USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 14
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UCHANAN, ROBERT, Merchant, was born, on the 15th of Jaummary, 1797, in western Pennsyl- vania, of Scotch Irish parentage-of Revolution- ary war stock. The rudiments of an English educa- tion were obtained at a country school; but learn- ing in his case, as in every other, did not come uusought, for the nearest school was two miles away, and that distance the young student was obliged to walk each day that he sought knowledge from this source. In 1808 he removed with his father to Meadville, Pennsylvania, and there his educational advantages were greatly increased. Hle commenced attending the Meadville Academy, and in a year from the time he entered the school he was made as- sistant teacher. Shortly after this his father died, and in consequence of this bereavement he left school and entered a store in Pittsburgh. In the year IS11, when only fourteen years of age, he was sent by his employers to East Liverpool, Ohio, to assist in a branch store they had established there. Ilis stay there was made memorable by a sight of the first steamboat ( " the Orleans" ) built on the Ohio river. Ile returned to Pittsburgh the same year, and his return is also made memorable by the fact that it was on the day before the great earthquake. In 1816 he entered into business for himself-in partnership with his former employers-and carried it on with varying success in West Union, Ohio, until 1821. Ile was the first Ohio merchant who shipped grain to Europe. He had his grain conveyed on flatboats to New Orleans, where it was loaded on ships for Liverpool. In the year 1821 he was employed as Captain of the steam- boat " Marysville." Ile continued in this position until IS23. In that year he entered into a partnership with Charles MacAllister, of Philadelphia, in the wholesale grocery business in Cincinnati. The firm for several years was largely engaged in the pork-packing business, in addi- tion to the grocery and commission business. In 1825, in connection with his partner, he established the Phoenix Cot- ton Factory in Cincinnati, and in the year 1828 he built the Covington Cotton Factory. About 1825 he and his partner formed a business connection with William Tift, and estab. lished the first manufactory for producing steam engines and sugar mills for the Southern sugar plantations. The busi- ness was carried on under his superintendence from 1827 to 1832, when it was discontinued. During this time he was also part owner in four or five steamboats. When the sugar mill manufactory was closed he commenced the com- mission business in his own name. It did not suffice for him, however, and in 1844 he bought a fourth interest in the Cooper Cotton Factory, at Dayton, Ohio. In 1860, in connection with William Manser, he leased the Covington Rail Mills, and continued his interest in them until 1872. In addition to all these enterprises, he has, with his various partners, built no less than thirteen dwelling houses and stores in different parts of the city. Moreover, he was Presi- dent of the Commercial Bank from 1831 to 1835; was Secretary of the Little Miami Railroad Board of Directors
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from 1836 to 1841; was President of White Water Canal | The fact that iron can be made in Cincinnati so as to com- Company in ISJr, and is still President of the Spring Chove Cemetery Company, which was organized at his home in 18.11. He is President of the Cincinnati College, was President of the Cincinnati Historical Society, and is a Trustee of the Cincinnati Orphan Asylum. He was also elected President of the Cincinnati Academy of Natural Sciences at the time of its organization, in 1835. Ile re- tired from business in the fall of 1872, and in the following December he was elected a Director of the City Infirmary, which office he still continues to hold. In 1837 he was engaged to purchase gold and silver for the United States Bank. Ile fulfilled the duties of this position for two yems, and during that time he bought over $5,000,000 in specie and about $1,000,000 in Southern bank notes. He was married in October, 1822, to Miss Browning, of Ken- tucky, who is still living.
