USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 43
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vices into which he was called, he distinguished his labors | Aide-de-Camp to Governor William Allen. In the fall of by intelligence and by energy. For many years he was a 1875 he was the Democratie candidate for State Senator in the Twenty-third Senatorial District of Ohio, running largely ahead of his ticket. Ile has always manifested a warm inter- est in the educational and political questions of the day, and is to be commended for the shrewdness and liberality which he brings to bear upon the leading topics of the time. director of the old Clinton Bunk, serving with his firm friend, D. W. Deshler. Ile was also a director in the Franklin National and State Bank, and exhibited excellent qualities as a financier and a manager of responsible monetary in- stitutions, When Mr. Johnson first reached that section of the State which for so long a time was the scene of his active labors, he found it sparsely settled, its many resources but partially developed, and the people comparatively poor. Only a small amount of money was in circulation, and this raised serions obstacles in the path of his business career, which would have discouraged men of less nerve and perse. verance. In the face of adverse circumstances he carried on his business interests resolutely, and was able to gradually accumulate a large amount of property. Ile became a resident of Columbus, Ohio, in 1862, but before that time was prominently engaged in labors which beneficially af- fected its permanent prosperity, and since he has become one of its citizens he has aided largely in the support of public improvements. Ile erected the Johnson Block and Sessions Block, and in many ways contributed to increase the vital business interests of the city. Ilis foresight, good ju lgment and energy have rendered him remarkably suc- cessful as a mechanic, farmer, manufacturer, contractor and banker, and while he has acquired a large fortune, it has been honorably earned. No man ever questioned his fair dealing and integrity of action, and no man deserves more than he the respect which the public accord to him. Al- though over fourscore years of age, he still retains his place in business circles, as a partner in the Commercial Bank. Ile has the affection of his family, the warm friendship of associates, the comforts and the luxuries of a home of ease, and with advancing years he finds increasing instead of de- creasing contentment. He was married in August, 1815, to Achsa Maynard.
5 ROWN, WILLIAM 1 .. , Editor and Proprietor of The Mahoning Vindicator, was born in Chitten den county, Vermont, December 25th, 1840. Ile is of Irish extraction. His early education was acquired in Canfield, Mahoning county. In the years following school life, he was engaged in teaching, and in studying law. Ile was admitted to the bar in 1862, and subsequently practised his profession for about nine years. At the present time he is engrossed in journal- istic labors, being the editor and proprietor of The Mahon- ing Vindicator, a journal of acknowledged influence and great literary merit. During the late war of the Rebellion, he served as Lieutenant in the 88th Regiment of Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, and alo as Recruiting Officer of the 125th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Ile officiated as first Clerk in the House of the first Territorial Legislature of Montana, Subsequently returning to Ohio, he acted as
ILLIAMS, JAMES, State Auditor of Ohio, was born in Prince George's county, Maryland, May 31st, 1822, his father, John W. Williams, being of English and Welsh descent, and his mother, whose maiden name was Eleanor Duval, being of French Iluguenot and English descent. The family moved in 1831 to Champaign county, Ohio, in the common schools of which he was educated. After leaving school he became a clerk in a country merchant store, and in 1840 began the study of medicine. He graduated, after pursuing a thorough course of study, in 1843, and practised with much success during the three succeeding years. He subsequently turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, and to the profession of teaching, for which he was well quali- fied. He served in the Legislature during the sessions. of 1852 and 1853, and afterwards became an assistant in the State Auditor's office, acting first as elerk and then as deputy, until 1871, when he was elected Auditor of the State, being honored with a re-election in 1875. In this important department of the State administration, he has served altogether over twenty years, and by the election of IS75 was chosen for a further term of four years. His long experience in the office, his complete knowledge of all the details of its business and his skill as an executive, have rendered his discharge of the duties of auditor wholly satis- factory to the people at large in the State. Ile was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party, with which he has ever since been connected. He served as a Justice of the Peace for a short time, and in this, as in his later and more important capacities, he won the confidence and the esteem of his fellow-citizens. Ile was married in May, 1844, and by this marriage had two children, one of whom survives. Ile was again married, in 1848, and had five chil- dren, four of whom are living.
