USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 27
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ILES, ROBERT EDGAR JACKSON, Teacher, Comedian and Manager, was born at Culpeper Court House, Virginia, September 9th, 1834. His father, Robert Edgar Miles, whom he lost when but four years of age, was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Virginia. After the death of his father, his mother, still young and a woman of high mental and moral culture, removed to Charleston, South
Carolina, where her brother, J. W. Aldmann, resided, and where she proposed to secure for her son a thorough literary and medical education. After a residence of five years in that southern capital, however, she removed to Covington, Kentucky. Ilete he made uncommon progress in the neighboring schools, and at the age of seventeen be- came principal of the first free school established in Cov- ington. This position he held for three years, and during that time, having contracted a liking for stage life, organ- ized a dramatic club, composed of many of the most respectable young people of the town. In an entertainment given by his club, in 1854, he, made his first appearance as Alonzo in " Rollo, or the Death of Pizarro." In 1855 he organized a troupe for the rendition of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," then very popular throughout the North, and with it visited the principal towns of the West. After meeting with great success he returned from his tour in 1857, and, abandoning entirely his earlier views and intentions, adopted the stage as a profession. Subsequently, until after the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, he played juvenile and leading characters in many of the large cities of the United States and of the Canadas, Ile then con- ecived the idea of introducing " horse pieces" in a novel and exciting manner, and in 1862, accordingly, opened an engagement in Boston with the celebrated horse " Minne- haha." In this line of business he afterward played " star engagements " in all the chief cities of the country. In Albany, New York, he first brought out the Menken as " Mazeppa," and was successful in his management. The oil fever then attacking the entire community he also em- barked in the promising venture, and after spending over a year as Superintendent of the Ohio River Oil Works, in Vanceburg, Kentucky, concluded to return to his former profession in order to retrieve his wasted fortunes. In October, 1868, he purchased the lease of the National Theatre, in Cincinnati, paying therefor an enormous sum- a greater amount probably than was ever before paid in a similar way. In the following year he leased Wood's Theatre, in the same city, but eventually sold his lease to the present lessee. Ilis management of the National Theatre was sustained until 1870, when he decided to engage in the circus business. In 1873 he opened Robin- son's New Opera House, in Cincinnati, and in the ensuing year opened the New Grand Opera House, in the same city, of which he is now lessee and manager. In 1874-75 he organized the National Hippodrome, Menagerie and Congress of Nations, known as "America's Racing Associ- ation." This, one of the largest shows ever organized in the world, was closed in June of the latter year, with great loss to the management. On the whole, his checkered theatrical career has been a very successful one; while, through his various enterprises, he has repeatedly won and lost and recovered princely fortunes. At the present time his labors are entirely behind the scenes, where, and also in the outer world, he is recognized as a fearless, popular and successful
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manager. Ile was married, in 1860, to Emily 1 .. Dow, | later steps in the musical progress of the city have been ex-member of the " Cooper Opera Troupe," one of the first English opera troupes that came to this country.
NDRE, HENRY GEORGE, Pianist, was born in Nancy, France, in the year 1838. Almost from the first he was destined for a musical career, and his achievements in later life have abundantly justified the plans formed for him in his unde- veloped childhood. He springs from a musical family, and at a very tender age he began taking lessons on the piano, his father, a fine musical scholar and a skilled player, being his first instructor. Happily his home instruc- tion was of the best, and he was trained in accordance with the highest and purest standards of taste. The result of this early discipline has been constantly apparent in the progress of his professional life. When he was fourteen years of age he was sent to Paris to complete his musical education. He remained in that great art centre for a period of seven years, under the instruction of the best and most distinguished pianists. At the end of this long course of study, training and artistic discipline, he left Paris and, re- turned to his native town, where he at once commenced to give instructions in music. He continued thus occupied until the year IS60, when he came to the United States. llis original plan contemplated only a business visit to America, and that accomplished he proposed to return to France and resume his labors as a music teacher. But he made friends in Cincinnati, to which city his business took him. Finding a congenial home there, at length he defin- itely determined not to return to France, but to locate per- manently in Cincinnati; and soon after arriving at this con- clusion he began his musical career in America, a career that has been Honorable alike to himself and to the city of his adoption. His first attempts in Cincinnati were devoted to the holding of musical soirees or small concerts, held for the purpose of introducing the compositions of the best masters - the classical sonatas, duos, trios and quartos, and the beautiful solos for which he has become so famed. These soirees were the " Kammer concerts " of Germany, at which only invited guests appeared. In the meantime he also began to give instruction to private pupils. llis con- certs found great favor with the music-loving community, and the annual series came to be looked for with the utmost interest ; and partly through their agency his private patron- age became large and influential. Among the pupils who gained their knowledge under his instructions were many who are now themselves popular performers and successful instructors in Cincinnati, and some who are now among the most honored and the most successful artistes in the country. With the entire history and development of musical taste and accomplishment in Cincinnati he is identified, and very many of the earlier as well as of the
