USA > Ohio > Representative men of Ohio, 1900-1903 > Part 12
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Mr. Griffith, since reaching his majority, has been actively engaged in party work, and during that time been a delegate to county, district, State and National conventions of his party. In 1899 he had charge of the speakers' bureau at State head- quarters. He was appointed a member of the Board of Man- agers in 1890 by Governor Nash and reappointed for another term in 1892. Since becoming connected with this great insti- tution he has taken great interest in the many problems fac- ing the management, and his views and advice have always been sought and carefully weighed. Young, enthusiastic and energetic, with a well-balanced mind; Mr. Griffith has earned the proud position of being among the strong men having the big prison in charge, and the record he has made would be hard to excel.
Mr. Griffith married Miss Nettie Gunsaulus, and five child- ren, three boys and two girls have been the result of the union. He is a member of the Masonic, I. O. O. F., B. P. O. E.,and K. of P. fraternities. It is needless to say that Mr. Griffith has always been a Republican of superlative degree, and for years has been considered one of the leaders of that party in his section of the State.
Frank Cook,
The Secretary of the Board of Managers of the Ohio Peni- tentiary was born in Wayne county, Ohio, near the village of Dalton, on November 5, 1864. He comes from a Scotch-
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Irish parentage, the ancient geneological record still extant of his own Caledonian lineage reading like romance, as it traces the current of honorable blood back through Scotland's troubled centuries.
Until the age of 15, young Cook attended the public schools and then worked on a farm by the month. On the money thus secured he attended Ada College. When but 18 years old he began to teach school, thus aiding his progress toward the higher education which he coveted. In 1887 he located at Mans- field, where he held the position of bookkeeper two years. For one year of this time he also read law, but his health, never robust, forbade the confinement and sedentary life of a law office. When the Mansfield Lumber Company was organized in 1889, he was made the secretary and treasurer and for eight years rose steadily in the estimation of his business associates, as well as of the public, and in 1898, when in consequence of serious ill health, he severed his connection with the organiza- tion, he was its manager.
Secretary Cook is a member of the Mansfield Lodge No. 19, I. O. O. F., and Mohegan Encampment No. 13. He is Past Exalted Ruler of Mansfield Lodge of Elks No. 56, belongs to Mansfield Blue Lodge No. 35, F. and A. M., to Chapter No. 28, R. A. M., and Mansfield Commandery No. 21. He is the only Republican member of a family well-known for its Democratic sentiments. He has for some years past enjoyed in a marked degree the confidence of the Republican State Executive commit- tee, and in his connection therewith has been intrusted with special and important missions during several campaigns. After the present Board of Managers of the Ohio Penitentiary had been appointed he was elected their Secretary without his hav- ing had a word of conversation with anybody about it. His election was a surprise and a tribute of confidence of which he may well be proud. He has made a splendid official and a record so far worthy of all emulation. Personally Secretary Cook is a prince of good fellows and the circle of his acquaint- ance and friendship is State wide.
HON. CARL L. NIPPERT.
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Hon. Carl L. Nippert.
In the long line of distinguished and strong men who have been chosen by the people of Ohio to serve as Lieutenant Gov- ernor, none exceed in all the elements that go to make up a splendid official and popular gentleman, Hon. Carl Louis Nippert, who, in the fall of 1901, was chosen for the second place on the State ticket headed by Governor George K. Nash, and who now occupies the exalted post of Probate Judge of Hamilton County, vice Howard Ferris, first by appointment by Governor Nash and then by election by the people, in which he carried Hamilton County by 49,000 votes, and had a larger majority than any candidate in the history of that county. Judge Nippert presided over the Senate of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly from January until the latter part of April, and in that time no man had succeeded in making more warm and true friends.
Judge Nippert was born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Ger- many, October II, 1852, the son of an American citizen, the Rev. Louis Nippert, who resided temporarily abroad and had charge of a Methodist Episcopal Theological Seminary in that city. His father died in Cincinnati, in 1894. His grand-father emigrated to this country in 1823 and settled in Monroe County, Ohio. The judge enjoyed a primary education in Germany, afterward attending high-class universities in Zurich, Switzer- land Carlsruhe and Freiburg, Germany. He is also a graduate of the Cincinnati Law College. Afterward he became a teacher in the public schools of Cincinnati, and for ten years was principal of the Thirteenth District School in that city, now the Webster School on Findlay Street. He was also admitted to the bar and is recognized among the best known members of his profession in the Queen City. In the line of educational work he was a member of the board of education in Cincinnati, as well as a member of the High School Board.
