin S. Brice in the purchase of the Pittsburgh, Akron and Wheeling Rail- road, being interested in Mr. Brice's scheme to secure an east and west trunk line road. In all of these enterprises, Colonel Conger was a potent factor-in fact, in most of them he was the motive force which carried them to successful issue. He had a genius for the management of vast enterprises, his master mind directing the multitudinous details of his operations with ease and accu- racy. He possessed that rare quality of foresight to a remarkable degree, being able to predicate with accuracy on the future out- come of a present transaction, and in all his attributes he was a fine type of the successful, self-made American.
So varied and scattered were Colonel Conger's interests that for a period of twenty years he practically lived on Pullman cars and in hotels. In 1891, while in conversation with some friends, he made a list of his holdings of stock in manufacturing concerns, many of which he controlled, and after footing up the list at the market value of the stock, and subtracting from the aggregate the money which he owed to banks and on business paper which had been discounted for the daily needs of the concerns under his management, he found that he could close out everything and retire with a fortune of over three million dollars. A friend ad- vised him to pursue that course, to which Colonel Conger made this characteristic reply: "No, the next few years will, in my opin- ion, be a period of unexampled prosperity in this country, and by holding on, my investments will, in the course of three years, be worth many times what they are now. Besides, in most of these companies I own a controlling interest and the management is under my personal direction. Knowing this, many of my friends have taken stock in them and I shall hold my interests and manage
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these concerns until my friends as well as myself can retire with millions of profits."
But, like many other good business men of his day, he mis- judged the times. In 1893, when banks began to call in loans and refused renewals, he battled manfully to keep his head above the stream of ruin which threatened him, and in this he succeeded, but this strain, added to the previous long taxing of his physical energies, was too great for even his iron constitution to stand, and in January, 1896, while in Boston, he suffered a paralytic stroke. The ablest physicians obtainable were summoned to his bedside and after a consultation the verdict was that Colonel Conger could not live to exceed three days. At this critical point, Mrs. Conger decided that, if all other resources had failed, there was one left which she wanted tried, and that was osteopathic treatment. To this end it was decided to remove the sufferer to Kirksville, Mis- souri, as quickly as possible. Though the physicians warned the patient and his wife that he would not live to reach his destination, the Colonel thought that he might as well die enroute as in Boston, and the trip was undertaken. Dr. Andrew Taylor Still was head of the osteopathic school at Kirksville, and he sent able members of his staff to meet Colonel Conger's car at Rochester, New York, and treatment was begun enroute. Immediate benefits were obtained, and about six months' treatment at Kirksville re- sulted in almost complete recovery from the paralysis, and a few years later Colonel Conger regained full use and possession of his formerly paralyzed side and throat. So grateful was the Colonel for the benefit received and so enthusiastic over the new discovery that he dedicated the remainder of his life to the advancement of osteopathy. He was the founder of the S. S. Still College of Os- teopathy, at Des Moines, Iowa, which, like all his undertakings, proved to be a great success, and he became the editor of the "Cosmopolitan Osteopath."
The death of Col. Arthur L. Conger occurred in Des Moines, Iowa, on February 25, 1899, from an attack of la grippe, at the age of sixty-one years.
Colonel Conger never relinquished his interest in military matters and became influential in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was department commander in 1886. He was also a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He was prominent in the state militia and in 1884 was commissioned colonel of the Eighth Regiment Ohio Na- tional Guard, proving an efficient and popular officer. He was an enthusiastic and appreciative member of the Masonic order, hav-
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ing attained to the Knight Templar's degree in the York rite and the thirty-second degree in the Scottish rite. Religiously, he was a member of the Episcopal Church, to which he was a liberal con- tributor. His benefactions were numerous, though he was unos- tentatious in his giving. For several years he was president of the Akron Charity Association, placing the same on a good financial basis, and purchased the association's property on High Street.
Colonel Conger was as active in political matters as he was in business-in fact, he was one of the national leaders of the Repub- lican party, wielding a wide influence in the middle west. His ad- vice was frequently sought by candidates for office, high and low, and his counsel was usually followed with gratifying results. For a period of twenty years he was chairman of the Summit County Republican Committee, during which time he was largely respon- sible for the success of the party here. He was chairman of the State Central Committee in 1880 and 1882, and was several times chairman of the State Executive Committee. In 1884, and again in 1888, he was the Ohio member of the Republican National Com- mittee and had much to do in directing these two important cam- paigns. He was always a delegate to Republican, local, state and national conventions, and was always a leader making his influ- ence felt for the good of his party in all the gatherings which he at- tended from the county caucuses to the great national conventions. He enjoyed a close personal friendship with many of the leading men of the nation, such as James G. Blaine, Joseph B. Foraker, William Mckinley, J. S. Clarkson, Joseph H. Manley and other leaders of the Republican party. He served as a member of the staff of Governor Asa S. Bushnell.
