USA > Ohio > Representative men of Ohio, 1900-1903 > Part 8
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Hon. Isaac B. Cameron is descended from the sturdy stock of the Scotch, and he was born at Nairn, in "the land o' ale and cakes." His widowed mother being left with six children (the Treasurer being the youngest), she emigrated to America, be- lieving that in this great republic there would be more opportu- nity for her children to carve out for themselves an honorable and useful career. Upon reaching this country the family set- tled down on a farm near Salineville, and began the struggle. It was a hard one. They afterwards moved into the village, where young Cameron took advantage of the meagre educa- tional advantages it afforded, after attending the Iron City Business College of Pittsburg. He at once plunged into busi- ness and became bookkeeper for a local firm, afterward be- coming one of its members, and then full proprietor, success- fully conducting the enterprise until 1893, when he was elected Treasurer of Columbiana county. Two years later he was re- elected. During his two terms he made the office a model for correct business methods, and one of the best conducted in the State. In 1898 he was made receiver of the First Na- tional Bank of Lisbon, and was actively engaged in closing up that institution when elected Treasurer of State, being success- ful in every suit for the recovery of the funds belonging to the institution.
At the Republican State convention held in the City of Columbus in June, 1899, Mr. Cameron was a candidate for Treasurer of State, and nominated on the first ballot. He was elected by a large majority, and two years later was renomi- nated for a second term, and again elected. From the hour of his induction into office until now the office of Treasurer of State, under his wise and business-like management, has been among the best in the country, and no word of criticism or com- plaint has been heard. The funds and securities of the State are safely housed and the books so kept that the condition of the funds can be ascertained instantly. The monies and bonds are kept in a large steel vault, designed by Mr. Cameron, with
CHAS. C.GREEN.
ARTHUR A. GRIFFITHS.
OHIO STATE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
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steel filing cases, all of the compartments of which are so num- bered and lettered that, in connection with a card index system installed by him, any security or paper of value entrusted to his keeping may be easily located and readily produced.
Treasurer Cameron has been one of the prominent leaders of his party in Columbiana county for many years. He had hardly become of age until he was identified with the Repub- lican county committee and in several campaigns was chairman of the executive committee. Under his management the Re- publican majority in Columbiana county has been steadily in- creased and the party there became a model for strength and an absence of factional differences. This is largely due to the influence of Mr. Cameron, who never believed that the best results politically were to be achieved by a division of forces.
Mr. Cameron is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a Knight of Pythias and an Elk. He was married in 1875 to. Miss Laura A. Irwin, daughter of John B. and Mary A. Irwin, of Cleveland, Ohio. They have one child, a son, Roy Mac- Donald Cameron, born in 1883.
Charles Cameron Green,
Cashier of the State Treasury, was born and reared in Colum- biana county, Ohio, his birth occurring April 6, 1873, in the village of .Salineville. His father was accidentally killed Steptember I, 1877, leaving destitute a widowed mother and three small children. She removed immediately to East Liverpool, where, by her daily earnings in the factory for the manufacture of pottery, she was enabled, by heroic efforts, to hold the children together and give them each the benefit of a few years in the public schools. At the age of twelve years Charles was serving as messenger and office boy in the office of the Knowles, Taylor & Knowles Pottery Company at East Liverpool, where he remained for eight years, having been promoted from time to time, un- til his experience had embraced the usual routine of their office duties, he having assisted at various times in each of the
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office departments. He left the employ of the Knowles Com- pany September 12, 1893, for the purpose of attending school.
Later he served as chief clerk for the Boyce Foundry and Machine works at East Liverpool, until he accepted the cashier- ship of the Columbiana county treasury, at Lisbon, under Treas- urer-elect I. B. Cameron, where he remained as cashier and con- fidential clerk for five years and four months, discharging faith- fully every trust reposed in him, to the entire satisfaction of his employer, and the taxpayers in general. His appointment to his present situation came unsolicited from Treasurer of State Cameron, his former employer.
In 1900 he was married to Florence J. Rose, Canton, O., and they have one child, Walter Cameron Green. Mr. Green be- longs to Salem Lodge No. 30, B. P. O. E., Concordia Lodge No. 98, I. O. O. F., of Lisbon, Goodale Lodge No. 372, F. & A. M., Columbus, Ohio.