INSEY, JOSEPH, was born in Baltimore, Mary- land, in the year 1828. Ilis parents, Oliver and Sarah (Griffith) Kinsey, were members of the Society of Friends. His mother died when he was only three years of age, leaving a family of nine children, all of whom, with one exception, reached maturity. When Joseph was five years old the funily removed to Richmond, Indiana, His father was a liberal patron of schools and education, giving his boys the best advantages the place afforded, which, however, was, at that early period of its history, rather limited. Living ou a farm, he found constant employment when out of school- his father's maxim being " there must be no idleness " -- but plenty of time for innocent recreation, This idea was thoroughly and persistently instilled into the minds of his minnerous family. At the age of fourteen he was engaged in the retail country store kept by William Owens, where he remained two years. After another year at school, at the age of seventeen he removed to Cincinnati, in the year 1545, and engaged with the firm of J. K. Ogden & Co., hardware merchants, at 118 Main street. After two years be changed to the larger house of Clark & Booth, subse- quently Clark & Groesbeck, in the wholesale hardware business. About this time Mr. Kinsey made arrangements to take an overland trip to California in search of gold; but having a good offer to go into the old-established house of Tyler, Davidson & Co., he changed his mind and accepted their offer. In the meantime he became acquainted with a young lady from Massachusetts, the daughter of E. D. Ammidown, whom he married in Boston in IS51. After patient service as salesman he was admitted as partner in the house of Tyler, Davidson & Co., where he continued till he completed in all eight years of steady work. He then bought into the Globe Rolling Mill Company, the business being conducted under the style of Worthington & Co.
pete with the large establishments of Pittsburgh has long been manilest in the many prosperous and growing mills in the lommer city. In this indu my M. Kinsey Libored with- out rest until the beginning of the year 1866, when the copartnership expired by limitation, and the lium property was put into a joint stock company, comprising the original owners and others who had long been connected with the management of the business, and still conduct it with most favorable and growing prosperity. Ile gave up business in the spring of 1866, and spent two years with his family in Massachusetts. On his return, in 1868, he was elected to fill a term of two years in the City Council of Cincinnati as a member from the Eleventh Ward, where he resides with his family, consisting of three sons and three daughters. Ile was not sorry to retire at the close of his term of ser- vice, as the position of Councilman was not pleasing to him. lle now owns an interest in the great house of Post & Co., manufacturers of all kinds of railway supplies and machin- ery, and is now giving active service in the management of its affairs. In politics Mr. Kinsey is a Republican of the " straitest sect ; " in religion a liberal thinker, believing in the exercise of religious charity in its broadest sense ; in temperance he believes in total abstinence from all intoxi- cating liquors, and is a prominent leader in that great reform. Ile is ardent, energetic, and generous in all of his business and social relations. He is one of the most influ- ential members and a Vice-President of the Board of Trade, and is also a leading member of the Industrial League of Cincinnati and the United States; nor is he wanting in the support of all public enterprises and charitable institutions, to all of which he contributes freely both his time and money. In fine, he is one of those liberal and public- spirited men who are of the greatest advantage to any society, and whose personal welfare tends to the advance- ment of the whole community.
ISHIER, GEORGE, Merchant, was born in Durk- leim, Rhenish Bavaria, December 25th, 1829. Ile came to the United States with his father in 1837, and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he enjoyed such educational advantages as were afforded by the schools of that city until 1841. Ile was then apprenticed to the merchant tailoring business, and continued in that capacity natil the expiration of his term, in 1845, when he removed to Cincinnati and engaged as a journeyman with Samuel Thomas. He left the employ of the latter, in 1847, to enter that of his brother, doing business on Central avenue, and there con- tinned until 1850, when he formed a copartnership with Adam Epply, under the firm-name of George Fisher & Co., invested all his savings-amounting to $75-in the new enterprise, and embarked in business on his own account.
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Here he brought to bear his energy and skill, and by the latter part of 1852, when they changed their location to Kast Pearl street, his share in the business amounted to $28oo. The firm was dissolved in 1854, and all its indebt- edness was assumed by our subject, who paid all liabilities dollar for dollar, and found himself about even with the world. But he was not to be crushed by misfortune, and with characteristic energy set about the restoration of his loss, and engaged in business on his own individual account at his present store, 257 Walnut street, in Day's building. Since that period he has pursued a career of uninterrupted prosperity, and by close attention to business and the strict- est integrity has won a proud position in the mercantile and social community. This success is in great measure due to his adherence to his own legitimate pursuits; for though he has never been wanting in public spirit, nor deaf to the calls upon him as a patriotic and benevolent citizen, his best energies have been given to the furtherance of his business interests, in which, though modest and unassuming in all his operations, he is recognized as the leading house.
