USA > Ohio > Representative citizens of Ohio : memorial-genealogical > Part 8
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had few counterparts in the country hitherto. By the publica- tion in 1845 of the "Musci Alleghanienses," William S. Sullivant, of Columbus, had put himself at the head of American bryologists and was so recognized at home and abroad. The scientific col- lections of the government in this department were coming into his hands for study and the field was in every way widening before him, more than he could do unaided. He was a gentleman of large fortune and was therefore not obliged to ask even a living from science. All of his work was done at his own charges, and most of it was published in like manner. It was distributed among his fellow laborers in science with princely munificence. Mr. Sullivant called to his aid Mr. Lesquereux and for many years thereafter, even to the date of Mr. Sullivant's death, the fore- most bryologist of America and one of the most accomplished bryologists of Europe worked side by side, in the completest accord and harmony, with mutual respect for each other's acquire- ments and results. They effected thereby an immense advance in this department of science and made all future studies of Ameri- can bryology their debtors. Mr. Lesquereux was employed by Mr. Sullivant for one or two years and was afterwards aided in vari- ous ways in carrying forward his work by the generosity of his friend. They published together the two editions of "Musci Exsiccati Americani," the first edition in 1856, and the second in 1865. Mr. Lesquereux also had much to do with the crown- ing work of Mr. Sullivant's life, the splendid "Icones Muscorum." The Latin text is in part his work, and the publication of the second volume was carried forward under his direction after Mr. Sullivant's death. Thus for many years, Mr. Lesquereux's time was very largely taken up with the study of mosses of North America. He also gave considerable time to fossiliferous forma- tions in Ohio. He later began the geological survey of Pennsyl-
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vania, having for a number of years been in the employ of the geo- logical department of the United States Government. After his work in the Keystone State was finished, he received another call from the Government, and joined Lieutenant Powell, of the United States army, geologist-in-chief, and with him continued his work until his death.
But the most important work of the subject was in the de- partment of paleobotany, his interest in this subject having begun before he left Europe. While still in Switzerland, he had ac- quainted himself with the foundations of fossil botany laid by Brongniart and others, and as early as 1845, he began to publish observations of his own in this field, but his real work in this branch began in 1850. A passing reference of Brongniart had suggested the view that coal seams originated under conditions similar to those in which peat bogs are now formed. In the mind of one who knew more of peat bogs than any one had ever known before, the suggestion took root and expanded into a theory which covers the origin of by far the largest part of our valuable accumu- lations of coal. The theory, variously supported and reinforced by American facts, though not without grave difficulties, holds decidedly the first place to-day among the theories of coal forma- tion in the geological world. But it was not in the theoretical subject of coal formation, many of the problems pertaining to which are difficult and perhaps for the present insoluble, that Professor Lesquereux's great work was to be done. It is the plants, high and low, that have covered the earth in the past, and especially those assemblages of them which we denote coal floras, that were to be illustrated by his patient labor and illumi- nated by his wide and increasing knowledge. Attached to the description of a great number of these fossil plants, including many of the most abundant and important of the most valued floras of all time, the cabalistic letters "Lesqx." will remain as long as paleontological science is cultivated. The subject's la- bors covered the great Appalachian coal field, as it occurs in a half dozen States, and from the bottom of the series to its sum- mit. Equally fruitful were his studies of the floras of the later coals.
The most valuable single contribution that he made to paleo- botany was unquestionably "The Coal Flora of Pennsylvania," published by the second geological survey of that State. There is no other American work on the subject that is even to be named in comparison with it. It was written when the venerable author had passed this three score years and ten, and while embodying all his knowledge and experience, it shows no signs of flagging
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Professor Leo Lesquereux
strength or failing powers. The list of his important contribu- tions to science is a very long one and stands for a prodigious amount of labor of the highest grade, accomplished under the fearful disadvantage of total deafness. During the last forty years of his life the name of Leo Lesquereux was known and hon- ored throughout the scientific world. He was made a member of a score of leading scientific societies of Europe and was the first elected member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. In 1875, he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Marietta College. He maintained intimate relations by a con- stant and most kindly correspondence with all the leading pale- ontologists of Europe. Oswald Heer, in particular, was one of his most valued friends, and at his death, Mr. Lesquereux felt as if a brother had been stricken down. Professor Guyot's de- parture impressed him the same way. The death of his beloved wife occurred not far from that time and the world began to look empty to him. "I belong to a past generation," he would say. "My friends and contemporaries are all gone; for what do I re- main?" But, although almost impatient for the summons to cross the bar, he never for a moment lost his serenity and never for a moment laid aside his tasks. His death occurred in his cozy home in Columbus, October 25, 1889, when nearly eighty-three years of age.