His entry into politics was signalized by his appointment as police prosecutor at the hands of Judge John A. Caldwell, the same gentleman whom he had the honor of succeeding as Lieu- tenant Governor in January, 1902. In 1899 he was nominated as one of the Republican candidates for Senator from the First District, and was the only Republican senatorial candidate elected
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from that district to the Seventy-fourth General Assembly, his unimpeachable record and his personal popularity in Hamilton County securing his election. Two years later, or in June, 1901, he was nominated for Lieutenant Governor on the ticket with Governor Nash and was elected. In April, 1902, he was appointed Probate Judge of Hamilton County, to succeed Judge Howard Ferris, who had been elected to the superior judgeship bench. In politics Judge Nippert has never been anything but a Republican. He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Elsie Hit- scherich, of Carlsruhe, Germany, and his second nee Katie Brill. He is the father of one daughter, who died at the age of four and a half years. The judge and his wife reside in a pleasant home, No. 3340 Whitfield Avenue, Clifton. He is a member of Hansel- man Lodge No. 208, Cincinnati Chapter, Cincinnati Commandery Scottish Rite, the German Literary Club, and the Pioneer Society of Cincinnati.
Hon. Harry L. Gordon.
A new, force was injected into the Republican politics of Ohio, when, following the action of the Supreme Court declaring that a vacancy existed in the Lieutenant-Governorship of Ohio on account of the resignation of Hon. Carl Nippert, on the 26th of June, 1902, Governor Nash appointed Hon. Harry L. Gordon, of Cincinnati, to the high and honorable post. Mr. Gordon had only been a resident of the State of Ohio, six years, and his selec- tion was in the nature of a surprise, but he at once leaped into prominence and the good will of the people by the manner in . which he discharged the duties of presiding officer of the Senate. He came to the position a comparative stranger to the Senators, but he left it at the close of the extraordinary session firmly in- trenched in the friendship of all with whom he came in con- tact. His unfailing good humor, his knowledge of parliamentary rules and his charming personality all contributed to this result.
Lieutenant-Governor Harry Lincoln Gordon is a native of Indiana, born in Metamora, August 27, 1860. His father was an Indianian, born in 1816, and his grandfather an old Virginian Whig who removed from that state early in the last century to In-
HON. HARRY L. GORDON.
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diana on account of his hostility to slavery. He received his educa- tion in the schools of his native town, completing his course at De- pauw University, where he was graduated in 1882, with the highest honors in mathematics. He afterward began the study of the law in the office of McDonald, Butler & Mason, Indianapolis, and after his admission to the bar, removed to Wichita, Sedgwick county, Kas. He at once plunged into the political life of that stren- uotis state and was chosen City Solicitor of Wichita. In 1895-96 he was elected to the Kansas state Senate from the Sedgwick county district, where he took a leading part in legislation and won his spurs, attracting much attention and favorable comment.
In December, 1896, Lieutenant-Governor Gordon settled in Cincinnati, and at once begun the practice of his profession. In 1899 he was appointed by Mayor Tafel as a member of the board of supervisors, became President of the body in 1900, and was re-appointed for a second term in 1902 by Mayor Fleischman. His appointment as Lieutenant-Governor followed in June of the latter year. He is now a member of the law firm of Gordon, Granger & DeWitt, well-known in the Queen City practice. It is needless to say that Mr. Gordon is a stalwart Republican and as such a member of the Blaine and Stamina clubs of Cincinnati. He is also associated with the famous Itan-nic-nic organization and in the fall of 1902 took a prominent part in the management and control of the Cincinnati Fall Festival. He also belongs to the Business Men's club, the Avondale Athletic club, and the historic gastronomis coterie, the Cuvier club. He is also a Scottish Rite Mason and stands high in Masonic circles. On the 20th of April, 1892, Mr. Gordon married Miss Esther Langtree, of Au- rora, Ind., and they have one son, Harry L. Gordon, Jr., born in 1894.