ING, WILLIAM HENRY, Shoe Manufacturer, was born in Leicester, Worcester county, Massa- chusetts, August 25th, 1818. While in his eighth year he lost his father, and was then obliged to commence the struggle of life alone and unaided. For seven years he worked on a farm, receiving during those years a limited elementary education. At the age of fifteen he was placed to learn the shoemaker's trade,
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and found employment in one of the neighboring shops. Until 1843 he worked at his trade in Philadelphia and other places, then settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was en- gaged in the only shoe factory then existing west of the Allegheny mountains-the house of L. Chapin & Co., which had absorbed the establishment of Badger & Co. After I .. Chapin & Co. failed, A. M. Taylor & Co. took charge of the stock and remained in business until 1848. lle finally became foreman of the house, and acted in this capacity until 1848, when he commenced business on his own account, and opened a factory. That was then the second wholesale boot manufactory in the western country, and afterwards ranked with the most extensive establishments of its kind beyond the mountains. With several changes of locality, or street, he continued to prosecute his business in the most prosperous manner until 1863, when he accepted an appointment under the government as Inspector for Army Shoe Supplies. He then disposed of his manufac- turing interests by sale, and remained in the service of the Government until the close of the war. Since then he has not returned to manufacturing pursuits, but has spent his time in work, or retirement, as the humor has seized him. In the affairs of the city he has filled various important trusts, and is widely and favorably known as an enterprising and loyal citizen. One of the pioneers of shoe manufactur. ing in the West, he started his business with no machinery, and in the face of environing difficulties which would have disheartened a less energetic and sanguine spirit. And the present prosperous state of the shoe manufacturing business of Cincinnati, now one of the most important of her interests, is in no small measure attributable to his untiring persever- ance. Ile was married in 1843 to Harriet Day, of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania. After her demise he was again married, in 1849, to Sarah Iligbec.
OLEMAN, DAVID, M. D., was born in Washing- ton county, Pennsylvania, March 24th, 1822. Ile was the fifth child in a family of six children, whose parents were William Coleman and Jane (Boyce) Coleman. His father, a native of New Jersey, followed through life agricultural pursuits. In 1831 he settled in Carroll county, Ohio, whence hc moved, in 1846, to Adams county, where he resided until his demise in 1854. Ilis mother, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, died in 1858. Ilis ancestry, on the paternal side, were identified with the revolutionary struggle. Until his twentieth year was reached, he was employed alternately in working on a farm during the summer season, and attending school in the winter months. Aiso, assuming the role of educator at eighteen, he was engaged irregularly in teaching until he was twenty-five years of age. In 1845, his persevering application to literary studies having en- dowed him with a varied store of excellent and useful at-
tainments, he commenced the study of medicine under the supervision of Dr. C. V. McMillen, at Carrollton, Ohio. During the following three years he devoted his time and attention sedulously to his text books, and in the winters of 1847, 1848 and 1849, attended lectures at the Western Re- serve Medical College, located at Cleveland, Ohio. In February, 1849, he graduated with honor from this institu- tion, and subsequently removed to West Union, Adams county, where he has since resided, engaged in the control of an extensive medical practice. During the war of the rebellion, he served for two years as Examining Surgeon in the United State's Provost Marshal's office, of the Eleventh Ohio Congressional District. He supports the Republican party. Public office, of a political or partisan nature he has never cither sought or accepted. The Presbyterian Church cherishes the crecd on which he bases his views of religion and theology. He was married in 1851 to Elizabeth C. Kirker, a native of Adams county, Ohio, and a relative of ex-Governor Kirker, deceased.