Professor Lesquereux was modest in his estimate of his own work. All the knowledge that has been attained in the depart- ments of which he knew most, seemed, in his later years, very small to him. "I know a little," he sometimes said, "other stu- dents of science know each a little, but the whole of what is known is but fragmentary and insignificant-merely a few pebbles picked up along the ocean shore." He was a devout Christian believer; he lived and died in the communion of the Lutheran Church. He extended his creed to take in all scientific discoveries, but he did not count any of its essentials disturbed thereby. He seems never to have been reached by the currents of modern thought which have overflowed the old foundations for so many. His noble library, largely composed of presentation copies of the most valuable paleontological works of the years embraced between 1830 and 1889, was maintained intact, available for the purposes of science.
Doctor Lesquereux was personally known to but few resi- dents of Columbus, although the last forty years of his life were spent there, but he was respected and honored by a much wider number, and there were many that felt, when he was borne out of his humble cottage to his last resting place, that an illustrious
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citizen had passed from among them. He was a lovable man, tender and kind in all the relations of life. Truly a great man, but gentle as a child, and his name will live whilst the sciences he helped to evolve continue to be studied.
To Leo Lesquereux and wife, five children were born, namely: Ferdinand, a sketch of whom appears in this work; Frederick married Julia VanHorn, went to Mexico and became an inter- preter for President Maxmillian and died in that country; Henry, who married Bessie Reynold, was a manufacturer in New York City, but is now deceased; Leo M., who married Mary Rickly, was a jeweler in Columbus all his life and he is now deceased; Anna married Edminson Earhart, a successful agriculturist of near Columbus, who is now deceased; she still lives in the capital city, and a sketch of her and her husband appears herein.
Under the caption of "A Great Scholar Gone," one of the leading daily papers of Columbus said editorially, commenting on the death of the subject of this memoir:
"Yesterday all that remained on earth of Leo Lesquereux was conveyed to the tomb; but few of our citizens appreciated the fact that in the person of Mr. Lesquereux we had living among us for many years one of the most distinguished scientists of any age and the greatest authority in his specialty (botany) of the nine- teenth century. The first work he wrote, more than half a cen- tury ago, has been translated into every language of Europe, and for its practical importance, aside from its scientific value, re- ceived the commendation of every European government. Since then Mr. Lesquereux's labors in his particular line of enquiry have been extended, far-reaching, immense. They were not of a na- ture to attract general popular attention but they are known to scholars and scientists throughout the civilized world.
"Mr. Lesquereux's attainments were not confined to natural science. He was one of the most thorough classical scholars of his age and wrote both Greek and Latin with as much facility as his mother language. He was master of French and German and, in a lesser degree, of Italian and Spanish. English he learned last of all, and most of his later works are written in that tongue. Doubtless but for his loss of hearing, which was total even before he came to America, Mr. Lesquereux would have mingled more with his fellows and became more widely known to them; but this misfortune cut him off from social life at an early day and isolated him in a manner from his kind. Nevertheless he al- ways took keen interest in all that was going on in the world, and to the last was an ardent friend and admirer of his adopted coun- try, and of American institutions. He preserved his intellectual
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powers unimpaired until three months before his death, when softening of the brain, superinduced by paralysis of that organ, set in and the great mind was thenceforth clouded to the end. The work of the scholar, sage, and scientist is done. The intel- - lect which explored, and grasped, and mastered, and interpreted the secrets of nature has been translated to a higher sphere; but his fame will be bright during the ages to come, and the man who began life as a poor, obscure, and humble boy will always be known in the history of science as the great sage and savant, Leo Lesquereux."