Arthur H. Griffiths
Was born in Richville, St. Lawrence county, New York, May 24, 1856. He comes from an old Welsh family, which located in the state of New York in 1855. The family consisted of the parents and seven children. The subject of this sketch was edu- cated in the public schools of Richville and at Oberlin College, Ohio. He has always been a Republican, and has held offices of minor importance, and also served as township clerk. From 1880 to 1886 Mr. Griffiths held important positions in the offices of the Northern Pacific railway at St. Paul, Minn. In January, 1896, he was appointed bookkeeper in the Ohio State Treasury, under the administration of Treasurer Samuel B. Campbell, a position he has continued to hold under Treasurer I. B. Cameron. Mr. Griffiths is a capable official, a firm friend, and has been a suc- cess in his position, where talent of the highest order is demanded to do the work of the state properly.
He was married in 1882, at Windsor, Ohio, to Miss Eva Hill, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Levi Hill. They have two daughters, Rhea G. and Lula M. Mr. Griffiths is a member of the I. O. O. F. in all its branches, and is also a member of other fraternal orders.
HON. FRANK B. HUFFMAN.
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Hon. Frank A. Huffman.
For more than three-quarters of a century that has passed since the waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio river were connected by the inland waterways, known as the canal system of Ohio, many men have served on the State Board having charge of these public works, and equal in experience and good manage- ment with any of his predecessors, is Frank A. Huffman, now a resident of Lima, Allen County, who is about closing his second term.
Mr. Huffman comes from German parentage on his father's side, and Scotch-Irish on his mother's. He was born on a farm near Beaver Dam, Allen County, Ohio, October 17, 1859, and re- ceived his early education in the schools of that village, and at the Ohio Normal University at Ada, Ohio, graduating from the latter institution in 1885 as a civil engineer. He has held but two offices in his public career. He was elected Representative from Van Wert County to the Seventy-first and Seventy-second Gen- eral Assembly, where he made a good record in behalf of the people. In 1896 he was nominated and elected a member of the State Board of Public Works of Ohio, and re-elected to the same office in 1899. He will retire from that office in February, 1903.
The subject of this sketch married Miss Mary M. Desenberg, September 10, 1889, who has since died, leaving one son, Lewis D. Huffman, born May 7, 1894. He is a member of Ivanhoe Commandery, K. T., of Van Wert, Ohio, having joined the Masonic order at the age of twenty-one years. For years he has been engaged in the lumber business and has been quite suc- cessful in that line.
A modest man, but one of sterling worth and merit, Frank A. Huffman has a wide circle of warm friends and acquaintances. As a legislator and charged with the duty of administering the affairs of the public works of the State, he has proven himself capable and faithful. His record in public and private life is without a stain. He is a representative citizen of Ohio.
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Hon. Charles A. Goddard.
This popular official, now closing his second term as a mem- ber of the Ohio Board of Public Works, is a "Green Mountain Boy," born and raised at Norwich, Windsor county, Vermont, the date of his birth being May 25, 1841. He was not yet 20 years of age when the civil war broke out, but immediately tendered his ser- vices to his country, enlisting in the famous 6th Vermont Infantry. His regiment was one of the Sixth Corps under General Sedg- wick, afterward killed at the battle of Spottsylvania, and assisted in driving General Early out of the vicinity of Washington, with the co-operation of the 150th Ohio Regiment, of which Senator Hanna and Gov. Nash were members. Mr. Goddard participated in all the battles of his regiment that started at 960 men strong in 1861, and could muster but 78 at the final review, among others South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancelorsville, Get- tysburg, etc. In the historic fight in the Virginia Wilderness, in May, 1864, that General Grant termed the five bloodiest days that America ever saw, Mr. Goddard was shot twice, the first time by a bullet in the neck, and the second in the left ankle, completely shattering the bone. He was mustered out in November, 1864, on account of these wounds, but the record shows that he was a splendid soldier, one of the famous 6th Corps boys, who "Bull Run" Russell, the English correspondent, declared were typical American troopers and an example for the world in martial bearing and achievement.
