USA > Ohio > Representative men of Ohio, 1900-1903 > Part 16
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and served as a director in the Blaine Club and Stamina League. In 1901 he was nominated and elected a member of the House from Hamilton County, and served as a member of the Code Committee of 23. Mr. Williams has never married. He is a member of the Elks, Eagles and Maccabees fraternities, and actively allied with the athletic organizations of the city of Cin- cinnati.
Hon. Robert H. Sharp.
Four generations of Sharps have represented Fairfield County in the Ohio General Assembly. The grandfather and great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch sat for one term when Chillicothe was the seat of Ohio government. The father Hon. Robert L. Sharp, was one of the original 49'ers and re- turned from California via the Isthmus in 1852. He was a member of the 65th and 66th General Assemblies.
Hon. Robert H. Sharp, a farmer and contractor, was born at Sugar Grove, Fairfield County, Ohio, Oct. 22, 1872. He was educated at special District School and spent two years at Ohio State University. He has always been a Democrat, and never held office until elected to the 74th General Assembly in 1899. Two years later he was given a second term as a mem- ber of the 75th General Assembly. In the latter body he was a member of the Committees of Insurance, Federal Relations and Boys' Industrial School, and also one of the members of the House Committee of 23 to consider the Municipal Code at the Extraordinary Session, as well as a member of the House Con- ference Committee. He was one of the leaders on the minority side.
Mr. Sharp was married in 1895 to Miss Rosa E. Deeds, of Sugar Grove. They have three sons. He is a member of B. P. O. E .No. 37, and made many friends by his genial manner and strong attachments.
HON. ROBERT H. SHARP.
BURGESS L. MCELROY.
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Burgess L. McElroy.
The subject of this biographical sketch is well-known in the Republican politics of Ohio, and his career has been one that commends itself to his friends. He has been closely allied with the leaders of his party in State and National campaigns and his experience and good judgment have been of value in the con- duct of political battles.
Burgess L. McElroy was born and reared on a farm in Knox county, his birth occurring August 25, 1858. He attended the country schools there until 14 years of age, when he prepared himself to enter Milnor Hall at Gambier, having an ambition to secure a good education. He entered the class of 1882, in Kenyon College, but soon transferred his allegiance to Butler University, from which institution he afterward graduated. While there he was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. Young McElroy was poor in purse and was compelled to teach school during the winter season to pay college expenses. Upon leaving Butler Uni- versity he began the study of law, but soon abandoned it for more remunerative employment being compelled to do something that promised immediate financial returns.
Mr. McElroy has always been a staunch Republican, and. early allied himself with the Ohio Republican League, of which he served as Treasurer and Secretary, the first named for three, and the latter for one term. During the administration of Gov. Mc- Kinley he was appointed oil inspector for the Southern district of Ohio, a place that was remunerative and made him a political factor, serving two terms. In 1896 he was engaged at Republi- can National headquarters in Chicago, having charge of an im- portant bureau. Two years later he served as secretary of the Republican State Executive Committee, with Hon. H. M. Daugh- erty as Chairman. In January, 1900, he was made the Republi- can caucus nominee for Chief Clerk of the House, of the 74th General Assembly, defeating several aspirants and elected by the House. In January, 1902, he was elected for a second term for 75th General Assembly, so popular was his administration. Mr. McElroy in addition to his official duties has frequently been a delegate to Congressional and State Conventions, and always taken an active part in the political work of his county and dis-
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trict. He is a member of Clinton Commandery No. 5, Mt. Ver- non, Ohio, Knights Templar and a Shriner, being a Noble of Aladdin Temple, Columbus, Ohio.
Andrew Jackson.
It is no uncommon honor for one man to be chosen Sergeant- at-Arms of the House for four terms, yet that has been accomplished by Andrew Jackson, who held that responsible posi- tion in the Seventy-fifth General Assembly. Mr. Jackson is a Greene county product, born near Cedarville, December 25, 1845, where he has ever since resided. He received a common school education in the schools of Xenia, and when the war broke out enlisted in the Ninety-fourth Ohio Regiment and served for a full term of three years with distinguished credit.
