USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
the call of this church, and was ordained and installed as pastor by Miami Presbytery on October 3d, 1832. October 9th, 1832, he married Belinda Garduer, of Chillicothe, Ohio. His charge at Springfield was his only pastoral charge, and was one of the most useful in the history of the Presbyterian Church. Brother Galloway was among min- isters "the beloved disciple." Though highly impulsive and emotional, he was never known under the influence of evil passion. The cross and life of Christ was the constant theme of his effective ministrations. He never took part in controversy in the spirit of a partisan, yet was ever ready to take a decided stand on all important questions. The church of Springfield was held together during the disrup- tion of 1837-38 by his wisdom, the prudence of his course, and the power of his personal influence. Ile was an indus- trious and uniform laborer. Ilis church at Springfield had a constant increase. The additions from year to year, mostly on examination, amounted in all to 553 during his pastorate. Before he resigned the charge in Springfield he had felt himself seriously disabled in his ministry by im- paired bearing, which continued to the end of his life, This, however, did not binder his labors or usefulness to smy great extent. Soon after the pastoral relation was dis- solved he accepted an agency for the American Bible Society, and entered this service at the beginning of the year 1851, in which he continued with great zeal and suc- cess for eleven years. A more acceptable and unblamable public servant for such a field could not be found. About a year before his decease he took charge of Cooper Female Academy, at Dayton, Ohio, and in his first year he had made substantial progress in restoring the patronage and character of the institution to its former high degree, when he was suddenly called away from his labors. He died August 25th, 1862, and his mortal remains were taken to Springfield, Ohio, and buried in the cemetery at that place, with four of his children who preceded him and one since ; leaving a beloved wife and three children to mourn the loss of a devoted husband and father. Dr. Thomas E. Thomas, lutely deceased, wrote of him as follows : " Brother Gallo- way was a man of strong natural sense, of an amiable temper, and warm affections. Ile was distinguished by simplicity of character, purity, frankness, and earnestness of purpose. Ilis piety was unquestioned, uniform, con- sistent, ardent. Modesty, humility, and love were among his characteristic Christian excellencies. As a preacher he was simple, sincere, scriptural, practical, and affectionate."
REED, W. J., Manufacturer, the son of A. D. Breed, and a member of the firm of Crane, Breed & Co., was born in Fairhaven, Massachu- setts, in 1835, and received a thorough common school education in New England. He was nearly prepared for a regular collegiate course at Phillips' Academy, Andover, but impaired health prevented
7
50
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
his entering college. In 1854 he came to Cincinnati, but | of other States. The good effects of the system in elevating stayed ouly a short time, returning to New England. In the reputation of the business, promoting harmony and kind fellowship among agents of different companies, is a matter of general rejoicing with them, and Mr. Douglas as the founder of this reform has become widely and pleasantly known. He is a free contributor to the insurance literature of the day, and alert in attacking any abuse, no matter how elevated or powerful its source. 1855 he went back to Cincinnati and was employed by the firm of Crane, Breed & Co. in various capacities. In 1800 he purchased the interest of John Mills, of Marietta, Ohio, and became a member of the firm, and has since been con- nected with it in that capacity. He is, like his father, a gentleman of decided energy, of fine business.tact and of unimpeachable integrity. He was married in April, 1869, to Laura Adams, of Boston, Massachusetts.
