USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 44
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WENS, JOB E., one of the Founders of the Owens, Lane & Dyer Machine Company, was born in Wales, and came to America while quite young, settling in Columbus, Ohio, where his early days were passed. While there he served an appren- ticeship at the trade of iron moulder under Joseph Ridgway & Co., with whom he remained for eight or nine years. He subsequently moved to Cincinnati, where he worked at his trade as journeyman for two years. In 1846 be removed to Hamilton, in the same State, and in com- piny with Jacob Ebbet an I Elluidge (. Dyer founded the hrm of Owens, Ebbert & Dier, in the foundry and store business. Mier a prosperous period of eight years the firm, by the death of Jacob Ebbert, became Owens, Lane & Dyer, Clank Lane taking the place of the deceased partner. Contemporaneously the business of the house was changed from the manufacture of stoves to the making of agricul- tural machinery, steam engines and saw mills. At the expiration of seventeen years of successful operation the company was incorporated under the style and title of " The Owens, Lane & Dyer Machine Company," while eight or ten new partners were admitted to a share in the business. At the present time he acts as I'resident of the company, a position for which he is eminently qualified by his sterling business talents. His name has always been prominently identified with every project tending to in-
crease the material prosperity and further the improvement of the city and county of which he is a respected and an in- Duential citizen, and his purse is always open to the appeal of charity and for the sustenance of the various city center . prises which meet with his approval as wisely conceived measures. While taking an active interest in the political movements of the hour, and possessing a powerful influence on affairs in his community, he has yet never permitted his name to appear as the candidate for any office. His first entry into political life was made with the Whig party, under the leadership of Henry Clay. On the dismember- ship of that organization, in 1858, however, he went, with the Silver Gray Whigs, over to the Democratic party, to which he has since given his support.
ILSON, PETER L., retired Farmer, ex-County Commissioner and ex-Treasurer of Brown County, Ohio, was born in Rochdale, Lancashire county, England, April 30th, 1806. He was the third child of William 11. Wilson and Elizabeth ( Wild) Wilson. His father, a native of Yorkshire, Eng- land, who was for many years engaged in manufacturing pursuits, came to America in 1818, and settled in Lewis township, Brown county, Ohio. At the expiration of a few months he moved to Washington, Mason county, Kentucky, where he resided for about twenty years. He then removed to Missouri, whence, at the end of a year, he moved to Indiana. Ile finally returned to Ohio, made his home with his son for some time, and later settled in Cincinnati, where his decease occurred. His mother, a native of Lancashire, England, came with her family to the United States a short time after her husband, who, being a manufacturer, could not leave his native country except by stealth. Ilis early education was of a very limited kindl, but the lack of pri- mary training was eventually more than counterbalanced by his naturai gifts and love of books. His first occupation in life was clerking in a dry-goods store at Angusta, Bracken county, Kentucky, where he was employed for about two years. Ile then began the reading of medicine under the guidance of Dr. Keith, of Angusta, and pursued his studies during the following two years. Later, he left his preceptor and remained with his father in Washington, Mason county, Kentucky, engaged in assisting him in his manufactory. Afterward he was employed in a store in the same place to sell goods, and was finally sent as a sales- inan to dispose of stock in Georgetown, Brown county, Ohio. This mission accomplished, he resolved to resume his medical studies, and placed himself accordingly under the supervision of Dr. Buckner, of Georgetown. At the expiration of one year, however, he decided to renounce entirely the profession of medicine, and in 1826 opened a public house, aml was constantly engaged in this business in Georgetown for a period of twenty years. In 1840 he
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was appointed County Auditor, and filled that office from October of this year until the following March. During 1835, 1836 and 1837 he was Justice of the Peace, and also during the later years of 1868, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872 aud 1873. In 1847 he moved on to his farm, four miles distant from Georgetown, and there has since permanently resided. While pursuing the occupation of farmer he has also been constantly identified in a measure with public business and affairs, and for several years past has filled the position of principal assistant for many of the auditors and treasurers of Brown county. In 1851, or thereabout, he was ap- pointed County Commissioner, to fill the balance of an un- expired term, and in 1870 was elected to this office to serve the full term of three years. In March, 1874, he was appointed Treasurer of the county, to again occupy the position for the balance of an unexpired term. Ile has since acted as assistant for the County Treasurer and Auditor. He gives his support to the Democratic party, and cast his first vote in favor of General Jackson, For many years he has been a prominent Mason. In days gone by, his and the Grant family having at one time lived under the same roof, he often held in his arms the child who is now the President of the United States, and often recalls many attendant incidents with a proud and pleasant smile. Although now in his seventieth year his powers, physical and mental, are in an admirabie state of preservation, while time seems to have but mellowed his many sterling attri- butes. Ile was married in 1826 to Paulina Woods, who was born on the farm on which stands the present George- town. Her father, Allen Woods, an early pioneer of Brown county, moved from Kentucky to Ohio, having emigrated to the former State from Ireland, his native country. In ISIS he laid out a part of Georgetown. The issue of this union was thirteen children.