taken under his influence. He has been concerned in the organization of a number of the concerts for which the city has a reputation ; he has played in the churches, and his " Kammer concerts," while they are still among the most interesting of his professional efforts, are also among the most delightful of the musical experiences enjoyed by the people of Cincinnati. Of course, in his devotion to music he is an enthusiast. All his energy has been directed to the establishment of a high art reputation, and the elevation of the standard of musical taste in the city of his adoption. He is not only a player of the music that other men have composed, but he has composed many pieces for the piano, and some of them have attained a deserved popularity. Since the establishment of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music-an institution which the great artist Rubenstein pronounced one of the best of the kind in this country-he has been director of its piano department ; and here, as else- where, he has achieved success. He plays only classical music, and scarcely tolerates any other. In short, standing among the first musicians of the West, he is pre-eminently the pianist of the great city of musical festivals.
ROWN, ARCHIBALD GREEN, Lawyer, is a native of Ohio, and has lived in that State since his birth. He was born, on the 16th of April, 1798, near Waterford, Washington county, Ohio. When he was a year old his parents removed to Athens county, and at Athens he has continued to live ever since that time. Ile comes of New England stock, his father, Captain Benjamin Brown, having been born in Leicester, Worcester county, Massachusetts, on the 17th of October, 1745, and served through five campaigns m the Revolutionary army. Ile removed to Ohio in the early days, and died in Athens in the year 1821. The son, Archibald, attended the common school during his boyhood, but his early educational course was not confined to his school studies. On his father's farm, where his youth was passed, he worked hard and many hours each day, but in spite of hard work the studions boy found leisure for reading and study. He had early formed the purpose of acquiring a liberal education, and this purpose was his constant inspi- ration. Ile had in view all the time, and, in the resting spells of farm work and in the days of attendance at the district school, he worked assiduously for the fulfilment of this object. All this hard work had its result, and by the time he had reached the proper age to enter college he was prepared to do so with credit and honor. He became, in due time, a student in the Ohio University at Athens, and, after prosecuting the regular course of study there, graduated with honors in the year 1822. Two years later, after teach- ing an academy in Columbus one year, in 1824, he was made Preceptor in the academical department of the univer-
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sity, a position which he filled for one year. In the year 1825 he left the teacher's chair in the university to under- take teaching on a larger scale from the editorial tripod. In that year he commenced the publication of the Athens Mirror, the first paper published in the county. For the next five years he continued his connection with that paper as editor and publisher, a good indication that the new jour- ualistic venture was at least a fair success. In the year 1827 the young editor was elected to the office of Recorder of the county, an office which he held until 1833. Three years before the expiration of his term of office he had ceased from his journalistic labors, and his leisure time was de- voted to the reading of law, to which profession he had de- cided to devote himself. In the year 1836 he was again elected to the position of County Recorder, and held the office until 1841. At the expiration of his second term he began the practice of law in Athens. In the same year he was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the Uni- versity of Ohio, a position he has continued to hold to the present time. In 1850 he was a delegate to the convention which framed the present Constitution of Ohio, and for a term of two years, from 1850 to 1852, was President-Judge of the Athens District. For many years he has engaged in the practice of his profession in Athens, and in the mean- time has been identified with many of the interests and en- terprises in his section of the State. He was one of the stockholders in the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad Com- pany until the failure of the company ; he held stock in the first telegraph line through the county ; and he was a stock- holder in the Athens branch of the State Bank of Ohio, and afterwards in the National Bank of Athens. Judge Brown has been twice married. Ile was first married to Priscilla K. Crippen, on the 8th of January, 1824. She died on the 3d of June, 1858, and he married again, on the 22d of March, 1866, Harriet B. Stewart.