HIAYER, PROCTOR, M. D., Physician and Pro- fessor of Surgery and Medical Jurisprudence in the Cleveland Medical College, was born on October 16th, 1823, at Williamstown, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and is a son of the late Daniel Thayer, a farmer of that section, who died when his son was but seven years of age. He was educated at the Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, graduating in the scientific department of that institution when nineteen years old. Shortly after this event he entered the office of Professor J. Delamater, M. D., of Cleveland, where he commenced the study of medicine, prosecuting the same in the Cleveland Medical College, from which school he graduated in the class of 1849. Re- turning to the office of his preceptor, he became associated with him in his practice for a period of ten years, Mean- while he was appointed, in 1852, Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Cleveland Medical College, and in 1856 was chosen to fill the chair of Anatomy and Physiology in the same institution, which position he held until 1862. In the last- named year he was transferred to the Professorship of the Principles and Practice of Surgery, which he yet retains, with the addition of Medical Jurisprudence. During all this period he has attended to a large medical and surgical practice. A portion of the years 1862 and 1863 were spent as Surgeon in the army during the war of the rebellion. Returning to Cleveland, he resumed the practice of his pro- fession in addition to his duties as Professor. In the eigh- teen hundred lectures delivered by him not one has ever been given from written notes, as he is a fluent lecturer, with a fine command of language; and as he is a complete master of his subject, the lectures are always interesting and
instructive. As a surgeon he is generally known to be. skilful and safe, having performed many operations with brilliant success; and his reputation as a fine clinical lee. turer and demonstrator is well established. He has served 'in the City Councils for four years with credit to himself and advantage to the public. Ile was married in 1861 to Mary Ellen Masury, of Cleveland, and is the father of four children.
UFFIN, CAPTAIN JAMES L., was born Decem- ber 220, 1813, in Cincinnati, and was the eighth of eleven children, whose parents were Major William Ruffin and Elizabeth Rue. The former was a native of Virginia, who came to Ohio at a very early age, and served with gallantry under General Wayne in his successful campaign against the Miami river Indians. After this service he returned to Cin- cinnati and resided there until his death, in 1834. HIc manifested great interest in the publie welfare, and was frequently selected for public office, having been Clerk of Cincinnati and Sheriff of Hamilton county. His wife, a native of Maryland, died in 1831 at Cincinnati. James had unusual advantages in the way of educational advancement when young, and profited by them. Ilis finishing studies were pursned at Cincinnati College, an institution now extinct, but then of wide celebrity, his mentor having been Milo G. Williams, an educator of some renown. At the completion of his academie carcer he accepted in 1832 a position as clerk in the house of Nesbitt & Mccullough, of Cincinnati, and remained in it one year, when he became clerk on an Ohio river steamboat, upon which he stopped two years. In 1835 he began the trade of book-binding, and continued at it for four years. This season of labor was followed by one of enforced idleness, acute rheumatism rendering it impossible for him to engage in any employ- ment. In 1839 he was made Deputy Clerk under General Harrison, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton county, Ohio, and remained in that office until 1840, when he was made Deputy to Daniel Gano, Clerk of the Superior Court, and acted in that capacity one year. From 1841 to 1842 he served as clerk to Moses Brooks, a prominent lumber merchant, and from 1842 to 1849 he held the office of Constable. The six succeeding years found him in the office of City Marshal of Cincinnati, the responsible duties of which he discharged with fidelity and to the satisfaction of the public. From 1856 to 1857 he again filled the posi- tion of Constable, and from 1857 to 1858 he acted as detective. Upon the election to the mayoralty of N. W. Thomas, he was appointed Chief of Police of Cincinnati, and held that office two years, and was re-selected to the discharge of its grave responsibilities during the period from 1863 to 1871. Since his retirement from that position he has filled others of a public nature, always winning the good opinion of the public for his zeal and rectitude. He
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was married on December 8th, 1840, in Cincinnati, to Elizabeth Grindle. He was in politics originally a Whig, and has been a Republican ever since the organization of that party. He resides at Clifton, and is now a man of wealth aud of great social and political influence.