Lieutenant-Governor Gordon belongs to that class of young professional men who are having such an important part in the upbuilding of Ohio and accomplishing so much for the growth of all that contributes to the steady march of development and progress. Although not a native of the Buckeye Commonwealth, none can excel him in enthusiastic appreciation of its possibilities, or will do more to advance it on the highway of national renown.
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Hon. Frank B. Archer.
Eastern Ohio has furnished quite a number of leading men to the service of the State and Nation since the admission of the commonwealth to the Union, and that section has always. been worthily represented in the halls of legislation at Wash- ington and Columbus. In the list of those who have added to the prestige of the Buckeye State, and whose record is worthy of emulation, the name of Hon. Frank B. Archer, of Bellaire, who represented the Twentieth and Twenty-second Senatorial district in the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-fifth General As- sembly, may well be considered worthy of special and eulogistic mention.
The subject of this sketch sprang from Irish ancestry, who early in the last century emigrated from West Virginia and: settled in eastern Ohio. His father, Rudolph Archer, who died in 1858, when the Senator was but a few months old, was a noted singer in his day, and one of the organizers of the Dis- ciples Church in that section. The elder Archer was a cooper and before the Disciples denomination were able to erect a church edifice in which to worship the cooper shop was used as an audience room. In addition to his trade of cooper, he also taught music, and much of the talent has been transmitted to his son. The aged mother of Senator Archer still survives at the ripe old age of 84 years.
Senator Archer was born in Bellaire, on the 20th of May, 1858, where he has always made his home. On the death of his father in the fall of that year, the mother was left with six children to support and they early knew what poverty was. The. educational advantages were meager, too, and what the Senator has been able to secure along that line has been the result of his own individual efforts. When the lad should have been at school he began work in a glass factory in Bellaire, and at the age of 17 years was a master workman in that profession. In 1884 he left the hard work of a glass blower to. enter the sta- tionery and insurance business.
Senator Archer has always been a Republican. The first office he ever held was treasurer of Pultney township, Belmont county, and he has ever since been an active worker in the field
HON. FRANK B. ARCHER.
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of politics. He served two terms as a member of the City Council of Bellaire, and for two years was president of that body. He was elected treasurer of Belmont county in 1889, and re-elected to a second term in that office, where he gave un- bounded satisfaction to the taxpayers and citizens generally. At the Zanesville convention in 1895, he was a prominent candidate for the nomination for Treasurer of State, but was defeated by Samuel B. Campbell, of Jefferson, the question of geographical location entering into the contest and determining it. In two campaigns Senator Archer was Chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Belmont county, and his success was shown in that position by the increased majority rolled up by his party on both occasions. For several years he has been engaged in general contracting business in various parts of the State.
In the fall of 1899 he was chosen Senator from the Twen- tieth and Twenty-second district, consisting of the counties of Belmont, Harrison, Jefferson and Columbiana, and in the Sev- enty-fourth General Assembly was Chairman of the Committees of Public Works and Public Lands and Manufacturers and Commerce, as well as a member of Committees on Finance, Mu- nicipal Corporations No. I, Railroads, Labor, Sanitary Laws and Regulations, State Buildings and Taxation. In 1901 he was re- nominated for a second term and elected, the joint district being entitled to two Senators during the first decennial period, Hon. Charles C. Connell, of Columbia, being his colleague. Upon the organization of the Senate, Senator Archer was elected Pres- ident pro tem., and filled the duties of that exacting position to the credit of himself, his party and the State. In the Seventy- fifth General Assembly Senator Archer took a leading part in debate and legislation and acquitted himself with much honor. He was Chairman of the Committees on Public Works and Rules. He took a leading part in the discussion of the Municipal Code at the special session of the General Assembly, and served on the Senate Committee on Conference.
Senator Archer was married to Miss Lucy F. Horn, and five children have been the fruit of this union, four boys and a girl. He is a prominent member of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias fraternities.
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Hon. Peter Echert.
The business man has always been a factor in politics, and properly so, for the questions that demand solution are business propositions, and are solved along that line if they are properly solved. The training absorbed in mercantile pursuits comes in good stead when its possessor is called by the people to take his place among the law-makers, and at every stage his experience, wisdom and knowledge of men and affairs are in demand.