ARRETT, HON. ISAAC M., Merchant and Manufacturer, Representative in the Sixty-first General Assembly of Ohio from Greene county, was born in Saratoga county, New York, May 20, 1827. Ilis parents were George Barrett and Malala ( Merritt) Barrett. Ilis education was acquired partly in the Ohio Wesleyan University, but he did not graduate from this institution .. Hle engaged subsequently in mercantile business at Spring Valley, Greene county, Ohio, at which he continued for a period of about fifteen years. Also during those years he became importantly identified with the grain trade and the pork-packing business, and his relations with these businesses are still of an extended and highly remunerative nature. In 1862 he was appointed by Abraham Lincoln Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Columbus Distriet, and served in that capacity until 1866. In 1873 he was elected to the House on the Republican
ticket, and within a brief period after taking his seat with this body assumed a prominent position among its members. Ile served on the Committee on Public Printing and on Refoun Schools, and in various ways has signalized bim- self by his energy, fidelity and abilities. In addition to his other occupations, he has for many years past held large interests in a woollen factory, in a fouring mill, and also in various agricultural ventures, Ile is a valued member also of the State Republican Central Committee ; and in all matters touching the welfare of his State and party is a skilful tactician and an efficient coworker. He was mar- ried, in September, 1851, to Rebecca Swayne, daughter of Thomas Swayne, who died in January, 1854, leaving one son. Ile was again married, in March, 1856, to Mary Evans, of Spring Valley, by whom he has had seven children.
ARRIS, HON. LEONARD A., ex-Mayor of Cin- cinnati, was born, October 11th, 1824, in Cincin- nati, and received his education in the common schools. Ile embraced every opportunity opened to him for the improvement of his mind, and be- came in time by self application and by the de- velopment of a talent naturally bright a man of culture, the scope of whose learning comprehended more than the Eng- lish branches of instruction. Upon the firing by the rebels on Sumter he raised a company of volunteers, of which he became Captain, and tendered his services to the govern- ment. These were readily accepted, and the organization was attached to the 2d Ohio Infantry. The regiment was early sent to the front, and participated in the first battle of Bull Run, Captain Ilarris in the action distinguished him- self for gallantry and coolness in the face of the enemy, and served so commendably in the estimation of President Lin- coln that he was authorized by the Chief Executive to raise a regiment in Ohio. Ile set about this task with so much energy that within one month the new command with full ranks was ready for the field. Ile became Colonel of the 2d Ohio Infantry, and made an honorable record up to the time of his disability. This regiment was withdrawn from castern Kentucky after the rebels had been driven out of that portion of the State, and was assigned to Rousseau's division of the army under General Buell. When General Buell was massing his forces to prevent the capture of Louis- ville by General Bragg, Colonel Harris with the 33d Ohio occupied Fort Fisher, at the mouth of Battle creek, Ten- nessec, the extreme outpost on Buell's right flank. He held this position until nearly surrounded by Bragg's forces. After an attack which lasted all day, he evacuated the fort, burned all the stores that could not be transported, and united with the army at Decherd, Tennessee, without the loss of a man taken prisoner. General Buell was well satisfied with the conduct of Colonel Harris and his com- mand. Colonel Harris commanded the 9th Brigade in the
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action at Perryville, October 8th, 1862. This brigade was composed of the 2, the 334 and 94th, Ohio, the 35th Indiana, roth Wisconsin and Captain Simonson's 5th In- dima Battery, That this was a bloody and stubbornly- contested tight the casualties of the gth Brigade will show : commissioned officers killed, four; wounded, ten ; non- commissioned officers and privates killed, one hundred and twenty-four; wounded, four hundred and twelve; missing, forty-one. The Colonel was complimented by General Rousseau on the field after the fight for his skill and courage, and recommended in his official report for promotion, which would have been done had not his health compelled his resignation. Upon his return home, the latter part of 1862, he was placed in nomination for the Mayoralty of Cincin- nati, and in April, 1863, was elected to that important office by about one thousand majority. Ilis ability as an executive officer was soon apparent. He took every step to see that the laws governing the municipality were enforced ; excited every measure for the securing in a greater degree the peace and tranquillity of the citizens by the speedy arrest and prose- cution of criminals; and using every influence which he could command to increase the material as well as moral welfare of the community which had honored him with the highest gift within its prerogative. As Mayor he drafted the law for the enlistment of " one hundred day men," under which Ohio sent over thirty thousand volunteers to the field. He became also Colonel of the 7th Regiment Ohio National Guards, which he commanded during the term of its enlist. ment. He was during this period, in addition, Trustee of the Cincinnati Hospital. Ile adopted every measure of precaution and authority to secure a fair expression of the popular will at the polls, and this effort was properly recog- nized in the following resolutions, adopted at a meeting of the leading citizens, held October 13th, 1863 :
Resolved, That the perfect preservation of the peace of the city by its civil authorities, through the most exciting political contest ever known in this community, is largely due to the impartiality and ability with which the Mayor, Colonel I.conard A. Harris, has discharged the duties of his office.