, NIGHT, EDWARD HENRY, Editor of the Official Gazette, Patent Office, was born in Lon- don, England, June ist, 1824. His earlier educa - tion was obtained in Southampton, England. Hle studied in London as a landscape engraver, and subsequently pursued his profession in Cincinnati, Ohio. About thirty years ago, the demand for that kind of work being rather limited, he qualified himself to act as a surveyor and mechanical engineer, In 1864 he took charge of the preparation of the Patent Office Report, and in 1868 of the classification of the Patent Office. In the beginning of 1872 he was, at its foundation, appointed Editor of the Official Gazette. His principal literary production is a " Mechanical Dictionary," published by II. O. Houghton & Co., Riverside Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Hurd & lloughton, New York), a work in three volumes, con. taining 2600 pages, with 6000 illustrations, and embracing 20,000 subjects. Ile is the compiler also of a volume of poetry published recently in New York, entitled "A Library of Poetry and Song." It was honored by an introduction on the subject in general by William Cullen Bryant, and has had a greater success than any other collection of poetry ever published in this or perhaps any other country. A re- vised and extended edition has lately been published. His miscellaneous literary productions are to be found in various magazines and newspapers, and consist of articles on ma- chinery and the progress of the meful ants. Among these may be mentioned particularly current " Reviews of Recent Inventions," in Harper's Weekly, and monthly contribu- tions to Harper's Magasine on " The Mechanical Progress of the Century " (December, 187), to March, 1875), which form a portion of an extended series on our " Centenary of Progress," More recently he was placed in charge of the arrangement and appointed custodian of the Patent Office display at the Government building, Centennial grounds, Philadelphia. He was married in 1848, at Dayton, Ohio, to Maria J. Richards,
UNNINGHAM, FRANCIS, Farmer, was born in October, 1806, in Sycamore township of llamil- ton county, Ohio, and was the youngest of ten children, whose parents were James and Jennette (Pauker) Cunningham. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, settled in Kentucky at an early day, remaining there, however, only a short time. He then moved to Fort Washington, Hamilton county-the site of
what is now the city of Cincinnati-in 1790. Shortly after
. this he purchased section twenty-eight of Sycamore township, in the same county, from Symes, its original proprietor, and settled on it. Here he followed, mutil his death, June Ist, 1812, the occupation of a fumer. His wife was a na- tive of Pennsylvania, her death occurring in 1835. Francis had few facilities for obtaining an education, but fully im- proved these in order to be ready for better ones. The school he attended-irregularly of necessity -- was of the old frontier type; but rude as the appointments of this were,. they enabled him to form a strong taste for reading, and whetted his ambition for a substantial education, which he eventually secured by his individual and unaided exertions. Ile commenced farm labor early in life, and has followed 'it, with some slight interruptions, ever since. For some years he was actively engaged in trading and speculating in the Southern States. In 1860 he moved to Lebanon, War- ren county, Ohio, and resided there for about ten months, and then returned to his original estate to resume agricul- tural pursuits. Ilis political affiliations are with the Repub- lican party, and his first vote was cast for General Jackson. While taking a deep interest in civil affairs, he has never aspired to public office, and has declined to accept it. Ile has been active in efforts to improve the system of popular education observed in his section, and has succeeded in perfecting it. Though raised in what was known as the Seceder Church, and a constant attendant upon worship, his religious views are not narrow and circumscribed. He believes in religious tolerance. Hle is a man of pleasing social qualities, and of good, strong common sense, and is everywhere respected for his enterprise and sterling integ- rity as a citizen. llis father had the honor of having erected the first brick house in Sycamore township, in the year 1801. Ile was married on March 6th, 1855, to Caro- line M. Bryant, a daughter of John Bryant, an old citizen of Hamilton county, who in the latter years of his life moved to Platte county, Missouri, and died there in 1863.
CHIWAB, MATTHIAS, Organ Builder, was a German by birth, having been born in Baden in the year ISto. Ile was still quite young when he came to this country. He was taken to Cin- cinnati, and in that city the principal portion of his remaining years were passed. Ile became in the widest and truest sense of the word a citizen of the place; identified himself with all its best interests, and suf- fered no opportunity to pass in which he might fittingly show his regard for his adopted city. His education was a thoroughly good one, and he brought to all his enterprises and all his intercourse a fine culture and a rare intelligence. lle possessed a fine combination of musical taste, mechani- cal aptitude, and unyielding perseverance; so when he decided to enter upon the work of organ building, he.