-
OUGLAS, ROBERT L., Life Underwriter, was born of Scotch ancestry, September 4th, 1831, in Oneida county, New York. He was educated at the Clinton Liberal Institute, New York ; from 1848 to Isso was a clerk in a wholesale and retail dry-goods store in Buffalo; from 1850 to 1855 in a wholesale dry-goods house in New York; from 1855 to 1857 was associated with the largest whole- sale liquor establishment on the Pacific coast, in San Fran- cisco; from 1857 to 1861 was a salesman again in a wholesale dry-goods house in New York. In 1862 he entered into the business of life insurance, and has been constantly employed as General Agent from that time in New York and Ohio-since 1865 in the latter State for the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Con- nectieut, the reputation of which he has ably sustained, his place of business being 73 West Third street, Cincinnati. He has been twice married : first to Maria, daughter of the lon. A. Billings, of Oneida county, New York, on the 29th of October, 1857 ; second to Margaret, daughter of D. S. Drake, Esq., of Marion county, Ohio, on June Ist, 1869. The life insurance business in Ohio owes a very great reform to the exertions of Mr. Douglas for his sagacity in conceiving plans for, and his exertions in, founding a Life Underwriters' Association. For years he had felt the neces- sity of a reform in the agency work. Life insurance agents, from a want of appreciation of the inestimable value to society of their business, had become so aggressive as to bring contumely upon themselves as a class, and conse- quently to degrade it in the public estimation. To correct this and other abuses, which had engrafted themselves upon the workings of the agency system of life insurance, Mr. Douglas and four other gentlemen called a meeting of the agents in Cincinnati, in 1872, which proved to be the nucleus of a Life Underwriters' Association for Cincinnati, Mr. Douglas writing the original constitution and by-laws. The success of this was so surprising in accomplishing the purposes for which it was designed that six months later a State association was formed, of which Mr. Douglas is President. The movement so happily begun in Ohio has extended over the Union, the constitution and by-laws of those of Ohio being essentially adopted by the organizations
ECKWITHI, S. R., M. D., was born in Bronson, Ohio, on November 220, 1832. Ilis parents were William W. Beekwith and Annie Herrick. Ilis father, one of the first settlers of Huron county, Ohio, died in 1860, on the farm on which he had lived for more than forty years. The subject of this biography received such an education as is usually given to the sons of farmers. At the age of fourteen he entered the. Norwalk Academy, and continued his studies until he was eighteen, when he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. John Tefft, a prominent physi- cian and surgeon of Norwalk, Ohio. After completing his medical education in the colleges of Cleveland and New York he commenced practice with his preceptor, and in a few months married his daughter, Laura L. Tefft. During the year he remained' in Norwalk he performed several in- portant surgical operations, which attracted the notice of the trustees of the Cleveland Homeopathie College, and he was appointed Professor of Surgery in that institution. Ile removed to Cleveland after delivering his first course of lectures, and commenced the practice of surgery. In a short time he was appointed surgeon to the different rail- roads entering the city, and in connection with the roads established a private hospital known as the Surgical Re- treat. Ile has always taken an interest in the education of poor young men; he makes it a rule to take one student annually in his office and assist in his education. As a reward for this generosity he now has the pleasure of knowing that all thus assisted are prominent medical men ; several of them are teachers in medical colleges. In 1870, on account of Mrs. Beckwith's health, he removed to Cin- cinnati, and commenced the practice of his profession in a new field, devoting his time mostly to medical consultations and operative surgery. The physicians of his school availed themselves of his experience and skill as a surgeon, and he now has a more lucrative practice than before. One portion of his practice is worthy to mention. He has oper- ated fifty-eight times for ovarian tumors with a loss of but four patients; his success is attributed to the beneficial action of the medicines given by physicians of his school, more than to any peculiarity in operating. In 1872 he re- signed his professorship in the Cleveland College, and with a few others organized the Pulte College, where he still holds the chair of Surgery. Although his time seemed to
Goder Pub. Ca Philadelphia
LABERwith
.
51
BIOGRAPHICAL . ENCYCLOPEDIA.
be fully occupied, yet he has written a work on surgery of | years he became clerk in the commission house in Colum- more than Soo pages, ready for the press; and two years since he purchased the large property and organized the incorporation known as the Smitoimun, for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases. He brought this institu- tion into existence to prove that insane people could always be treated without mechanical restraint, and their delusions cured by kindness and amusements to occupy their minds. His expectations have been more than realized. There have been more than three hundred patients admitted, with a ratio of ninety per cent. of cures of acute mania.