He entered politics actively when he was elected a mem- ber of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly from Greene county, and was re-elected to the Sixty-ninth. He was chosen Sergeant- at-Arms of the Seventieth, Seventy-first, Seventy-fourth and Seventy-fifth General Assemblies, and proof of his popularity is shown that in every election after the first he has had no real opposition for another term. He was the Republican caucus nominee for Sergeant-at-Arms of the Seventy-third General As- sembly, but went down when the opposition to Senator Hanna organized the House.
Mr. Jackson is a farmer and breeder of fine horses at his fine place near Cedarville, and for years has found time to fill many of the village offices. He is popular wherever known and his unfailing good nature has made him a legion of friends. Party lines cut no figure in this matter, for while Mr. Jackson is and always has been an unswerving, loyal Republican, he stands deservedly high in the good opinion of those who are politically opposed to him. It is probable that he will be kept in his present place as long as he cares to serve.
HON. ANDREW JACKSON.
FREDERICK BLENKNER.
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Frederick Blankner.
It has been said that the late John Sherman was the dean of the office holders in the Buckeye State, the sage of Mansfield having spent forty years in the service of the people as Repre- sentative in Congress, a United States Senator, Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of State. But even that record must give way for Colonel Frederick Blankner, who has held a posi- tion in the State House since 1858- forty-four years in round numbers. For thirty-nine years, or since 1863, he has been third assistant Sergeant-at-Arms, and in that time no man has had the temerity to seriously oppose him. It is a sufficient reply as to Mr. Blankner's fitness for the position to point to his unpar- alleled record. It has never been equaled in the history of Ohio politics.
Frederick Blankner is of German birth, born in Bavaria, July 28, 1836. He was a son of Thomas and Barbara Blankner, to whom four sons were born, three of whom are deceased. His father was a retired business man. One year after the birth of young Blankner, or in 1837, the family emigrated to America, landing in New York. They soon went to Buffalo, thence by canal to Cleveland, thence to Portsmouth by the same means of conveyance, eventually retracing their journey from Portsmouth to Columbus by canal, and here Frederick Blankner has ever since resided. He was educated in the public schools of Colum- bus and afterwards worked with the Ohio Tool Company, hav- ing charge of the packing department.
He entered the service of the State upon the organization of the Fifty-third General Assembly, when Salmon P. Chase was Governor, being elected one of the porters in the House of Representatives. He served in this position until 1863, when the Fifty-fifth General Assembly, with David Tod as Governor, named him as Third Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms of the House, a post he has held without a break ever since. On Jan- uary 18, 1857, he married Fredreka Volk, and four children were born to them, two sons and two daughters, Frederick J., William, Alphretta and Mary. The wife died August 18, 1872, and Mr. Blankner was married to Anna M. Harding, to whom one daughter, Nettie, was born January 7, 1879.
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There is probably no man better known in Ohio legislative circles than Frederick Blankner, and his unequaled record demonstrates his popularity in more eloquent words than can be employed in this connection. He is everybody's friend, and no matter how closely party lines may be drawn in the organiza- tion of the House, or what faction or party wins in that contest, Frederick Blankner is the unchallenged Third Assistant Sergeant- at-Arms. On several occasions it has been suggested that his services might be rendered by a new man but whenever the roll is called on that subject in the Ohio General Assembly no other name is considered, and it is safe to say that as long as he lives he will be Third Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms. His services are invaluable and there is no one to take his place. No man has more friends, both in and out of legislative halls. He stands without a rival as one of the unique characters in the story of Ohio politics.
Hon. E. N. Huggins.
The Republican party has in its ranks many men of ability, energy and loyalty, and there is not one in Ohio to whom these attributes could be more aptly applied, than Hon. E. N. Huggins, the well-known attorney of Columbus.