After the war he came to Ohio, purchased some land from the late Orin B. Gould, in Scioto county, and settled down again to farm work. He lived a quiet life but his real worth in time manifested itself, and he was chosen one of the County Com- missioners of Scioto county, Ohio, in which office he did really magnificent work. The county never had a better Commissioner. It was during his term that Scioto county began its debt paying, which policy has been adhered to ever since.
In September, 1887, Mr. Goddard was appointed superin- tendent of the Southern Division of the Ohio Canal, "in which position," as an exchange says, "his great executive ability again asserted itself. In a little time he was familiar with every detail, and complete master of the situation. Where chaos and extrava-
HON. CHARLES A. GODDARD.
HON. GEO. W. JOHNSTON.
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gance reigned, order and economy assumed sway. His splendid judgment and intuitive grasp of details made him a prime fa- vorite not only with the people along the canal and doing busi- ness with the canal, but with every member of the Board of Pub- lic Works and with the engineers in charge of them." He also served his people as member of school board and land appraiser.
In 1897, the field of his public usefulness was enlarged and the Republicans of Ohio in State Convention assembled, nomi- nated him for member of the Board of Public Works. He was elected by a large majority, and three years later was again nomi- nated and elected for a second term, which will expire in 1904. During his term of service as a member of the board charged with the management and maintenance of the Ohio system of water- ways, he has made a fine record for business ability and care of the state's interests. He is a staunch friend of the canal, and can be depended on to preserve them and develop their usefulness to the State.
Mr. Goddard was married in 1871 to Miss Eureka Kimball, daughter of A. H. Kimball, and they reside on a fine farm at Franklin Furnace, Scioto county, Ohio. They have five children, Charles A., Henry, Arthur, Minnie and Nellie. Mrs. Goddard is a member of the M. E. Church, As a citizen, Mr. Goddard is highly respected ; as a friend valued ; as a public servant, faithful and true. His record in public and private life is beyond re- proach. He is one of the substantial men of whom the Buckeye state can boast.
Hon. W. G. Johnston.
Hon. W. G. Johnston of Summit County, member of the State Board of Public Works, a man of strict integrity and thor- ough business training, has been actively identified with the in- dustrial development of his section of the State.
Mr. Johnston is a native of Summit County where he was born February 18th, 1846. His father was a farmer. His edu- cation was received in the district schools and at Oberlin College. He began to teach in the country schools when twenty years of age, assisting his father on the farm in summer. In 1870, how- 6
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ever, he engaged in the production of coal, and operated mines in Summit County continuously and successfully for ten years. During the same period he engaged in the manufacture and refining of oils in Akron. Late in the seventies he disposed of his business interests in Ohio and removed to Rochester, N. Y., where for eight years he was engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes. Upon the death of his father he was called back to Summit County and purchased the old family homestead.
In 1887 Mr. Johnston was elected County Commissioner of Summit County and his official services were so satifactory that he was re-elected by an increased majority in 1890. In this, his first public capacity, Mr. Johnston made a record that was above criticism and commanded the confidence of all regardless of party. His clean business administration of that important county office had much to do with securing for him the indorse- ment of the Republican State Convention for member of the Board of Public Works in 1898. A life-long Republican, always active in the work of the party, he has served for many years on various party committees. In every capacity he has labored with all his ability, enthusiastically, for Republican success. Fraternally he is a Sir Knight, an N. M. S. and an Elk.
Charles E. Perkins.
Charles E. Perkins, the present Chief Engineer of the Public Works of Ohio, where he has made a fine record in the man- agement of the state's waterways, is a native of Akron, Ohio, where he was born on May 7, 1850. His grandfather, Simon Perkins, came to Ohio from Connecticut in 1800 and settled at Warren, Trumbull County, as the representative of the Western Reserve Land Company. On his maternal side his great-grand- father was Judge Tod, father of Governor David Tod, a name that stood high among Ohio jurists a half century ago. His mother was nee Grace Ingersoll Tod, a sister of Governor David Tod.
Young Perkins was educated in the public schools at Akron and at the Western Reserve Academy. He also attended Rens-
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CHARLES E. PERKINS.
HON. LEWIS D. BONEBRAKE.
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selaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., three, and the Co- lumbia School of Mines in New York City one year. He was Second Lieutenant of Artillery in the Ohio National Guard at Akron, Ohio, for three years. He has been a staunch Republican all his life.