Colonel Conger was married on November 1, 1864, to Emily Bronson, a lady of culture and refinement and a representative of a prominent old family of Summit County, Ohio. She grew to womanhood in this county and received a good education. Four children graced this union, namely: Kenyon Bronson Conger, who is with the Hudson Terminal Company, in New York City; Ar- thur Latham Conger, Jr., a captain in the United States army, being now stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Latham Hub- bard Conger, who is connected with the Goodyear Rubber Com- pany of Akron; Erastus Irving Conger is deceased.
Mrs. Conger is a daughter of Hiram Volney Bronson, and her paternal grandfather was Herman Bronson, the son of Jacob Bronson whose father was Isaac Bronson, who was a surgeon in Washington's army and fought gallantly in the war of the Revolu- tion. Herman Bronson was one of the first settlers of Ohio, buy-
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ing in an early day four thousand acres of land in Boston Town- ship, Summit County, Ohio, where he became well known among the pioneers. The family has been a noted one in the annals of America from our early history, and have been leaders in the var- ious communities where they have resided.
Mrs. Conger is a woman of exceptional ability and was a true helpmeet of her distinguished husband, her sympathy, encourage- ment, and wise counsel contributing in no small degree to his busi- ness success-indeed, in every respect she was his partner. When, as a young man, he filled the office of county treasurer, she was his efficient deputy, and from that time on in every deal and in all his work she was his confidant and helper. She is a Doctor of Osteop- athy, having graduated from the Kirksville Institute, Kirksville, Missouri, in 1903. She was one of the first osteopaths in the world. She understands this science thoroughly and has met with great success in its practice. In 1906 she was elected vice-president of the American Osteopathic Association, the duties of which respon- sible position she discharged for one year in a manner that re- flected much credit upon her ability. She has always been a leader in social and club life, as in all circles in which she cared to move. She is an active member of the Daughters of the American Revo- lution, was national president of the Axis Club in 1905 and has served on the staff of the Woman's Relief Corps, of which she has been a member since 1877. She also belongs to Ellsworth Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, and to Bethany Chapter No. 7, White Shrine of Jerusalem. In all these she has been a leader and an influential factor, and is prominent in the social and intel- lectual life of the city. She is a consistent and active member of the Episcopal Church, to the support of which she contributes lib- erally.
Mrs. Conger spent two years in the Philippine Islands with her son, Capt. Arthur L. Conger, and while there she gained much valuable information on conditions in general, being a keen and thoughtful observer. These experiences resulted in her merito- rious and popular book entitled, "An Ohio Woman in the Philip- pines," which is generally regarded as one of the most vivid descriptions of that interesting country that has ever been writ- ten. She possesses decided literary ability, having a clear, force- ful and entertaining style, and her life is proving, like that of her esteemed and lamented husband before her, a great blessing to humanity and the world. She has one of the most commodious, modernly appointed and beautiful homes in Akron, known as Ir- ving Lawn, which is known to her many friends as a place of hos-
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pitality and good cheer and which is the mecca for a vast circle of acquaintances and admirers. The following splendid character sketch of Mrs. Conger was recently published and is reproduced, in part, here as being in perfect consonance with the province of this sketch:
"In the shadows of late afternoon Mrs. Emily Bronson Con- ger sat at the great pipe organ in the high-vaulted English hall of Irving Lawn. As her fingers touched the keys to that beautiful air, 'Robin Adair,' the deep notes of the organ filled the darkened hall where formerly Mrs. Conger conversed with presidents, gov- ernors, congressmen and leaders in business and social life.
"A practicing osteopath for seventeen years, Mrs. Conger at seventy is Akron's youngest old woman ....... Irving Lawn, the show place of Akron when it was built, sits far back in a well kept lawn and is to-day one of the fine mansions of the city. In its forty large rooms Mrs. Conger lives all alone. . .
"Mrs. Conger is seventy. She looks no more than fifty-five and says she feels like forty. Her alert, straight form gives the impression of force and youth. 'I am young because I have kept my mind and hands busy,' said Mrs. Conger recently in conversa- tion. 'I think of cheerful things. I look on the bright side of life. I have infinite trust. My life with Colonel Conger was one of so companionable a comradeship that I have sublime faith that if he were here he would approve of everything I do. You see, I come from a long line of ancestors who believed in work. My great- grandfather was a surgeon in George Washington's army. Maybe I have some of his medical instinct.' "'
George Taipthe AlcCook
O OFFER in a work of this province an adequate résumé of the strenuous and useful life of the late George W. McCook would be impossible, but, with others of those who have conserved the civic and commercial progress of Steubenville, he may well find consideration in the noting of the more salient points that marked his life and labors. He was long an important factor in the varied business interests of this city, where he was engaged in the coal business for a long period of years, being also closely connected with other important enter- prises, achieving a position as one of the substantial capitalists of his section of the State, gaining his success through normal and worthy means, and he stood as a singularly admirable type of the progressive, honorable and broad-minded men of affairs. His rec- ord is too familiar to his fellow citizens to require any fulsome encomium here, his life speaking for itself in stronger terms than the biographer could employ in polished periods. It left its im- print upon those who came in contact with him, and the youth, hes- itating at the parting of the ways, could do no better than to follow the example he set. He was even tempered, patient, scrupulously honest in all the relations of life, hospitable and charitable, and his many kindly deeds were actuated solely from his largeness of heart, rather than from any desire to gain the approval or plaud- its of his fellow men.