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brought to his work the elements that insure ultimate sue- cess. lle was one of the very first to engage in the work in Cincinnati, and his earnestness, his htness for the busi- uess, his patient industry, and his intelligent perseverance enabled him, in the development of his chosen field of labor, to attain a celebrity probably unequalled west of the Alleghenies. By hard work and sympathetic study he achieved perfection in mechanism, and the instruments produced by him became famous for their delicacy of touch, their range and their richness of tone. The high places of prosperity were not reached without a hard struggle, how- ever. At one time, after his marriage, while he was at work at the foundation of his reputation, his means were so megre that one room served for his factory and for the home of his wife and himself. He married early in life Solomence Yeck, a native of Pennsylvania, and the result of the marriage was cleven children. In the year 1865, . after having lived to enjoy to some extent the prosperous results of his early struggles, he died, widely and sincerely mourned. In religion he was a Catholie, and was a promi- nent and influential member of the church. In politics he was a Democrat ; but he was a patriot, never a partisan. lle steadily and earnestly worked for the support of the government in its efforts to crush the rebellion, and at his instance three of his sons enlisted in the Cuion army and took part in many of the battles of the war. Not only was he patriotic and public-spirited, he was philanthropie in a large degree, and always gave generously of his means, large or small, to promote the welfare of benevolent institu- tions and to meet the calls of private charity.
OLF, DANIEL, Broker, is a native of Bavaria. Hle was bom in the town of Freidesheim, at Rheinpfalz, in that country, on the 2d of April, IST9, and continued to live there until he was fourteen years of age. While still living in his native town he secured the rudiments of a good, substantial education. With his residence there his school opportunities came to an end, and such mental training as he subsequently obtained was wholly due to his own un- aided efforts. In the year 1833 he came with his parents to this country, and settled in Stark county, Ohio, where his father went into business as a buteher and hotel keeper. In the following year he went with the family to find a home in Cincinnati. He assisted his father there in the butchering business; but the profits of the business did not come up to his desires, and he coneluded to relinquish it. Accordingly he accepted a position in a store at the dazzling salary of three dollars per month. For six months he con- tinued to work in this situation and on these terms, and then, in the year 1837, when he was eighteen years of age, he went again to work with his father, who had gone into the clothing business. He remained with his father until
1842, and then entered into a copartnership with his brothers, Abraham and Isaac, in the clothing and woollen goods business, under the firm name of A. & I. Wolf & Co. This fim was dissolved in the year 1865 by the death of the leading partner, Abraham. It was soon reorganized, however, under the style of I. & D. Wolf. The firm relin- quished the mercantile business in 1869, and went into the brokerage line, which line it has since continued to pursue. In politics Daniel Wolf was originally a Whig; but when the Know Nothing party was organized he left the ranks of the Whigs and entered those of the Democrats. Ile continued in the Democratic faith until the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, in 1861, and then he considered that the time had come to revoke his allegiance to any mere party and yield it alone to his adopted country. He was earnestly devoted to the preservation of the Union in its in- tegrity, and supported with all his energy every measure for the vigorous prosecution of the war. He, together with other prominent and influential citizens of the old Fifth and the adjacent wards of the city, started and organized the first company of home military. The company was called the "Stoner Rifles," and was composed of old men, who armed and equipped themselves at their own expense. This organization formed the nucleus of many of the com- panies that entered the army and participated in some of the hardest work of the war. In the year 1865 Daniel Wolf was elected a member of the City Council in place of Benjamin Eggleston, who had been chosen to a seat in Congress. Ile was put forward by the best citizens of the ward, was elected by a large majority, and performed the duties of his position so acceptably that by successive re- elections he has been kept in the position ever since. For four years he was a member of the Board of City Improve- ments, and at the present time he is Chairman of the Finance Committee. Ile was married in 1847 to Rebecca Bruel, of Cincinnati. Ten children have been born to them, and of these nine are now living. His eldest daugh- ter is the wife of 11. S. Mack, of the firm of 11. S. Mack & Co., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; and his second daughter is the wife of A. Meyer, of the firm of Meis & Meyer, whole- sale boots and shoes.
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