Xenia, where he has since permanently resided, engaged constantly in practice, except while on the bench. In 1853-54 55 he officiated as Mayor of Xenia, and in the fall of the latter year was elected Prosecuting Attorney, having resigned the mayoralty ; and in January, 1860, after two successive re-elections, resigned also this office. In April, 1871, he was elected Judge of the Superior Court for Greene County, and in October, 1873, was re-elected to that position, which was held by him until May Ist, 1875, when a bill passed by the Legislature took effect authoriz- ing the election of two additional Common Pleas judges for the subdivision including Greene county, and repealing the act which had created the Superior Court. At the expira- tion of his teim he resumed the conduct of the practice in which he is now engaged. In politics, he was a Whig until the dissolution of his party, when he espoused the principles of the Republican party, to which he has since given his support. He was married, January 11th, 1860, to Minerva Scarff, of Greene county.
EVORE, DAVID G., Lawyer, was born in Union township, Brown county, Ohio, March 3Ist, 18OS, and was the seventh child in a family consisting of ten children whose parents were David Devore and Alice ( Mann) Devore. Ilis father, a native of Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, followed through life agricultural pursuits. Ile moved to Kentucky at an early date, and settled at Ken- ton's Station. In ISco he removed to Union township, Brown county, Ohio, where he resided until his demise. Many of his ancestors were active participants in the Revo- lutionary struggle, notably, Nicholas Devore, his paternal grandfather, who was one of the famous Morgan Riflemen and an actor during Crawford's defeat. Ilis mother was a native of New Jersey, and a daughter of Christopher Mann, a prominent pioneer of Kentucky and Brown county, Ohio. Until his nineteenth year was attained he worked on a farm at the old homestead, on Red Oak creek, Union town- ship, Brown county. During those years he received a
EXTON, JOSEPH A., Lawyer and ex-Judge of the Superior Court for Greene County, Ohio, was born in Frederick county, Virginia, April 10th, 1826. Ilis parents, also natives of Frederick county, Virginia, emigrated to Ohio in 1829, and | liberal education in various select schools, and in 1827 entered the Ohio University, at Athens. There he dili- gently pursued a course of classical studies, and in 1831 graduated with the first honor of his class. Hle then re- turned to Brown county and began the reading of law under the supervision of Archibald Liggett, a prominent attorney of Ripley, Ohio. After continuing his studies with this preceptor for about six months he moved to George- town, where he resumed his reading under the guidance of Thomas L. Hamer, an able pioneer attorney of Brown county. In 1833 he passed the required examination and was admitted to the bar. Hon. Thomas Corwin was on that occasion one of the examiners. Entering at once on
settled in Greene county. Ilis father, Joseph Sexton, was a lawyer, and prior to his removal to the West had represented his county many times in the Legislature of Virginia. After locating himself in Ohio he resumed the practice of his profession, and engaged also in agricul- tural pursuits. The subject of this sketch attended the common schools of Greene county, but his education was acquired principally at a later date, and to him may be properly applied the expression, a self-taught man. In 1848 he commenced the study of law under the preceptor- ship of William Ellsberry, one of the pioneer legal prac- titioners of southern Ohio. In 1850 he was admitted to the bar, and at once entered on the practice of his profession at the active practice of his profession, in partnership with
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Thomas I., Hamer, at Georgetown, he, in conjunction with his associate, rapidly secured an extensive legal practice. In 1833 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Brown County, and in this position served faithfully for two years. Of lite years, ja connection with his professional duties, he has also interested himself in agricultural pursuits and gen- eral speculations. Politically, he is a supporter of the Democratic party, and cast his Erst vote in favor of General Jackson. Religiously, he is a member of the Christian Union organization. He has always been a firm friend of the temperance cause, and has never connected himself with any secret societies. He was married in IS37 to Rc- becca Murray, a native of Morgan county, Ohio, and the daughter of an early pioneer of that county. Eight chil- dren have been the prodnets of this union.