George Wythe McCook, whose family name has been one of the best known in connection with the military history of this country, was a native of the community in which he spent prac- tically his entire life, having been born at Steubenville, Ohio, on February 22, 1852, and his death occurred at his home in this city, on October 24, 1910, after several months' illness. His father, Col. George W. McCook, was one of the most prominent men of his day in this State, being a member of the "fighting McCook" family, whose military prowess and deeds of bravery marked many a his- torical narrative. The subject's mother was Margaret Dick Beatty, the adopted daughter of Rev. C. C. Beatty, D.D., probably the most prominent preacher ever identified with this city, while he also gained distinction as the founder of the Steubenville Fe- male Seminary.
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The subject of this sketch received his elementary education in the public schools of Steubenville, completing his mental train- ing in Europe, where he also traveled considerably, thus gaining by practical observation a large fund of information first hand. On his return to the United States, Mr. McCook was employed in a paint house in New York City, but eventually returned to Steuben- ville, where the remaining years of his life were spent. Here he became identified with the coal business, one of the most important local lines of enterprise, and in this field he achieved a most note- worthy success. Sagacious and shrewd, quick to take advantage of opportunities and persistent in following a definite plan of action, combined with the strictest integrity of word and deed- these were the elements that not only gained for him material success, but, what was of far more importance, the respect and confidence of the business world. Mr. McCook became president of the High Shaft Coal Company, president of the Steubenville Coal and Mining Company, a stockholder and director in the Acme Glass Company, stockholder and director in the Ohio Valley Clay Company, and was a director of the gas company until it went out of existence, besides being identified in various ways with many other of Steubenville's leading commercial and industrial con- cerns, in all of which he was an influential factor for their upbuild- ing and prosperity. Indeed, in the city's industrial advancement he was long considered a leader and his death was generally looked upon as a distinct loss to the entire community. Not only was Mr. McCook a leader in business affairs of large moment, but in the civic life of the city he took a keen and intelligent interest, giving his earnest support to every movement which promised to be of benefit to the people. He was president of the Union Cemetery Association, president of the Carnegie Library Board, for a num- ber of years he was a member of the Gallipolis Hospital Board and was also a member of the Ohio State Fish and Game Commission. In all these positions he gave thoughtful and conscientious service and was a valued and appreciated member of the board mentioned. Charitable and generous almost to a fault, Mr. McCook's benefac- tions were numerous and wide-spread, no needy or worthy cause ever appealing to him in vain.
Politically, George W. McCook was a stanch supporter of the Democratic party and took an active part in the campaigns of that party. In 1892 he was a delegate from Ohio to the Democratic national convention which nominated Grover Cleveland for the Presidency. Religiously, he was identified with the Second Pres-
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byterian Church of Steubenville, to which he contributed liberally of his means.
In 1878 George W. McCook was united in marriage to Annie Louise Gill, who survives him, she being a sister of J. W. Gill and ex-Congressman J. J. Gill. To this union were born five children, three sons and two daughters, namely: Margaret Deborah, born March 1, 1880, was married on November 8, 1911, to Darwin Stanton Wolcott, Jr .; Gill, born August 16, 1882; George Wythe, Jr., born August 11, 1884; Francis Robbins, born December 1, 1892, and Helen Louise, born November 24, 1895.
Thus in a brief way has been outlined the career of George W. McCook. The cause of humanity never had a truer friend than this valued gentleman who passed to the higher life. The stereo- typed words customary on such occasions seem but mockery in writing of such a man when we remember all the grand traits that went to make the character of this, one of nature's noblemen. In all the relations of life-family, church, state, and society-he dis- played that consistent gentlemanly spirit, that innate refinement and unswerving integrity that endeared him alike to man, woman and child.
David King, Sr.