Resolved, That his instructions to the police force, relating to their department in political affairs during the canvas, insured public confidence in the management of his depart- ment on the day of the recent election in maintaining order and quiet, proved his capacity and integrity as a man and official, and has the unreserved approbation of his fellow- citizens.
Resolved, That a testimonial of our appreciation of the credit which he has reflected upon the good name of the city shall be presented him.
Ilis messages to the City Council were instruments of good sense, presented in a clear, business-like manner. Ile zealously engaged in promoting the interest of municipal institutions, and earnestly advocated the building of a work- house and hospital, both of which have since been accom. plished. They are conspicnous ornaments of the city, with largely increased capacity for doing good. In 1865 he was
re-elected to the Mayoralty by a largely increased majority, and continued while in office to deserve the high esteem which his fellow citizens had formed of his character and ability. In August, 1866, he was appointed by President Johnson Collector of Internal Revenue for the First Ohio District. The United States Senate confirmed the appoint- ment, which Colonel Harris accepted, and at onee tendered his resignation of the office of Mayor. In 1873 he was ap- pointed by the Court of Common Pleas Trustee of the Cin- cinnati Hospital, and continues to serve in that capacity. Hle is President of the Cuvier Club, an organization having for its object not only the cultivation of sociability amongst its members but the advancement of pisciculture, ornith- ology and the natural sciences generally. Colonel Harris is now in the prime of life, possessed of vigorous physical as well as quick mental faculties, and gives promise of still greater usefulness to the community which has already so greatly honored him.
OHINSTON, COLONEL JOIN, was born near Ballyshannon, Ireland, on the 25th of March, 1775, and came to this country with his parents when about ten years of age. Ilis father, Stephen Johnston, with his brothers, each having large families, emigrated from the north of Ireland after the close of the American revolution, and settled in Shear- man's Valley, in the then county of Cumberland (now Perry county ), Pennsylvania. His paternal ancestors came from Scotland into Ireland with the Protestant King William, and being officers were rewarded with estates near Enniskillen, in the county of Fermanagh; and his maternal ancestors, named Barnard, were of the Huguenots, who fled from France for conscience sake and took refuge in Ireland. His early years were spent at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the mer- cantile establishment of Judge John Creigh-that place being the rendezvous of troops enlisted for the war with the Western Indians. In his seventeenth year he accompanied Samuel Creigh to the West, as an attache of the Quarter- master's department of General Wayne's army, with a stock of goods for the troops, travelling the whole distance to Pittsburgh on foot, in company with wagons loaded with army supplies and private property. Pittsburgh at that time, 1792, was a small unimportant place, without a single brick building, and consisted of a string of log-houses along the bank of the Monongahela river. In January, 1793, he first came to Fort Washington, descending the Ohio river to Cincinnati on a common Kentucky flatboat loaded with merchandise, manned with three men, himself and one female passenger, a French lady from Paris in quest of her. husband, whom they found on their arrival at Gallipolis. He spent the winter 1794 95 at Bourbon Court House (now Paris), Kentucky, having an miele at that time a resident of that county. While there he formed the acquaintance of Daniel Boone, who was at that time engaged in tracing up
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land lines and titles, and many years afterwards, upon the invitation of the Governor of Kentucky, he acted as pall- bearer at the reinterment of the remains of Boone and his wife, which had been recently removed from Missouri. Colonel Johnston also while at Bourbon Cont House was made a Mason in a lodge working under authority of the Grand Lodge of Virginia-the Grand Lodge of Kentucky being not yet organized. Soon after being made a Mason he returned to Philadelphia and was for some years in the employ of the government in the war office, of which General Henry Dearborn, United States army, was chief. Ile fre- quently saw the father of his country, heard him deliver his last address to Congress previous to his retirement from public life ; and was an officer of the military escort of honor delegated by the Governor of Pennsylvania on the occasion of Washington's retirement