Such a man is Hon. Peter Echert, of Cincinnati, who in the Seventy-fifth General Assembly, had the honor in part of representing Hamilton County in the Senate. He was Chairman of the Committee on Municipal Corporations Number I, as well as a member of other important committees, and in every place where he was called upon to act, did his duty with an eye single to the public good. He took a leading part in the consideration of business connected with Cincinnati and Cleveland, and all legislation for the government of those cities had his approval before being reported from the committee.
Peter Echert comes from German stock, born in Rhenish Bavaria, on November 12, 1832. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1839, when young Echert was but seven years of age. He attended the free schools in Cincinnati, and when but a lad went to learn the confectionery business, in which he has ever since been engaged. He started his present prosperous establishment in 1860, in Cincinnati, and is known as The P. Echert Company, on Court street, and one of the largest manufacturers of confections in Ohio. In 1862-3 he served as a member of the State militia, and has an honorable discharge from the service. He is a Republican, and previous to his election to the Senate was a member of the Jury Commission of Hamilton County.
In 1854 Mr. Echert married Catharine Ziefle, and the couple have six grown children, two daughters and four sons. He is a member of Avon Lodge F. and A. M .; also a Thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Shrine; also a member of Ohio Lodge Number I, I. O. O. F., since 1854. He lives at Number 3016 Reading Road, Cincinnati, with his wife and family, the center of a large circle of admiring friends who have come to
HON. PETER ECHERT.
HON. WARREN G. HARDING.
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know and esteem Mr. Echert as a man who is an honor to his community.
In the fall of 1901 Mr. Echert was prevailed upon to allow the use of his name in connection with the Ohio Senate, and he was elected by a large majority. His record there is an open book, to be commended by all men.
Hon. Warren G. Harding.
But few men in Ohio public life have made the rapid stride in general favor and esteem that has marked the career of Hon. Warren G. Harding, the Senator from Marion. One of the leading Republican editors of the State, and a member of the Seventy-fourth and Seventy-fifth General Assemblies, he is al- ready at the front in party thought and leadership, and other honors only await his beck and call. In both assemblies he was among the men who dictated policies on questions of interest to the State and he was always consulted on matters of party action, when his experience and good judgment brought about the best results.
Senator Harding is a native of Morrow county, born at Corsica, November 2, 1865, and secured his education at the old Ohio Central College at Iberia. In 1882 he taught school and after ward began the study of the profession of law, but being enam- ored of the newspaper business became a writer for the press, and purchased the Marion Star, one of the most progressive and successful daily newspapers of the State. It was a hard struggle to place the property on its financial feet, but the indomitable perseverance of Senator Harding won the fight and it is now a splendid paying investment.
Senator Harding entered public life in the summer of 1899, when he was nominated for Senator from the Thirteenth district, composed of the counties of Logan, Union, Marion and Hardin, and was elected by nearly 1,800. As a member of the Seventy- fourth General Assembly he took high rank as a debator and legislator, his speeches in behalf or the reorganization of the city government of Cincinnati, and to establish a new municipal
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code for the cities and villages of Ohio, being examples of earnest and logical debate. In that Senate he was Chairman of the Com- mittee on Printing and member of many other important com- mittees.
In 1901 Senator Harding broke the one term rule of the Thirteenth district that had been in vogue for a half century. His services had been so valuable to the people that they in- sisted he make a second race. There was no opposition any- where in the district and he was elected by an increased majority.
In the Seventy-fifth General Assembly he was at once given the leadership of the Republican majority of the Senate, and it remained unchallenged at the close of the session. He was Chairman of the Committee on Insurance and a member of the Committees on Claims, Common Schools, Federal Relations, Fi- nance, Military Affairs, Taxation, Universities and Colleges and Banks, Building and Loan Associations. His eloquence brought him the honor of presenting the name of Senator J. B. Foraker for a second election to the United States Senate and adding his eulogy to the memory of the martyred Mckinley at the services held by the joint houses on the 29th of January, 1902.
The growth of Senator Harding has been healthy and con- stant in the good will of the people of Ohio. He is a superb, manly man, whom his friends would delight to still further honor.