We also quote the following which appeared in a Columbus paper, which shows the eminent men with which the scientist was intimate, also giving an interesting letter from the well-known financier, P. W. Huntington, to the family of Mr. Lesquereux:
"The late Professor Lesquereux was a man with a world- wide reputation. He numbered among his friends and corre- spondents in this country such eminent men as Professor Dana, of Yale; Professor Leslie, Philadelphia; Professor Leslie E. Ward, Washington, D. C .; Professor Heyden; General Palmer, Colorado; William Cleburn, Omaha; Professor Mudge; G. W. Clinton, Buf- falo; Professor T. C. Porter; Professor Hagen, Cambridge; Pro- fessor Hall, Albany; Professor Orton, Columbus, and many oth- ers. The list of his foreign friends and correspondents is also very extensive, as numerous letters from the following foreign scientists will testify: W. P. Shrimper, Strassburg; Professor Desser, Neuchatel, Switzerland; Professor Oswald Heer, Berne, Switzerland; Dr. Darwin, England; Professor Geinitz, Dresden, Germany; Professor Goldenburg, Prussia; Professor Humbert, Neuchatel; Professor Renauld, Monaco, Italy.
"The following letter which was to-day received by Mr. Leo M. Lesquereux will explain itself:
" 'Columbus, Ohio, October 26, 1889.
" 'My Dear Sir .- I have learned with profound regret of the death of your father last evening. For more than thirty years, as a boy and man, it has been my privilege to recognize your father as my friend, and I now recall the many courteous attentions re- ceived at his hands. I have recently missed him from the places where I had, for so many years, been accustomed to receive the cordial clasp of his hand, and be charmed by the kindly light of his eye; but knowing of his studious habits, his retiring disposi- tion and his great age, it had not occurred to me that there was any serious cause for his absence. And now comes the unavail- ing regret that, during two or three months of his last illness, I was, through ignorance of his condition, not permitted to show
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him any such attention as my heart would have dictated. Permit me to extend to you and your brothers my sympathy in the loss of your eminent father, while I congratulate you on his pure life, his distinguished career as a scientist, and, more than all, the uni- form kindness and gentleness of his nature, which, like a magnet, drew out from those who were favored with his friendship, the best impulses and the warmest regard.
"'Very truly yours, ""'P. W. HUNTINGTON.'
"It is safe to say that the sentiment expressed in that letter is cherished by all who knew this great and good man, and the words of Longfellow may be appropriately quoted in describing the life just departed into the 'sunset land of souls';
" 'Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime;
And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.' "
Most truly yours, Richard A. Harrison.
Maria L. Haniron.
Don. Richard A. Harrison
OT too often can be repeated the life history of one who lived so honorable and useful a life and who attained to such notable distinction as did the late Richard A. Harrison, lawyer and statesman and easily one of the most distinguished men that the great State of Ohio has ever pro- duced. His character was one of signal exaltation and purity of purpose. Well disciplined in mind, maintaining a vantage point from which life presented itself in correct proportions, judicial in his attitude toward both men and measures, guided and guarded by the most inviolable principles of integrity and honor, simple and unostentatious in his self-respecting, tolerant individuality, such a man could not prove other than a force for good in what- ever relation of life he may have been placed. His character was the positive expression of a strong nature and his strength was as the number of his days. In studying his career interpretation follows fact in a straight line of derivation and there is no need for indirection or puzzling. The record of his life finds a place in the generic history of this State and that of the Nation, and in this compilation it is necessary only to note briefly the salient points of his life history. And it is useless to add that both the community and the State were dignified by his noble life and splendid achievements, and that he stood as an honored member of a striking group of noted men whose influence in civic and eco- nomic life was of a most beneficent order. ] He served as legis- lator and congressman and was accorded other evidences of popu- lar confidence and regard; the while he ever ordered his course ac- cording to the highest principles and ideals so that he was found true to himself and to all men in every relation of life. To attain prestige and success in the practice of a laborious and exacting profession is even too great a task for most men, but Mr. Harrison not only accomplished this early in his career, but he proved a valuable factor in the legislative councils of his State and Nation. While he accepted public office at the hands of his fellow-citizens, and ably and satisfactorily discharged the duties of the same, yet he ever regarded the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts.