from the Presidency; and also upon the occasion of the inauguration of John Adams; and also as Secretary of a Masonic lodge in Philadelphia marched in the procession and participated in the funeral solemnities in memory of Washington in the winter of ISoo. Not long afterwards, in or about the same year, the subject of this sketch returned to the West, where he was employed under General Harrison in the superintendency of Indian affairs, having been commissioned by President Madison as Agent; and in this capacity was charged with the control and care of 10,000 Indians, including the Miamies, Delawares, Shaw. anese, Wyandottes, Pottawattamies, Chippewas, Ottawas, Sen- ceas, some Kickapoos, Sunkees and Kaskaskins, among whom Bucking Chilas, Little Turtle, Black Hoof and John were the influential chiefs. Previous to coming West in 1Soo, Colonel Johnston had received the chapter and en- campment degrees in Masonry at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and during life continued to take a prominent part as a member of that fraternal order. During the war of 1812 he was connected with the army under General William 11. Harrison, and afterwards remained ou the frontier as United State, Factor or Indian Agent for many years, and discharged all his public duties to the satisfaction of the government and tribes under his charge, but was removed from office by that uncompromising Democratic hero, An. drew Jackson, upon his accession to the Presidency in 1829, simply because of a difference in political predilections. Thus ended the first period in his official authority over the denizens of the forest ; but afterwards in 1841-42, by ap- pointment of General Harrison, then President, he was in- trusted with the negotiations for a treaty of cession and emi- gration of the Wyandottes, " the last of the native tribes of Ohio," for their removal beyond the Mississippi ; and in the consummation of this important and responsible matter, which occurred at Upper Sandusky, in this State, he com- pleted the entire arrangements so faithfully as to win the commendation of not only our government but red men, who were about to leave the hunting grounds to which they had become ardently attached. Charles Dickens, the cele- brated English novelist, being present on this occasion,
makes an allusion to the circumstances witnessed by him in bis " Notes on America." Colonel Johnston was a firm Whig, of the Federal cast of political sentiments, and an in- timate personal friend of General Harrison, Lewis Cas, Chinles Hammond, Alfred Kelly, and other prominent meu identified with the carly development of the West. In 1844 he was a delegate to the Whig Convention held in Balti- more, riding all the way from his home at Piqua on horse- back, and made speeches in the interest of " Harry Clay" along the route. llis ancestors were of the Episcopal Church, and during life he adhered most fervently to the religion of his fathers. He was one of the founders of the Episcopal Church in Ohio, bemg carly associated with the venerable pioneer, Bishop Chase, in that primitive and apos- tolie work. With his beloved wife he established and taught the first Sabbath-school in Miami county, Ohio, and in all things endeavored to raise up their large family of fifteen children in the faith and hopes they themselves cherished so dearly. Appreciating the inestimable benefits of a thorough education, he took an active interest in the establishment of Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio, of which he was one of the first Board of Trustees, and also occupied a similar official position in connection with Miami College, at Oxford, Ohio. Ile was President of the His- torical and Philosophical Society of Ohio; a member of the Historical Society of Wisconsin ; of the Antiquarian Society of Massachusetts, and identified with similar asso. viations in other States ; and was, by appointment of James Buchanan, President, one of the Board of Visitors to West Point in 1859. Two of his sons were distinguished officers in the United States service-Captain A. R. Johnston, a graduate of the Military Academy, being killed in the battle of San Pasquales during the Mexican war, and St. Stephen Johnston, having died soon after that war, and having served most honorably in our navy. Colonel Johnston was six feet two inches in height, erect in form, and with an aspect of venerable dignity that commands respect, and with a kind. ness and gentleness of manner which win the regard of all. He died in Washington City on the 18th day of February, 1861, at the dawn of our great and memorable rebellion, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, possessing his physical and mental vigor in a remarkable degree to almost the day of his death.
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