CORDON, THOMAS WINSLOW, M. D., was born at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, September 2cd, 1819. Ile was the oklest child in a family of thirteen children, whose parents were Robert Gordon and Susanna Bacon ( Winslow) Gordon. Robert Gordon was a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and came with his father's family, when in his fourth year, to the " Northwestern Territory." He was partially educated as a physician, but followed mechanical pursuits through life, and became prominent as a master mechanic. His demise occurred February 12th, 1872. Thomas Gordon, the grandfather of Dr. Gordon, was a native of Scotland, was an early pioneer in the West, and settled in the " Northwestern Territory," in November, 1799, in the township of Poland, Trumbull (now Ma- honing) county, Ohio. The mother of the subject of our sketch, Susanna Bacon Winslow, was a native of the town of Naples, New York, her father, Seth Winslow, having removed from Massachusetts just before her birth. She was descended in a direct line from Edward Winslow, one of the immortal Pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic in the famous ship " Mayflower." The various members of her family were intimately identified with the revolutionary struggle, and active and useful participants therein. She died in 1849 in Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio. His early education was received in the common schools and at the Warren Academy. Ilis more advanced literary and scien- tific education was obtained by his own untiring individual efforts and from private tutors noted for their scholastic at- tainments. During vacations he assisted his father in the manufacture of bricks and in building. In his fourteenth year he began the study of anatomy and physiology under the guidance of Dr. Sylvanus Seely, of Warren, Ohio, Sub-
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sequently, for a period of almost ten years, he pursued the popular lectures, which have been highly extolled ; espe- cially his lecture on the " Miracles of Man." He has written in my articles on literary and scientific subjects, which have been published in various papers and magazines. Over vniou, nom de plumes (chiefly that of ORION), he has published many poems. He was for several years the Presi- dent of a literary club formed by writers of Brown and Clermont counties, bearing the name " Poetical Union." lle was a member of the first meteorological society formed in the West-if not the first in the United States-and was made its temporary chairman. Ile was the first President of the Brown County Academy of Medicine. He has con- tributed many articles of acknowledged ability to prominent medical journals. Ilis essays, read before the Ohio State Medical Society, on " Cholera," " Scarlatina," etc., deserve special mention as reports of very careful investigation and value. In 1874 he was a candidate for Congress on the study of the various departments of medicine conjointly with science and languages. In this time he travelled through the West, investigating the nature and peculiarities of di,. eises prevalent in the regions visited. He frequently found difficulty (being quite young) in obtaining the permission of physicians to visit their patients. Hle therefore commenced operating for " club foot," " strabismus," removal of tumors, etc., etc., and from that time forward had all the opportuni- ties he desired to carry on his self-imposed investigations. The last two years of his student life was spent in the office of D. B. Wood-, M. D., of Warren, Ohio. When almost exhausted with the more severe or abstruse studies of his profession, he used to take his botany and proceed to the forests, and there investigate the laws of that science as a recreation. In the summer and antimmn of 1844 he attended a preliminary course of lectures at the Willoughby University, and during the regular sessions of 1844, 1845 and 1846, at- : Republican ticket in the district composed of the counties tended lectures at the Cleveland Medical College, where he of Ross, Pike, Highland, Adams and Brown, one of the strongest Democratie districts in the State, making a gain on the Republican State ticket, when all other districts lost ground. He has always evinced an earnest interest in the political questions and movements of the day, and cast his first vote in favor of General Harrison. Religiously, his views are liberal, and not hedged about by the doctrines of any particular creed, though a firm behever in an All-wise Supreme Being. He was married, November 14th, 1836, to Minerva Elvira Scoville, a native of Trumbull county, whose decease occurred December 20th, 1869. By her he had eight children, six of whom are living. His eldest son, S. C. Gordon, M. D., was an assistant surgeon and surgeon during the war. He was again married, November 14th, 1872, to Elizabeth Norman Dugan, a native of Brown graduated with honors in 1846 (having passed an examina- tion by the faculty the year previous), and received from it a certificate of qualification to practise his profession. Hle began the active practice of medicine in Bizetta, Trumbull county, Ohio, where he remained until 1850, when he re- moved to Georgetown, Brown county, where he has since resided, continuou ly engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery, when not absent fulfilling the various duties devolving on him as a professor in a medical college and as surgeon in the army. He took an irregular course of law reading under the supervision of Ilon. John J. Crowell, of Warren-now of Cleveland, Ohio-before leaving the North. After his removal to Georgetown he read law regularly for more than two years, devoting all his spare time to its study, under instructions from John G. Marshall, Esq., of George- county, Ohio.