HE HISTORY of Clark County, as an integral part of the great commonwealth of Ohio, reveals the handiwork of many a great and noble soul who wrought heroically and unselfishly. Her splendid homes, her high grade institutions, her happy, prospering people speak volumes of some one's steadfastness of purpose, of some one's strength of arm, cour- age of heart, activity of brain-of some one's sacrifice. But time, that grim obliterator, before whose destroying fingers even the stubborn must, in the end, succumb, is ever at his work of disinte- gration. Beneath his blighting touch even memory fails, and too often a life of splendid achievements and good works is forgotten in a day. "Lest we forget," then, this tribute to the late David King, Sr., of Springfield, is penned. Pioneer successful business man, public spirited citizen, brave, kindly, generous man, it is con- sonant with the aim and purpose of this work that his deeds and his character should be recorded here for the benefit of those who follow after. Not immensely rich as mere worldly possessions are estimated, he was rich in a thousand thronging memories of the early rugged days, when hardy men stood shoulder to shoulder and fought for the best interests of their community, and those who survived him are blessed in the memory of this good man, whose life in this community was as a blessed benediction on those who came under his influence.
David King, Sr., who many years ago passed from the scenes of his human activities into the better life, but who, during his existence here was an important and appreciated factor in the development and growth of Springfield, was a native of the State of Maryland, his birth having occurred at Baltimore. He received a good education as a boy and his first employment was school teaching and later he secured employment as a clerk, working in several well-known mercantile establishments, where he received a thorough training in the details of business methods. Having de- termined to go into business on his own account, Mr. King came to Ohio and located at Tarleton, Pickaway County, where he opened a general mercantile establishment. In this enterprise he was suc- cessful, remaining there until 1841. Desiring a larger and more promising field for his efforts, he then came to Springfield, which he believed gave rich promise of becoming one of the best cities in
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the State. He was shrewd and sagacious in his judgment of the future outcome of present conditions, and his faith in the new city of his choice was well founded, for here he was soon in command of a large and profitable trade and became widely recognized as one of the leading business men in the place. His first business loca- tion was at the corner of Main and Limestone streets, the present site of the Gotwald Building. As Mr. King was prospered in his fi- nancial affairs, he gave practical evidence of his enterprising spirit and desire to contribute to the city's development, by purchasing lots and erecting a substantial business block and a comfortable and attractive residence. From the time he became identified with this city, Mr. King took a deep and unselfish interest in its welfare, contributing to the fullest extent of his ability to the success of every movement which had for its object the betterment of condi- tions. Thus he was always a leader, and in those early days the community needed men of force and ability, who had the capacity for planning and the initiative spirit which enabled them to inaug- urate and give impetus to public enterprises. No man in the young, but flourishing and growing village, had a larger vision of the pos- sibilities of the place, and no man, as far as he was permitted, gave to a larger degree to the prosperity of the people with whom he had cast his lot. As a logical result of his unselfish and public- spirited life, there was probably not another man in the locality who was held in higher esteem by the population, regardless of sects, politics or profession. His record was the story of a life that made the world better for his having lived, for his actions sprang from a heart filled with love and good feeling for humanity. No phase of his entire career better illustrated this characteristic than the heroic and courageous efforts put forth by him during the terrible cholera scourge of 1849, when, unmindful of self, he devoted himself to the alleviation of the sufferings of those who were stricken with the dread disease. He was a martyr for the sake of his fellow men, for soon he too was stricken, and, in August of that year, gave up his life. Thus, as successful business man, en- terprising and public-spirited citizen, and humanitarian, he merits a conspicuous niche in the temple of fame, that those of the pres- ent and succeeding generations may give honor to whom honor is due.
On November 9, 1826, David King was united in marriage to Almena Caldwell, of Portsmouth, Ohio, and a daughter of Alex- ander and Hannah (Hamlin) Caldwell. On the maternal side, Mrs. King was descended from the Hamlin family which was so emi- nently distinguished in the annals of New England. The family
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originated in England, from whence came the first emigrant mem- ber of the family, Giles Hamlin, in 1639. Mrs. King's great grandfather, Eleazer Hamlin, married Lydia Bonney, of scarcely less distinguished ancestry, and one of their sons served as an offi- cer in the Revolutionary War. He died at Waterford, Maine, leaving to his son his membership in the Cincinnati Society, one of the most honorable and coveted affiliations in this country. Two other sons were also fathers of men who attained to more than ordinary prominence. One, Hannibal Hamlin, rendered distin- guished service to his country in several capacities, finally being elected Vice-President of the United States on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln. The other was the celebrated Rev. Cyrus Ham- lin, D.D., who, as the representative of the American Missionary Board, gave many years of faithful and efficient service as presi- dent of Roberts College, Constantinople.
To David and Almena King were born nine children, of whom the survivors are as follows : Mary E. K., widow of the late Luther A. Gotwald, whose memoir appears elsewhere in this work; S. Jen- nie, Robert Quigley, and David, Jr. Sometime after the death of her husband, Mrs. King erected the present beautiful family resi- dence, on North Fountain Avenue, Springfield, where she resided until her death, which occurred in 1878. The two daughters now reside in this home.
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