UIIME, HERMANN, Manufacturing Jeweller and Merchant, of the house of Duhme & Co., Cincin- nati, was born, June 14th, 1819, on a farm in the Dukedom of Osnabruck, Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. In 1834 he came with his father (who led a band of emigrants) to Springfield, Ohio. Ile soon became a clerk in a wholesale jewelry and fancy store in Cincinnati, and in 1842, when twenty-three years of age, was enabled by close economy and industry to start the business there on his own account. Shortly after the opening of the war of the rebellion he established the manufacturing of jewelry in connection with his other business, an especial feature of which was that of diamond- setting. Designing was introduced; alchemy was added, steam power used in every department, and nothing was left undone until a complete diamond-setting and gokl and silverware manufacturing establishment was perfected. It finally became, as it yet remains, the only establishment of the kind of magnitude in the West. It has over two hun- dred workmen constantly employed, and its salesrooms, on the corner of Fourth and Walnut streets, Cincinnati, with a frontage of fifty and a depth of one hundred feet, are the most extensive of the kind on the continent. Its whole- sale and retail customers are numbered by thousands, while its goods lind their way into every State of the Union.
OMSTOCK, THEODORE, Manufacturer, was born, May Ist, 1818, in Sharon township, Frank- lin county, Ohio. Ile is the son of Buckley and Margaret J. Comstock. The family had settled 6 for many generations in New England, and in 1811 Mr. Buckley Comstock removed to Ohio and settled in Franklin county. He was a very extensive and successful farmer, and was also largely engaged in the commission and forwarding and pork-packing businesses, Theodore Comstock was educated in such schools as were common in the days of his boyhood, and worked on his father's farm till eighteen years of age, when he entered a dry-goods store at Worthington. At the expiration of two
bus, of which his father was part owner. In 1849 he com- menced the commission business on his own account, and bis industry and cuterprise in a few years added pork .. packing, the manufacture of land oil and flouranding. In these pursuits he was actively and profitably engaged till 1858, when failing health compelled him to retire for a few years from business life. On his restoration to health he again devoted himself for several years to business, being extensively engaged in the lumber trade and various mann- facturing enterprises. He has also invested largely in many other manufacturing interests in Columbus; he has been a stockholder and director of the Hocking Valley Railroad from its commencement to the present time. From 1852 for twenty-one years he has been a member of the City Council, and President five years, and has greatly interested himself in the material prosperity of the State capital; for three years he was County Commissioner. He was ap- pointed, by Governor Chase, Trustee of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum for three years. Governor Dennison ap- pointed him for three years Director of the Ohio Penitentiary. Mr. Comstock has carried into his public life the same energy and business sagacity that have marked his more private enterprises. He was married in 1841 to Catharine E. Styles, of Worthington; his family consists of five children.
TROBRIDGE, HINES, Lithographer, was born, November 28th, 1823, in Solon, Cortlandt county, New York. His father, James Gordon Stro- bridge, was by profession a contractor on public works, a native of Claremont, New Hampshire, and the fourth in descent from William Stro- bridge, born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1687. Ilis mother, Nancy Maybury, was a native of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. In his infancy the family emigrated to Hamilton, Canada. In 1843 he came from Canada to Cincinnati, and engaged in the dry goods business with his brother and on his own account. From 1848 to 1854 he was bookkeeper for the Methodist Book Concern. In 1854 he formed a partnership for the carrying on of litho- graphy with E. C. Middleton and W. R. Wallace. The latter-named soon withdrew, and Mr. Middleton in 1861. In 1868 the firm of Strobridge & Co. was formed into a joint stock company, with William Sumner as president and Mr. Strobridge as manager. When the latter first en- gaged in lithography it was a comparatively small interest in the country, the entire value of work then annually done in the city not amounting to $50,000: the printing was entirely by hand-presses. Within a very few years the lithographie power-press has been introduced, which has revolutionized the business and rendered lithographic printing perhaps nearly, if not quite, as cheap as book printing fifty years ago. The amount of business has more
52
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
than tenfolded in Cincinnati since 1854. It exceeds annu- ; compelled to enlarge their accommodations until now they ally half a million in value. The establishment of Stro- use the three stores, Nos. 1, 3 and 5 Main street, besides a bridge & Co., on the corner of Fourth and Race streets, is | large warehouse and an extensive chemical laboratory, at the most extensive west of New York. All varieties of lithographie work are executed. The house is noted for its exquisitely beautiful ehromos. Its corps of lithographie artists are capable of anything within the domain of the art. From the presses of this house first originated the series of Middleton's celebrated national oil portraits, Washington, Martha Washington, etc. The head of John Wesley, issued by it in 1858, was the first successful chromo-portrait in the country.