HIALLEN, JAMES R., Lawyer, was born, July 3d, 1334, in Lexington, Kentucky. His father, Rev. Jones Challen, traces his ancestry back through a race of preachers to the French 6 Huguenots. His maternal relatives are mostly lawyers, his grandfather being David Bradford, a captain in the British army at Braddock's defeat and a colonel through the entire Revolutionary war. Ilis gal- lantry and patriotism were rewarded by a Congressional grant of fifteen thousand acres of land, In the "Annals of Pennsylvania " his name appears as a lawyer, a politician and a soldier. A county was named in his honor. He was not only the leading counsel of the farmers and distillers in the celebrated whiskey excise cases, but became their major-general when they organized the famous insurrection in 1792. Hle removed to Louisiana, and, although a large slaveholder, was an earnest emancipationist, which prin- ciple was early instilled into his grandson ; for it is recorded that in 18448, when James R. Challen was but fourteen years old, he delivered one of Wendell Phillips' orations at the anti-slavery convention at Spring Garden, near Cincin nati. His parents had temoved to this city in his child. hood, his father being the first pastor of the First Christian Church. Here he was educated in the common schools and Woodward College, when Dr. Ray taught the mathe- mities. lle graduated at Bethany College, Virginia, in 1853. Alexander Campbell was then in full prime as a teacher, lecturer, debater and divine. At this college young Challen, still in his teens, established and edited The Stylus, a pioneer college journal which gave evidence of talent, scholarship and good-fellowship. After making the tour of the continent he was called to a professorship in the Somerset Collegiate Institute, Pennsylvania, in' his nineteenth year, and, when just twenty-one, to the chair of the English Language and Literature in the Northwestern Christian University, at Indianapolis, Indiana. Ilere he reviewed not only the dead languages of the colleges, but
studied the dead Anglo-Saxon, the German and the French. Hle not only lectured in the class-room, but in the forum and the pulpit; and not only studied but prac- tived music, gymnastics, field science and elocution. In the last exercise he mentions with especial gratitude his old trainer, Professor Kidd, a name famous in histrionie art. With all these studies he combined law, and immediately after graduating from the Law College was employed to try cases, while still a professor. As might be expected, he was soon devoted to this most exclusive of all professions. Hle declined the proffered Presidency of the Indiana Uni- versity, at Bloomington, vacated by Hon. William Daly. In the winter of 1853-59 he opened an office in Cincinnati, where he has been ever since a zealons and successful prac- titioner at the bar, except while in army service. When the rebellion broke out, in April, 1861, that very month he was chosen captain of a company of over one hundred Union men, In August he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 4Sth Ohio, and in September went into command at Camp Hamilton as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 69th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Camp life being distasteful to him, he was detailed to staff duty as Judge-Advocate. Upon his return home he at once entered upon a good practice, and has continued in it without interruption. He has never sought and never held public office. He is a hard and continual student in law, literature and science ; his library, his cabinet, his essays and lectures, as well as cases, illus- trating his zeal, industry and wide range of labor. In science, conchology and geology receive special attention. Patent cases have been among his specialties; and in many important cases he has used scientific facts and principles, evolved in the field and laboratory, to incalculable advan- tage to his clients. In no sense a politician, he has always been active and foremost in the political movements of his day. Ile stumped the State of Indiana in 1856 in favor of John C. Fremont for President, and Ohio in 1860 for Abraham Lincoln. Ile was a delegate to the National Liberal Couvention of 1872, and vigorously supported Charles Francis Adams before that convention as candidate for the Presidency. In the Greeley campaign he was silent. For some years his life has been more retired, bis labors less conspicuous than in earlier life, though equally useful, especially to his family, friends and the reading public ; for he is a constant, though impersonal, contributor not only to monthlies and weeklies, but to that mightiest of all factors, the daily press. When rest from the ex- haustive labors of the class-room or office was required, instead of seeking it in idleness at some fashionable water- ing-place, it has been his constant habit to repair to the Alleghenies, the Rocky mountains, the great lakes, or the Sonth, and there explore caves and canons, mines, cataracts and other objects worthy of study and of description, and with his pen and pencil portray them to the public. In these peripatetice journeys collections of specimens valuable in science have been made, forming a large and very com-
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plete cabinet of shells, minerals, ores and cave deposits. Dr. David Morris, in studying and investigating the malari- These pursuits have been to him an accomplishment as 'ous diseases of that region while residing in his family, in well as a recreation. A valuable contribution to science as well as literature would be the reproduction of these recol lections of a busy and well-spent life, and dissertations upon nature, its curiosities, beauties and utilities, compiled in a volume or volumes. But Mr. Challen declines to prepare this, insisting that the age demands papers and periodicals, but not books.