Richard Almgill Harrison was born at Thirsk, a town of Yorkshire, England, on the 8th day of April, 1824, and died at his
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Thon. Richard A. Harrison
home in Columbus, Ohio, on July 30, 1904, at the age of more than eighty years. He was the son of Robert and Mary (Almgill) Harrison, and his grandparents were, on the paternal side, Robert and Elizabeth (Evans) Harrison, and on the maternal side, John and Elizabeth (Arnitt) Almgill, all natives of the county of York- shire. Robert Harrison, the subject's father, a local Methodist Episcopal minister, was a man of intellectual strength, literary attainments, independent judgment, and of pure and blameless life. He was born at North Shields, Yorkshire, England, January 9, 1774, and died at Springfield, Ohio, in 1851, at the age of seven- ty-seven years. His wife, who was born at Thornton Moor, Yorkshire, September 8, 1779, died at Springfield in 1856, aged seventy-seven years.
Richard A. Harrison was the youngest of nine children. The eldest, William, remained in England and his descendants are still residents of that country. The brothers, Robert, John, Joseph, Peter, and Richard A., and the sister, Elizabeth, came with the par- ents to America. Thomas, one of the older brothers, having pre- ceded them in 1825, settled and married at Springfield, Ohio, and was influential in inducing the family to follow him. The first settlement of the family in this country was at Waynesville, War- ren County, Ohio, but very soon afterwards it removed to Spring- field, which has been regarded as really its first American home.
The resources of the family being limited, Richard A. Harri- son was, at the early age of twelve years, thrown upon his own resources for support and education. Ambitious for an educa- tion, he entered the public schools of Springfield, where he made rapid progress in his studies during the limited period that he attended. In the meantime he had been employed in the office of the Springfield Republic, where he was thrown into associa- tion with John M. Gallagher, at one time speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and a man of wide experience and emi- nent ability. Entering upon an apprenticeship to the printing trade in that office, he devoted the following eight years to faith- ful service to his employers, and during that period he absorbed a vast amount of information by close and persistent reading and study, and, having a naturally retentive memory, he became, even in young manhood, well informed on general subjects. During this period he supported himself entirely and at the same time paid his own tuition at the academy, where and under the tuition of Rev. Dr. Chandler Robbins, he secured a good, practical edu- cation. He paid special attention to English language, in which he became extraordinarily proficient especially as to the exact mean-
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ing of words, so that in his professional career his precise use of English became one of his most prominent characteristics.
Mr. Harrison had determined to make the practice of law his life work, and to this end, in 1844, he entered as a student the law office of Judge William A. Rodgers, an eminent and suc- cessful lawyer. Here he spent eighteen months in a careful and thorough study of Blackstone, Kent, and other legal authorities, and in the fall of 1845, he entered the Cincinnati Law School, the first institution of its character west of the Alleghanies, where he graduated on February 25, 1846. On May 23, 1846, at London, Madison County, Mr. Harrison was, without further examination, admitted to the bar of Ohio in the old supreme court. Soon after this event he located for the practice of his profession at London, his desk being in the public office of the county sheriff. His suc- cess was assured from the start and he made continuous progress in his profession, so that during the twenty-seven years of busy professional life and labor in London, he practiced with signal success in many of the surrounding counties. His first partner had been his former preceptor, Judge Rodgers, and after the lat- ter's death he was successively the senior member of the two law firms of Harrison & McCloud and Harrison & Marsh. In 1874, Mr. Harrison moved to Columbus, becoming a member of the Franklin County bar and became a member of the firm of Harri- son & Olds, several years later succeeded by the firm of Harrison, Olds & Marsh, Judge Joseph Olds coming from Circleville, and Samuel Franklin Marsh, the junior member, a son-in-law of Mr. Harrison, coming from the firm of Marsh & Watson, of London. Mr. Marsh withdrew from the firm in 1889 and soon afterwards died. Upon his withdrawal, W. O. Henderson became a member of the firm of Harrison, Olds & Henderson, which continued until its dissolution, in June, 1902. In most of the courts of Ohio, and those of other States, and in the federal courts, within and with- out the State up to the supreme tribunals, these firms took a large part, its work involving large interests, sometimes millions of dollars of value, and in the legal world, in the records of the judicial decisions of the country, the name of Richard A. Harrison is prominent through half a century.