In the line of his profession he was assistant and city engi- neer of Akron for seven years, and Summit County surveyor and engineer for nine years, besides being engaged in general practice. In every instance he has given splendid satisfaction, and his record as Chief Engineer of the Ohio Canal System-an office in which he has been retained since his first appointment by Governor Mckinley in 1892-indicates the thoroughness of his work in his present position, and his practical education along the lines of expert engineering.
Mr. Perkins is a zealous believer in inland water ways as a public necessity and an advocate of the building, across the Ohio portage, of a modern barge canal connecting Lake Erie with the southern rivers.
He was married in 1880 to Miss May Adams, daughter of Frank Adams, a prominent manufacturer of Akron.
Hon. Lewis D. Bonebrake.
Ohio stands in the van of States that encourage and foster education. No commonwealth of like population spends so much money for the enlightenment of its citizenship. Beginning with 1836, when the Commissioner of Common Schools was created, the progress has been constant and satisfactory, until to-day all the machinery of education is in constant motion, and thousands of the young are graduating each year, fully armed for the battle with the world. Conditions and circumstances are constantly changing, and this evolution applies to the public school system of Ohio until a stage has been reached when it will be necessary to re-cast the laws, on the subject in order that the best results may be reached. It will be one of the first duties of the 76th General Assembly to codify the school laws and make such changes as are demanded by wisdom and experience. The
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schools have become a mammoth concern, a business proposition, as it were, and suggested changes must be crystalized into law.
The present Commissioner of Common Schools, Hon. Lewis D. Bonebrake, has accomplished much in the line of improving the public school system in Ohio, and to him great credit for advanced methods of teaching and administration should in justice be given. He is a wide-awake progressive official, and his record is such as to commend him to the people of the State. His strength was shown when a candidate for a second term in 1900, he received a plurality nearly three times as large as in 1897. The people had become acquainted with the man and his methods. They approved both.
Lewis D. Bonebrake was born at Westerville, Franklin County, Ohio, August 23, 1859. His father, Rev. Daniel Bone- brake, was born in Preble County, and is still living at the age of 73 years. A great-grandfather served in the Revolutionary war, and his brothers were with Washington in and around Philadelphia. Two of his great uncles were scouts under Gen- eral William Henry Harrison in the war of 1812. The Commis- sioner's mother, nee Hester Ann Bishop, was the youngest daughter of Captain John Bishop, who with his family came to Franklin County, Ohio, in 1818, from Dutchess County, New York. Her father served in 1812, and five of his father's family were soldiers in the Revolution.
The education of young Bonebrake was received in the . district school until 14 years of age, when he entered the Wester- ville High School and completed his course. In the fall of 1876 he entered Otterbein University, Westerville, and by teaching during the winter put himself through college, graduating in the class of 1882. Having fitted himself for a teacher, he at
once took up that life-work. His first engagement was as Superintendent at Sparta, then at Elmore, followed by Athens, and thence to Mt. Vernon, where he served with general satis- faction for eight years previous to his election as Commissioner.
Mr. Bonebrake is a stalwart Republican and in 1897, at the Toledo Convention, he was nominated for the office of State Commissioner of Common Schools. His popularity among the people was shown on election day, for he had a plurality
HON. HORACE ANKENY.
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of 26,549 votes over Myron E. Hard, his Democratic opponent. He took office in July, 1898, and during his first term visited and delivered educational addresses in every county of the State. In 1900 he was nominated for a second term, and was elected over Joshua D. Simkins, Democrat, by a plurality of 68,302 votes. His second term will expire the first Monday in July, 1904.
Mr. Bonebrake has served as school examiner in city, county and state boards, successively, and holds a life certificate from the latter granted in the summer of 1895. A splendid public speaker his services were in constant demand as an institute lecturer, and before his election he had covered Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, filling such engagements.
In 1884 Mr. Bonebrake was married to Miss Fanny F. Beal, of Hamilton, Ohio, and they have a daughter.
Mr. Bonebrake is a Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Maccabees.
Hon. Horace Ankeney.
An educated and enthusiastic agriculturalist, a man who has taken a prominent part in the advancement of the educational interests of his native state, and honored by the people on various occasions - such is Hon. Horace Ankeney, State Dairy and Food Commissioner.