Mr. Huggins is a native of Brown County, Ohio, born at Mt. Oreb, November 6, 1860. The family is of Scotch- Irish extraction, the father of the subject of this sketch, James E. Huggins, being a farmer and born in Ohio. His grand- father was a native of North Carolina, the great-grandfather Huggins removing from Pennsylvania to North Carolina about the time of the American Revolution. Another great-grand- father, Robert Irwin, was one of the framers of the noted Meck- lenburg Declaration of Independence. The grandfather of Mr. Huggins, Robert Huggins left North Carolina on account of slavery and came to Ohio under the leadership of Rev. James Gilliland, a Presbyterian minister of anti-slavery principles, and most of whose parishioners followed him to Ohio, where in Brown
HON. EDWARD N. HUGGINS.
HON. EMILIUS O. RANDALL.
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County, on Red Oak Creek, a few miles north of Ripley on the Ohio River, Mr. Gilliland, early in the last century, founded the Red Oak Presbyterian church.
This church during the exciting contest that arose on the slavery question, became a noted point on the border as a safe retreat for fugitives fleeing from slavery across the Ohio. The grandfather of Mr. Huggins bought land on White Oak Creek and cleared out a farm, and there his family of five sons and one daughter were reared. Until his death his home was a station on the "underground railway" guarded by his stalwart sons. A fleeing negro that found his way to the Huggins settlement was safe.
His mother, Arethusa C. Diball, was born in Pennsylvania, descended from the Collins-Huntington family of New England, some of whom were prominent in the struggle for American freedom. Young Huggins attended the common schools of Brown County, afterward the Hillsboro academy, but much of his education was received from his parents. He began the study of law under Judge S. F. Steel, of Hillsboro, graduating from the Cincinnati Law School in June, 1884.
After receiving his degree Mr. Huggins removed to Co- lumbus, where he has since resided. He was the Republican candidate for Congress from the Twelfth District in 1892 and 1898, each time running ahead of his ticket in a heavily demo- cratic district. He has always been a Republican and his ser- vices have been in great demand in speaking campaigns. Mr. Huggins is one of the most successful lawyers in Ohio. In Oc- tober, 1890, he was married to Miss Clara E., daughter of the late Dr. W. W. Ellsbury, of Brown County.
Hon. E. O. Randall.
Among the men who have graced the social, literary and political life of the Capital City, none stand higher in popular esteem than Hon. Emilius Oviatt Randall. Reporter for the Ohio Supreme Court, trained and educated for the bar, he has for years been engaged in literary pursuits, and his name and fame are
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co-extensive with the State. His judgment is mature and his experience in affairs large and varied. He is to-day one of the best after-dinner speakers in Ohio and his standing in the com- munity is such as might be expected from a man whose career has been one shining success all along the highway of life. His mental equipment is of the best, his social graces are the boast of his friends and his genial good nature known to all. No man has more friends ; no man better deserves them. In every po- sition, public or private, he has demeaned himself as becomes a first-class servant and citizen, while his work in the field of literature has contributed much that is of more than passing in- terest and a permanent addition to the great store of belles-letters to be credited to the ubiquitous Ohio man.
Emilius Oviatt Randall was born in Richfield, Summit county, Ohio, October 28, 1850. He is the son of Rev. David A. Randall, author and traveler, and Harriet Oviat Ran- dall. Both parents were natives of Connecticut and de- scendants of early Puritan stock. His great-grandfathers on the side of both father and mother were soldiers in the American army during the Revolution. Mr. Randall was brought to Co- lumbus, where his parents were then residing, when he was but
a few weeks old, and he has resided here ever since. His edu- cation was begun in the public schools of Columbus, and he was prepared for college in Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. In the fall of 1870, he entered Cornell University, and in 1874 was graduated in the literary course of that institution with the de- gree of Ph. B. He then pursued a two years' post graduate course at Cornell and in Europe.
From 1878 to 1890 his attention was given to merchandising and literary pursuits in Columbus, afterwards reading law and being admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio June 5, 1890. In 1892 he was graduated from the Law School of the Ohio State University with the degrees of LL. B. and LL. M. He is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon and Phi Delta Phi college fraternities. Mr. Randall was made instructior of com- mercial law in the Ohio State University in 1892 and professor of commercial law in the same institution in 1895. On the 14th of May, 1895, he was appointed reporter of the Supreme Court of Ohio by the judges of that court. He was elected President
DR. W. O. THOMPSON.