In 1857, Mr. Harrison was elected to the Ohio House of Rep- resentatives, and two years later he was elected to the State Sen- ate. In these legislative bodies his services were effective and eminently satisfactory to his constituents. In 1860, on the resig- nation of ex-Governor Corwin to accept the appointment as min- ister to Mexico, Mr. Harrison entered the lower house of the na- tional Congress, taking his seat at the called session, early in
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Thon. Richard A. Harrison
July, 1861. He ended his political career on the 4th day of March, 1863, having witnessed and participated in the legislation which provided for the common defense, the suppression of rebellion, and the preservation of the Federal Union, through times of great- est danger in all its history. Returning from Washington at the close of his congressional service, he thereafter applied himself indefatigably to the practice of his profession. In 1870, Mr. Har- rison was a candidate for judge of the supreme court of the State, but met defeat with the rest of the ticket. Solicited to accept a non- partisan nomination to the new circuit court bench of the State un- der the constitutional judicial amendment of 1883, which meant a unanimous election in the capital circuit; offered a place, in 1875, as a member of the supreme court commission by Governor Hayes, and by Governor Foraker, tendered the seat made vacant by the death of Judge Johnson while a member of the supreme court of the State, he declined the honors, because the emoluments of the office were so far below his professional income and inadequate to provide prudently, as he thought, for himself and his family. The age limit alone prevented President Harrison's tendering him the seat on the supreme bench of the United States made vacant by the death of Justice Jackson, of Tennessee. Mr. Harrison was the third president of the Ohio State Bar Association, succeeding in that position Rufus P. Ranney.
In the foregoing record of Mr. Harrison's public services, but little detailed mention has been made of the work he actually did, some mention of which should consistently be made in this connection. Though comparatively young in years, Mr. Harrison was regarded as the peer of the ablest members of the lower house of the legislature, an evidence of which was his appointment as a member of the judiciary committee, where he was accorded a very large share of the work. Through this committee he intro- duced many bills which found their way to a place on the statute books of the State, including the laws concerning the relation of guardian and child; the one providing for the semi-annual pay- ment of taxes; for the relief of the district courts, and others of equal importance. Upon entering the senate Mr. Harrison was made chairman of the judicial committee and was elected presi- dent pro tempore of the upper house. That was at a critical period in history, when many questions were up for discussion affecting the commonwealth and of national importance, and some- times partisan feeling ran high, but through it all, as a presiding officer, Mr. Harrison displayed the utmost impartiality, combined with clear interpretation and correct application of parliamentary principles. During this period, he gave his hearty endorsement
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and cooperation to every movement that related to the State and national honor or that tended to strengthen the national govern- ment and promote the cause of the Union. His patriotism was of no uncertain quality. Indeed, he would have enlisted for mili- tary service during the war days had his health permitted, and he deeply regretted that he was not able to do so. One of the most important of his acts while a member of the senate was in 1861, when President Buchanan had sent a special message to Congress on the subject of the contemplated uprising of the South against the Federal Government, in which he had ostensibly taken a position in favor of the maintenance of the Union. Mr. Harri- son, with his colleagues, took the ground that they should assume the integrity and sincerity of President Buchanan in his message, and in support of such policy, Mr. Harrison, on January 12, wrote and introduced in the Senate the following resolutions:
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