URDSAL, JAMES S., Wholesale Druggist, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, November 4th, 1$27, to which locality his parents, Aaron and Nancy Burdsal, emigrated from New Jersey in IS04. The first ten years of his life were spent upon his father's farm, and in the discipline of parental care and the labor of farm work he acquired a strength of character and vigor of physical system which have proven to be of inestimable value in his maturer years, Though small of stature, he was exceedingly active and strong, and his schoolmates well remember the superiority he enjoyed in all athletic exercises. He was very fleet of foot, and had the reputation of being the strongest youth of his size and weight in Cincinnati. At eleven years of age he entered the employ of his brothers in the drug business, at the northeast corner of Main and Fifth streets, Cincinnati, and with the exception of two terms at the old Cincinnati College, previous to its destruction by fire, he has been in the same business ever since. Ilis tuition then was paid for by the services he rendered at the store out of school hours, and notwithstanding this tax upon his time he always kept well up with his classes. His studying had to be done after the store closed, at ten o'clock at night. It was his desire and intention to pursue a full course at this or some other institution, but his brothers found his services so valuable to them that he felt it a duty to yield to their wishes and give his entire time to business, though he still did not neglect his studies after the day's business duties were done. By such a course of training and study Mr. Burdsal prepared himself for the active and untiring business life to which he has devoted himself. In 1850, with his brother, Colonel II. W. Burdsal (now deceased), be purchased the stock of George II. Bates & Co., and began business at their old stand, corner of Main and Front streets, Cincinnati. On this corner, it is said, the first drug store in Cincinnati was established, seventy- five years ago, and it has been used for the same business ever since, Mr. Burdsal himself having occupied it for the last twenty-five years. At first the firm occupied but one storehouse, but with increasing business they have been
the corner of Eighth and Broadway, capable of supplying an almost unlimited quantity of chemicals and other manu- factures in their line of trade. The well-known firm of James S. Burdsal & Co. has a business reputation co- extensive with the West and South, where their business is principally transacted, and to all the details of this vast business Mr. Burdsal gives his immediate personal atten- tion, having his desk. located right in the midst of his employés and where all can have direct access to him for advice and instruction. In 1850 Mr. Burdsal married Mary E. Wood, eldest daughter of William Wood, Esq., of Cincinnati, and they have been blessed with a consider- able family of sons and daughters. For about thirty years Mr. Burdsal has been an earnest and devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has occupied in that denomination many important and influential positions, having been at various times trustee, steward, class-leader, member of the Board of Council of the Church at large, trustee of the Home Mission organization, etc., etc. Prob- ably his most vigorous efforts have been given to the de- partment of Sunday-school work. In this field he has been for a score of years past one of the most prominent laborers, and he was one of the earliest advocates of system and thoroughness in the teaching of Sabbath-schools. To this cause he contributes the same energy and enthusiasm that characterize him in his secular business pursuits. As a Sabbath-school superintendent he has long experience and few equals, and as a speaker to children his services are eagerly sought for in all directions where his Sunday-school acquaintance extends. Though still a young man, well inside the mark of fifty, he has made for himself a business character and a reputation well worthy of the ambition of all young men, and by his success he gives new evidence of the truth, that the power to gain an enviable and honor- able position in life lies within the reach of any young man who will with singleness of aim and purpose devote himself to business and to the acquisition of practical knowledge.