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of the Columbus Board of Trade for the year 1887, and was a member of the Board of Education from 1887 to 1889, declin- ing a re-election. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Columbus Library, having been first elected to that office in. 1884 by the City Council, and re-elected every two years since that time. He is a member of the American Bar Association, American Library Association, American Historical Association, National Society of American Authors, Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and of the Ohio State Bar Association. In February, 1903, he was appointed by Governor Mckinley a Trustee of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, to which position he was reappointed by Governor Bushnell in February 1896, and by Governor Nash in February, 1902. He has acted as Secretary of that society since February, 1894, and has edited the volumes of the society's publications since. Mr. Ran- dall is an ardent Republican in politics and in the summer of 1902 would have been the party's candidate for Congress in the Twelfth district (Franklin county), if he had allowed the use of his name. His fitness for the honorable post was uni- versally recognized and the organization would have been united in his support. He was a member of the committee of seven chosen by the Columbus Constitutional Convention in January, 1891, to draft the charter of the present municipal government of the city. October 28, 1874, he married Miss Mary Coy, of Ithaca, New York, and by this marriage had three children, a daughter and two sons.
Dr. William Oxley Thompson.
The great strides taken by Ohio along educational lines, and the wonderful growth of the College and University idea in this commonwealth, is largely due to the controlling forces at the head of her educational institutions. The people year by year come to set greater store on higher education, and the youth are looking more and more to securing that which will benefit them in their adult life, but after all the individual success of each College and University is largely controlled by the per-
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sonality that directs its affairs. The boards of trustees manage the financial and business ends of these educational enterprises, but the popularity of the President, his thoroughness as an edu- cator, his Christian character, and above all his energy in push- ing the claims of the school with which he is connected, and his ability to make good these claims, go far toward paving the way to educational and financial success.
The Ohio State University, that ward of the Buckeye State, has grown and expanded until to-day it stands among the fore- most of its class in this country, and this condition of affairs is in a great measure due to the men who have been the dominant factors in its management and control. When the roll is called of the Presidents who have wrought well to promote the inter- ests of this great and beneficent institution, the name of Dr. William Oxley Thompson, will very nearly if not quite follow the example set by Abou Ben Adhem who "led all the rest." In the three years that he has had it under his care, constant and convincing growth has been the watchword and result, until to- day it looms up as not only the greatest in Ohio but fast approach- ing the standard set by historic Oxford on the tight little island.
Dr. William Oxley Thompson was not born of the purple. He had to hew his own way in the world, and he burned the mid- night oil in order that he might secure the first rudiments of an education that has since placed him in the front rank of those whose task it is to prepare the youth for the active realities of life. He was born at Cambridge, Ohio, November 5, 1855, the son of David Glenn Thompson and nee Agnes Miranda Oxley. His parents were poor in this world's goods and his education at home was confined to the country district and town schools. He was ambitious, however, to secure a good education and at the age of 12 years began to support himself by working on a farm. His mother was a superior woman, mentally, and from her he inherited that love for the high things that afterward marked his adult life and made him a factor in the work of education.
He graduated from Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio, with the degree of A. B., in 1878; taught school at Lawn Ridge, Ill., one year to get money to complete his education and
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entered Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pa., Sep- tember, 1879, graduating therefrom in 1882, receiving the degree of A. B., in 1881 from his Alma Mater.
After leaving school he entered the Presbyterian ministry, accepting a charge at Odebolt, Sac County, Iowa, in May 1882, and remained until April 1885, when he was called to the pastor- ate of the Presbyterian Church at Longmont, Colorado. In October of that year he was elected President of Longmont College, which he filled in connection with his pastorate for four years. In 1891 he was called to Miami University, at Ox- ford, Ohio, beginning his work there in August of that year. Under his management the institution took on a new life and largely increased its sphere of usefulness. In 1899 he was chosen President of Ohio State University, where he is yet en- gaged. In view of the conspicuous success that has attended his efforts as the executive head of that institution it is needless to expatiate upon his eminent fitness for the place he occupies. The university and its fast increasing clientele of friends and patrons answer that question.