Senator Harding married Florence M. Kling, some years ago. They have no children. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Elk fraternities.
Hon. O. E. Harrison.
A striking instance of the influence of the young man in politics, and what can be accomplished by an unselfish devotion to public duty, is shown in the career of Hon. O. E. Harrison, of Darke county, who was the youngest member of the Senate of the Seventy-fifth General Assembly. He had a grasp of State affairs not surpassed by any of his colleagues, and his in- fluence was always directed toward the enactment of good laws.
HON ORLA E. HARRISON.
HON. LEWIS M. HOSEA.
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As Secretary of the Senate Committee on Taxation and a mem- ber of that committee, he had much to do with framing the laws known as the taxation scheme of the Nash administration, and in the consideration of these several bills his views were always sought and heeded. The popularity of Senator Harri- son before the people was shown in the success of his campaign for the Senate, he carrying a district always before Democratic by more than a thousand votes by a majority of 600 votes over Colonel Amos.
Mr. Harrison is a Darke county product, born there in 1873. He received his education in the public schools of Greenville and the National Normal University, graduating from the last named institution with the degree of Bachelor of Science. For five years after graduation he taught in the public schools with great success, afterward serving as principal of the Franklin High School. He read law with Hon. James I. Allread in Green- ville and was admitted to the bar in 1897, becoming a member of the law firm of Allread, Teegardin & Harrison, one of the leading legal firms in Greenville.
He has always taken a great interest in public affairs, serv- ing for some time as Secretary of the Darke County Agricul- tural Society. He is also Chancellor Commander of Lodge No. 161, Knights of Pythias, of Greenville. In 1898 he was married to Miss Virginia Eidson, daughter of the late Frank M. Eidson, and they have one child, a bright little boy, the ideal of his parents.
In the Seventy-fifth General Assembly he was Chairman of the Committees on County Affairs and Enrollment, and dis- charged the duties to the satisfaction of all. He was a member of the Committees of Common Schools and School Lands, Cor- porations other than Municipal, Judiciary, Railroads and Tele- graphs, Public Expenditures and Taxation. At all times he was diligent and faithful in the public service and his constituents were pleased with the record he made as their servant.
Hon. Lewis M. Hosea.
It is not often that a new member in any legislative body at once assumes a position of significance among his colleagues.
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It is the rule for such members to occupy a minor post until they become familiar, with legislation and acquire by experience an acquaintance with men and parliamentary methods that fits them for a place among the leaders of that body. Once in a great while, however, new men at once spring into consequence and, by virtue of their talents and an ability to grasp public questions, immediately become recognized as legislators in touch with the issue of the day, and amply able to grapple with them. Such a man was Major Lewis M. Hosea, one of the Republican Senators in the Seventy-fifth General Assembly from Hamilton county. At one bound he was recognized as one of the strong members of the Senate, and maintained this honorable post unchallenged.
Lewis Montgomery Hosea is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Ohio and senior member of the law firm of Hosea, Knight & Jones, in Cincinnati. On his father's side he is of French Huguenot extraction, his ancestors settling in North Carolina about 1698. Shortly prior to the Revolution they re- moved to Boston, Mass., where Robert Hosea, father of Major Hosea, was born in 1811. His grand-father, Robert Hosea (third), brought his family across the mountains to Chillicothe about 1820, where his father was educated with Governor Wm. Allen, the elder Pendletons, Waddells and others since well known. The family removed to Cincinnati in the 30's and the father owned and operated various steamboats on Western and Southern waters. In 1844 he established the wholesale grocery house of Hosea & Frazer, for many years the leading business of its kind in the West. The mother of Major Hosea was of English ancestry, descended collaterally from Sir William Black- stone. Her immediate ancestors came from Maine to Chilli- cothe, Ohio, and lived for a time in Alabama. In removing to Cincinnati the parents of Major Hosea, being conscientiously opposed to slavery, brought several slaves, whom they freed and who remained until death family pensioners. In 1861 the elder Hosea was chairman of the citizens' committee to welcome and protect Mr. Lincoln, who spoke in Cincinnati on his way to Washington. In 1856 he was elected by both political parties; on a citizens' ticket as Representative in the Ohio General As- sembly to fill the vacancy caused by the expulsion of John P.
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