OGERS, JOHN G., M. D., was born near Cam- den, New Jersey, April 29th, 1797, and was the cessful practitioner of medicine and surgery. In 1824 he second child in a family of seven children whose parents were Levi Rogers and Anna (George) Rogers, His father was a native of Maryland, and in early life an itinerant Methodist preacher; he married Anna George, the only child of John George and Sarah George, and settled in New Jersey; relinquished the itinerancy of Methodist preacher and studied medicine; attended lectures in Philadelphia, under the instructions of Professors Rush, Shippen, Wister, Barton and others; com- menced the practice of medicine in the State of New Jersey, under its laws, in 1798. After practising his profession several years with brilliant success be removed to Ohio in 1So4, and settled in Williamsburg, county of Clermont. In ISto he removed to Bethel, in the same county, it being a more central location. He was an ardent and laborious student, widely known and greatly esteemed for his intelli- gence and skill in his profession ; he served one term in the Senate of Ohio, and in the war of 1812 was Surgeon of the 19th Regiment of Infantry. His demise occurred in Bethel, Clermont county, Ohio, April 4th, 1815, in the forty-seventh year of his age; his wife, a native of New Jersey, who survived him many years, died in Batavia, Clermont county, Ohio, October 13th, 1856. Ile whose name stands at the head of this article was designed at an early age by his father for the medical profession; after having acquired the knowledge usually taught in the schools of that day he was placed under the instructions of his father, at home in his office, where he received most of his literary education and where the deep and broad foundations of his professional life were laid; his father having a large practice in a new and sparsely settled country was of necessity much from home, and many of the duties of the office devolved on his son, who in boyhood acquired great dexterity in extracting teeth, bleeding and many of the operations in minor surgery, as well as dis- pensing medicine in the absence of bis father, who died in the sixteenth year of the son's age. After this bereavement he applied himself closely to the study of medicine for two years, under the instruction of Dr. William Wayland, who settled in this county soon after the death of his father. He received much practical and clinical instructions from
I.cbmnon, Warren county, Ohio. After studying and prac- tising two years longer, under the one and instruction of Dr. Zeno Fenn, an emment physician of this county (Cler- mont), his pupilage terminated, he having arrived at the age of twenty-one. Ile was taught with much care by his father an intimate knowledge of anatomy, and was con- sidered a good anatomist by those who knew bim. During his long and varied pupilage he acquired an extensive knowledge of the principles and practice of medicine, and settled in New Richmond, June 11th, 1818, Clermont county, Ohio, where he soon become an extensive and suc- was appointed by the State Legislature, with others, to organize the first District Medical Society of Ohio, com- posed of the counties of Ilamilton and Clermont. He continued to practise medicine with great success up to 1825, when the Medical College of Ohio, in Cincinnati, was fully organized by the appointment of Professors More- head, Cobb, Whitman and Slack; attended lectures and graduated in that institution in March, 1826. Ile assisted in organizing the Clermont County Medical Society, and became a member of the Ohio State Medical Society in 1853; also the American Medical Association. He per- formed many important operations in surgery, in which he was remarkably skilful and successful. He also was at one time physician to the family of Jesse R. Grant, and offici- ated at the birth of his son, Ulysses S. Grant, that distin- guished general and statesman, which took place on the 27th of April, 1822, and twice voted for his elevation to the. Presidency. He was married, October 19th, 1820, to Julia Morris, daughter of Senator Thomas Morris, of Ohio, who had the moral courage to deliver the first anti-slavery speech in Congress, and who had the additional honor of being denounced by Robert Toombs as a man who, by his anti-slavery principles, polluted the very carpet upon which he stood. By the death of his wife he was left with five small children, four daughters and one son, of whom but one, a daughter, now survives. The son, Levi M. Rogers, received a medical education, practised his profession in Cincinnati more than twenty years and died in the fiftieth year of his age. Ilis second marriage occurred November 19th, 1833, to Sarah Ann Mollyneaux, of Scotch-Irish parentage, born in county Antrim, Ireland, a lady of picty and culture. In politics, he was a Democrat of the Jackson school, and voted twice for that distinguished statesman ; but in more recent times was identified with the Republican party, although never holding office, but in all public move- ments endeavoring to advance the moral and educational interests of the general community. In years gone by he gained prominence as one of the earliest and most influ- ential and unflinching opponents of that monstrous anomaly, a slaveholding republic, and has lived to see bis cherished anti-slavery principles carried out and adopted by the gov-
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comment. He now, being in his seventy ninth year, has | retired from his professional labors and is enjoying a quiet and peaceful old age.