URSEL, SMITHI, retired Farmer, was born, May 30th, 1804, in Union township, Ross county, Ohio, Ilis father was a Virginia farmer, who removed to Ross county about the year 1800, and was among the pioneers of that section. Ile settled in Union township, where he resided, engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. He was one of tluce of the original Democrats of the township. His wife was a native of Delaware, who, with her father and five brothers, came to Ohio at a very early day with General Massie and located at Station Prairie, near Chilli-
53
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
cothe. Her brother, Samuel Smith, was the first justice | December 19th, 1856, to Harriet L. Shipman, of Marietta, of the peace that held the office in Ross county. Smith Ohio; and married a second time, on January 6th, 1875, to Abbie M. Bailey, of Lowell, Massachusetts. Pursel obtained his education in the ordinary log cabin school of those primitive times, and from an early age was trained to labor on his father's farm. When he arrived at man's estate he continued the same avocation, which he followed until 1874, when, having attained the age of threescore years and ten, he retired to take his ease and enjoy the fruit of his labors in Chillicothe. . Faithful to the traditions of the family he has ever been a consistent Democrat, but has steadily refused to accept office, content to do his duty as a citizen, who ever takes a deep interest in all that pertains to the honor, glory and welfare of the country. Ilis religious views are not circumscribed by the doctrines of any particular church, but he is a sincere believer in the Christian principle of charity toward all. Ile has passed through life quietly, without making any display, but is esteemed by the community among whom he resides as a man of unimpeachable integrity and honest purpose. He was married, September 28th, 1828, to Phoebe Clark, of Ross county, and is the father of eight children.
FOLLETT, MARTIN DEWRY, Lawyer, Marietta, was born in Enosburg, Vermont, on October 8th, 1826. His ancestors were of Scotch and English descent, and in this country the name has ap- peared often on the roll of honor. Ilis grand- father, uncle and his father served in the war of 1812. In 1836 John F. Follett, the father of the subject of this sketch, moved to Ohio and settled at Johnstown, Leibring county, bringing with him his entire family, con- sisting of his wife and nine children. Ile first attended the common school, and on leaving school, up to the time he was twenty-one years of age, lived with his father on his farm, when he left his home for Granville Academy, and was at Granville College two years, completing his educa- tion at Marietta College, all of which he paid for by his own efforts ; and when he graduated it was at the head of his class and with the highest honors. On leaving college he began teaching school, first at Marietta for one year, then at Newark, Ohio, then for one year at Marietta Col- lege; he was then made Superintendent of the Public ILL, COLONEL WILLIAM II., General Business Agent of the Ohio Patrons of Husbandry, was born, January 21st, 1826, in Hummelstown, Dau- phin county, Pennsylvania, and is of German descent. His father was a merchant, having a store of general merchandise, and died in the East when William was quite young. Ilis mother, a noble woman, moved with her family to Winchester, Indiana, where she gave her children the best education in her power, that afforded by the common schools. His first Schools of Marietta for two years. Having during this time studied law, on leaving his last position he began the practice, locating in Marietta in 1859, since which time he has practised continuously. In politics he has always been a Democrat, and in 1866 was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for Congress. In 1868 the same compli- ment was tendered him. The district has always been largely in favor of the dominant party; so success was not expected, yet the large vote polled in his favor shows the great esteem in which he is held. He was married on step after leaving school was to learn the carding and
AMILTON, JOHN A., Lawyer, was born in Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, on August 20, 1847. Ilis father was Dr. David Hamilton, a well-known medical practitioner of that city, of which also his mother, Ruth Allen, was a native. The family removed to Marietta, Ohio, in 1853. John A. attended the public schools of Marietta for his preliminary education, and completed it at the High School in that city. On leaving school, in August, 1863, he at once entered the army as a private, joining the 2d Ohio Artillery, with which he served until February, 1864, when he was detailed as Private Secretary to General Ilugh Ewing, then commanding the 2d Division, District of Kentucky. This position he filled until August, 1865, when he was mustered out of the service. He then re- turned to Marietta, and engaged in mercantile business until 1867, when, having a preference for the law, he com- menced its study with Colonel David Alban, and in due course was admitted to the bar, in the spring of 1871, by the District Court then in session at Gallipolis, Ohio. Im- mediately thereafter he became a member of the firm of Knowles, Alban & Hamilton. From this copartnership Colonel Alban retired in December, 1874, but the remain- ing partners continued under the firm-name of Knowles & Hamilton until the fall of 1875, when Mr. Knowles was elected to fill a vacancy on the Common Pleas bench. Ile then formed a partnership with Judge L. W. Chamberlain, which last-named firm are now engaged in practising at the Washington county bar. He has always been a Repub- lican in politics, though in 1872 he espoused the Greeley cause, and made a vigorous canvass of his county for that cause. Ile was married in 1872 to Mary M. Martin, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.