town, and holds a certificate of qualification, dated January 7th, IS54. Not intending to practise law as a profesion, he never applied for " admission to the bar." In 1853 he became a member of the American Medical Association, and in 1856 was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Etiology and Pathology of Epidemic Cholera by that asso- ciation. In the autumn of 1554 and the following winter and spring, he edited the Independent American, a weekly literary and political newspaper, published at Georgetown. In 1857-58 he was Professor of Materia Medica and Thera- peutics, and in 1858-59-60 Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy, in the " Cincinnati College of Medicine and
ISHIER, JOHN C., Editor, was born on the 15th of December, 1840, in Muskingum county, Ohio. His father, William Fisher, was a farmer, and he was the oldest son. It may readily be supposed, therefore, that, in his case, hard work took prece- dence of hard study, and that, so far as school ex- periences constitute education, his early education was but limited. Notwithstanding the lack of early opportunities, however, he had, by the time he reached the age of eighteen, qualified himself to teach district school, and from that time Surgery." In the war of the rebellion he was Surgeon of the ; until he was twenty-five years old, he devoted his winters to 97th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served in that teaching. By this means he was enabled to meet the ex- pense involved in a course of study at Dennison University, Granville, and another course at the Columbus Commercial College. Dividing his time thus between studying, teaching and working on the farm, he went on until the spring of 1866, when, with the surplus which he had saved by strictest economy, out of his earnings, he purchased the capacity and as Brigade Surgeon from August, 1862, until June, 1864, when he was obliged to resign his commis- sion on account of disability arising from a wound received in the memorable battle of Missionary Ridge, fought No- vember 25th, 1863. Ile was appointed United States Examining Surgeon for Pensions in November, 1862, which position he continues to hold. lle has delivered several Coshocton Democrat, and entered upon the arduous and
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varied labors of journalism. Ile still continues to conduct | France, Switzerland and Italy, and returned home in the the Democrat, and has made it what it is-one of the most carefully edited and influential papers in the State, outside of Cincinnati. As an editorial writer he has acquired a high reputation, and as an enterprising and skilful journalist he has few superiors. Politically he is a Democrat, and has acted with the Democratic party ever since he became a voter, and now he is recognized as one of the ablest leaders of his party in the State, or at least in his section of it. In 1873 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, to the State Senate, from the Eighteenth District, embracing Coshocton and Tuscarawas counties. Ile was made Chairman of the Senate Committees on Public Printing and Enrolment, and also a member of the Committees on Revision, Common Schools, Mines and Mining and Public Works. Ile took a high rank as a parliamentarian and as an active and able committeeman. He was especially noted for his close atten- tion to all the business that came before the Senate, and for his excellent judgment on all legislative questions, while he earned the confidence and esteem of his constituents by the earnestness with which he advocated measures of reform, and the skill with which he managed local legislation which he considered worthy of his support. In March, 1875, he was appointed by Governor Allen one of the three Fish Commissioners for Ohio, to the duties of which position he is now devoting much of his time and energy. Ile is also a Director of the Massillon & Coshocton Railway Company. Ile was married on the 15th of December, 1869, to Sarah A. Ilawthorne, a descendant of the family to which Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, belonged.