HILSON, HON. JOIN R., M. D., Senator from the Eighth District of Ohio, embracing the counties of Meigs, Gallin, Lawson and Vinton, was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, July 7th, 1819. He is the son of David Philson and Esther (Smith) Philson. Ilis father, who was engaged in agricultural pursuits, moved at an early day to Frederick county, Maryland. His carly and elementary education was acquired in the common schools of Mary- land. In IS39 he removed to Ohio and settled in Racine, Meigs county, where he assumed the role of educator. While in his twenty-fifth year he began the study of medi- cine, and in the spring of 1852 graduated from Starling Medical College, at Columbus. In Racine he entered on the practice of his profession. In 1861, at the outbreak of the rebellion, he joined the United States forces as Surgeon of the 4th Regiment of West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, a body raised principally in the Ohio border counties. He served efficiently in that capacity for three years, and was mustered out October 3d, 1864. In the latter part of this year he returned to his civil practice. From 1871 10 IS73, while still continuing his professional labors, he acted as Secretary and Treasurer of the Riverside Salt Company. lle was then elected, in the course of the latter year, to the Senate, on the Republican ticket, having been nominated without his knowledge. He has always been a supporter of the Whig and Republican parties, and by his zealous and well-directed labors has contributed importantly to the welfare of his constituency and the general community. HIe was married, March 4th, 1841, to Cynthia Ridding, of Meigs county, Ohio, by whom he has had four children; of these three are now living-two sons and one daughter. His oldest son, Lewis W. Philson, a graduate of Marietta College, in the class of 1865, is now Professor of Mathe- matics in East Tennessee University.
OGIILAND, BRICE V., M. D., was born in Steubenville, Ohio, May 14th, 1819. Ile was the second child in a family of eight children whose parents were Jacob C. Hoghland and Sallie ( Veirs) Hoghland. His father, a native of New York city, followed through life the oc- cupation of fur-trading. Ile moved to Ohio in 1815, settling in Steubenville, whence, in 1836, he removed to Highland county, in the same State. In 1851 he made his home in Youngsville, Adams county, and there resided until his demise, in 1856. His mother, a native of Brooke
county, Virginia, died in the same place in 1857. From the age of seventeen until his twenty fourth year was renched he was constantly engaged in arduous farm labor. His early education was liberal, and was received partly in New York city. In 1843 he went into the grocery business, and was engaged in it at Hillsborough, Highland county, Ohio, for about two years, On relinquishing the grocery business, having been occupied during five preceding years in pursuing sedulously a course of medical study, he entered upon the practice of medicine at Youngsville, where he remained an active and successful practitioner until 1857. During the season of 1848-49 he had attended a course of lectures at the Ohio Medical College, and graduated with honor from that institution in the class of 1849. In 1853 he had attended a course of lectures also at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York city. In the winter of 1857-58 he attended still another course of lectures and study at this famous institution, giving prominence in his investigations to affections and diseases of the heart and lungs. In the spring of 1858 he moved to North Liberty, Adams county, and there continued the practice of medi- cine until 1865. In that year he returned to Hillsborough, where he was successfully occupied in professional labors until 1870, the date of his arrival in West Union, Adams county, where he has since resided, the possessor of a large and constantly increasing medical business. In 1863 he was a candidate, on the Democratic ticket, for the Legis- lature. He uniformly adheres to Democratic principles and measures, and religious!y is attached to the doctrines and service of the Episcopal Church. Ile was married in IS59 to Leah II. Johnston, a native of Ross county, who died in 1863. He was again married in 1874 to Mary J. MeKeown, a native of Adams county, Ohio.
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