On September 21, 1882, at Indiana, Pa., Dr. Thompson married Rebecca J. Allison, who died August 15, 1886, at Long- mont, Colo. One daughter, Miss Bessie Thompson, was born of this union, and the young lady is now a student at Ohio State University. In October, 1887, he was wedded to Helen Starr Brown, at Longmont, and two sons, Lorin and Roger, were born to them. Mrs. Thompson died December 27, 1890. In June, 1894, Dr. Thompson married Estelle Clark, of Cleveland, a brilliantly educated and highly accomplished lady who now graces his home.
Dr. Thompson in all his educational career has been a posi- tive force for progress and for good. He is broadminded and has a generous way of looking at things. His strong executive ability, hearty co-operation with the educational forces of the State; his sound common sense and his manly christian character are all strong additions to his splendid personality. He is a man of great mental and physical vigor and resistless energy, and the splendid financial aid extended Ohio State University by the General Assembly is largely due to the high position he occupies in the minds of the legislators. They believe in him.
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His splendid past is but a precursor of greater things that are yet to come to Ohio's premier educational institution.
General John Beatty.
When the history of the distinguished sons of Ohio is written, high in the list of those who stood among the first in loyalty, integrity and good citizenship, and who were unchanging and uncompromising in the defense of what they believed represented the best type of morals, both social and political, must stand the name of General John Beatty, President of the Citizens' Savings Bank of Columbus, Ohio. General Beatty has never known what it was to bow the knee to public clamor or applause, but Spartan- like has stood for his beliefs on every subject, and the world has always known what those beliefs were. He has been daringly independent, and his friends, while disagreeing with him often, have given him credit for an honesty and sincerity of purpose, not often met with in men of his splendid mental calibre. It has made but little difference to him what the world thought of measures or men. He formed his own estimate and then he stood unmoved alike by the criticism of his friends or the attacks of his enemies. His conscience is his only monitor; his intel- ligence the only guide he employs in making up his opinions on any subject. It can never be said of him that he has abated one jot of his views on any proposition in order to catch the breeze of popularity. He has been a soldier, a member of Con- gress, a forceful writer and a successful business man. In every position he has more than fulfilled the expectations of his friends and he stands to-day among the sons of Ohio who have done much to add to its prestige in every field of human activity.
General Beatty was born on a farm near Sandusky, Ohio, December 16, 1828. His education was obtained at the district school of a pioneer settlement. His grandfather, John Beatty, who came to Ohio from Connecticut in 1810, was an anti-slavery man of the James G. Birney school, and from him the subject of this sketch imbibed in boyhood his first political tenets, and to these he has adhered somewhat obstinately through life. In 1852
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GENERAL JOHN BEATTY.
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he supported John P. Hale, the Free-Soil candidate, for the pres- idency. In 1856 he cast his vote for John C. Fremont. In 1860 he was the Republican presidential elector for the district which sent John Sherman to Congress. When the war broke out in 1861, he was the first to put his name on an enlistment roll in Morrow County, Ohio. He was elected to the captaincy of his Company, and subsequently made Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel of the Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was with McClellan and Rosecrans at Rich Mountain, Beverly, Cheat Mountain Pass and Elk Water, in West Virginia, during the summer and fall of 1861; with General O. M. Michel in his dash through Southern Kentucky, middle Tennessee and northern Alabama in the spring of 1862. He participated in the affairs at Decatur and Bridgeport, and was for a time Provost Marshal of the city of Huntsville, Alabama. Returning to the Ohio River with Gen- eral Buell in September, 1862, he joined in the pursuit of Bragg through Kentucky, and on October 8th fought at the head of his regiment in the battle of Perryville. In the latter part of 1862 he was given the command of a brigade of Rousseau's Division. This he led through the three days' battle of Stone River; while attempting to re-establish a broken line a horse was killed under him on the first day, and on the night of the last day (January 2d) with two regiments of his brigade he assaulted the enemy's barricade, on the left of the Murfreesboro Turnpike, and carried it at the point of the bayonet.
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