AUERTHI, GEORGE V., Author and Lawyer, was born in Dayton, Ohio, January 29th, 1844, being the son of John V. and Louisa Nauerth, both na- tives of the district of Landean, in the Rhenish Palatinate, Germany. His father, a baker by trade, emigrated to America in 1831, and after a short residence in Cincinnati, settled permanently in Dayton. George V. was educated in Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, and when eighteen graduated from that institution with the class of 1862, and with the second honors. Ile received at this time the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and subse- quently that of Master of Arts, conferred in course, Imme- diately upon leaving college, he went to Europe, where for a year he studied civil law under Carl Adolph Von Vange. row, and criminal law under the eminent jurist, John Mitte- maier, in the Charles Rupert University, at Heidelberg. For some months after leaving this institution, he travelled through the northern states of Europe, and then went to Paris, where he entered the University of France, and during eight months attended the course of lectures on civil law and the code Napoleon, at the Ecole de Droit. Ile con- cluded his stay in Europe with a trip through southern
summer of 1864. In the fall of that year he entered the Cincinnati Law School, from which he graduated, and in the following April was admitted to the bar, within three months after he had attained his majority. He began prac- tice at once in Dayton, with Thomas O. Lowe, subsequently Judge of the Superior Court. In 1867 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Montgomery county, on the Demo- cratic ticket, and upon the expiration of his term in 1870, his former partner, Mr. Lowe, having in the meantime been elevated to the bench, he resumed the practice of law, and conducted it alone until 1873, when he formed a partnership with Judge MeKenny, who had just resigned his seat on the Common Pleas Bench. This partnership still continues, and the firm are engaged in a large and important practice in that section of the State. Mr. Nauerth, not only from his thorough legal training, but from his scholarly attainments, and his perfect mastery of the three great modern languages, took, in a very short time from the commencement of his career, a high position at the bar. Ile is careful in the prep- aration of his cases, keen as a cross-examiner, and eloquent and forcible as a pleader, his arguments being models of ar- rangement and expression. He has made some scholarly translations of important works, which he has never pub- lished, and is now engaged in the preparation of a history of Germany, which, handsomely illustrated, will soon be issued in three octavo volumes. It will follow the histories of the principal historians of Germany, though it will be in no sense a translation. There is a want of some popular English work on German history, and this is intended to meet the wishes of students and the reading public. Mr. Nanerth has fine artistie discrimination, and is himself skil- ful in the use of the brush. For some time he studied under an excellent master, and with a natural talent for the art, succeeded admirably. He has a very fine art collection of engravings, embracing many rare pieces.
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YERS, HON. JOHN I .. , State Representative from Fayette county in the Sixty-first General Assembly of Ohio, was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, August 7th, 1803, his parents being Samuel and Elizabeth (Smith) Myers. His father was a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his mother of the State in which he was born. He came with them in 1807 to Ohio, and settled in Fayette county, in the common schools of which he received his education. In 1828 he began life as a farmer and stock raiser, and now has an estate of twelve hundred acres. Ile entered energetically to work in the course he had marked out, and took every step to improve the value of the stock which was raised upon his farm. He was the first to introduce into Fayette county the Durhams, and in a short time became known as one of the most successful raisers of fine cattle in the State. Ile
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is a stock holder in the Sciota Importing Company, an asso ciation formed for the purpose of bringing from England blooded stock, and has himself raised a great many pace Durham cattle, His politied affiliations have been with the Whig, Free-sod and Republican parties, His first vote was cast for John Quincy Adams for President, and since then he has been an influential citizen in his section in con- ducting and controlling political affairs, In 1873 he was elected from Fayette to the House of Representatives, on the Republican ticket, and participated with zeal and intel- ligence in all the legislation performed by the Sixty-first General Assembly of Ohio. He was placed on the Com- mittees on Roads and Turnpikes, Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, and an Asylum for Disabled Soldiers. Ile has rendered valuable services to his constituency both in the committee room and on the floor of the lower House. He has taken a great interest in public works of his locality, and has especially distinguished himself in his long-con- tinued and able efforts to increase the efficiency of the system for popular instruction. On November 4th1, 1828, he married Catharine Vance, of his own county, by whom he has had nine children, seven surviving, two being sons. One of these, John J., was Lieutenant in the 60th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Myers owes to his own unaided efforts the position he has attained in society and the competency he has amassed.
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