He was born on a farm near Alpha, Greene County, Ohio, February II, 1850. His father, Samuel Ankeney, was a native of Maryland, while his mother, nee Margaret Gettard, was born and raised in Warren County, Ohio. Young Ankeney received the first rudiments of his education in the country schools of Beaver Creek township, supplemented by a thorough course at Miami University, Oxford, where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and whence he graduated in 1872. For two winters following he served as principal of the Beaver Creek graded school near his home and for nearly twenty years he acted as a member and President of the Beaver Creek township Board of education. Always interested in educational matters,
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he has held several positions of influence and honor in connection therewith, having been a trustee of Miami University since 1887; of Heidelberg University since 1885 ; and a trustee and treasurer of Heidelberg Theological Seminary since 1887. He served as Infirmary Director of his county from 1883 to 1889, resigning near the close of his second term to give special attention to raising the endowment of one of the institutions of his church. While Infirmary Director he was the instigator and author of the first pamphlet of Collated and Annotated Poor Laws in the State, a similar collation of the laws having since been author- ized by special act and published by the State Board of Charities.
Always interested in the work of education Mr. Ankeney was the pioneer in the work of bringing about township supervi- sion of the country schools of his township, a plan he has lived to see carried out not only in his neighborhood but elsewhere in the State. So successful were the schools of Beavercreek town- ship along the lines of advanced educational work that since the adoption of the new and better plan, embracing a systematic, graded course of study, and township high schools, that scores of students have stepped right from the Beavercreek schools into sophomore classes in the various colleges and universities of Ohio. While therefore Mr. Ankeney's career has been a success in every way he looks with pardonable pride upon his record in behalf of better education, for he was an ardent advocate of the theory that has now blossomed into practice when its friends were few, and when it required a stout heart to endeavor to break away from the old method of doing things in an educational way.
Mr. Ankeney has always been enterprising along agricul- tural lines, serving as President of Farmers' Clubs, and Insti- tutes and actively engaged in everything that enhanced the in- terests of the farming community. His home in Beavercreek township, Greene County, is an ideal one, and the latch-string of genial hospitality is always out for his friends. For years he was a director of the old Second National Bank, Xenia, and Secretary of the Xenia Paper Company.
He has always been an ardent advocate of the principles of the Republican party and represented his county in the 74th and 75th General Assembly, where his labors were most satisfactory. In the 74th General Assembly, he was Chairman of the Commit-
HON. LAWSON E. EMERSON.
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tee on Libraries, and in the 75th, was a member of the Committee on Schools, Finance, and Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home. In the summer of 1902 Mr. Ankeney was nominated for Dairy and Food Commissioner by the Republican State Convention that met in Cleveland, and in the following November was elected by a large majority. He assumed the duties of his new and im- portant position February 16, 1903.
On the 14th of October, 1879, Mr. Ankeney was married to Miss Lina G. Cline, and seven children have been born to them - Florence, Samuel, Alfred, Elizabeth Trabine, William Moore- head, Herman Cline and Rachel Hoffman.
Lawson E. Emerson.
Eastern Ohio furnished a splendid man for the state service in the person of the gentleman whose name graces the head of this sketch. For years he was a power in his part of the state, and when in 1901 he became a candidate for the place he now holds, his strong personality won the nomination on the first ballot, against a strong field of opposition.
Lawson E. Emerson was born in Belmont County, O., Sept. 25, 1863. He was educated in the common schools of his native county, graduating from the Barnesville High School and the Valparaiso (Ind.) Normal School. For several years before deciding to study law he taught school in Belmont County, and was very successful in that line. He afterward studied law with the late Hon. Lorenzo Danford, and later graduated from the Cincinnati Law School. In 1890 he was appointed deputy clerk of the Belmont County Courts serving under Henry M. Davies, for six years. In 1895 he was nominated and elected Clerk of the Courts, and in 1898 re-elected for a second term. So well did he administer the office during his incumbency that his friends insisted he make the race for a third term, but he declined, and entered the lists for the nomination for Clerk of the Supreme Court of Ohio, being nominated by the Republican State Convention that assembled in Columbus, in June 1901. As Clerk of Belmont County and in his present post he has
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