USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 49
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command of the left wing of the army at the taking of Fort Hindman, in Arkansas. In 1863, on account of ill health, he resigned, left the army and returned to his home. In politics, he is a Democrat, and in 1865 he was candidate for Governor of Ohio, but was unsuccessful. Ile was elected, on the Democratie ticket, to the Fortieth Congress, and his seat was contested by Non. C. Delano. He was re-elected to the Forty first and again to the Forty-second Congress, where the record he made was.a record of good abilities and strict integrity. After leaving Congress he re- turned again to Mount Vernon, where he has since resided in the successful practice of his profession. He was mar- ried on the 7th of October, 1851, to Sarah II. Hall, of Zanesville.
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ILER, ELIAS ANNAWALD, Steamboat-joiner, was born, March 10th, 1820, at Aurora, Dear- C born county, Indiana. His mother was Eliza- 6/1. beth Annawald, of Pennsylvania, and both his parents were of German origin. He was edu- cated in the district schools of his native State, at a time when pioneer settlements were forming, and when the facilities for anything beyond rudimentary instruction were not obtainable in the Western Reserve. These were the days when the course of study, usually pursued in a backwoods school, was covered by " Dellworth's Arith- metic," " Webster's Speller " and the " Testament." HIe left Aurora when a young man and went to Kentucky, where he worked in various capacities, but mainly as an employé in a tobacco factory. In 1832 he went to Cincin- nati, and was engaged in a tobacco factory at the corner of Fourth and Main streets, where " Invisible Green," latterly of the Times, was his companion. In 1834 he became second cook in the steamer " Champlain," at a salary of five dollars a month. Up to 1835 he served in this culinary capacity, and also as cabin boy on various boats. ITis venture in business on his own account occurred in the same year. Ile bought three gallons of whiskey for thirty- seven cents and opened a bar on the steamer " Lady Byron," and netted on these three gallons twenty-six dol- lars, after giving the colored steward, who acted as abettor and backer to this enterprise, eleven dollars. The boat went eighty miles up the Ohio and laid up for the winter, and Mr. Ehler was obliged to buy a skiff in order to reach Cincinnati, which he safely did after rowing the entire dis- tance. In the spring of 1836 he was employed in a blind and sash factory. Ile accompanied the proprietor of the business to Rising Sun, where they got out the timber for the boat " Renown," finished the joiner work and brought the vessel to Cincinnati in 1837. During the yellow fever epidemie, in the same year, he made a trip to New Orleans on the " Renown," and upon his return to Cincinnati he worked as an apprentice in carpentering, at which he con- tinued until 1839. Ilis surplus earnings during these years
were devoted to providing comforts for his mother. In the year last mentioned he was employed as a carpenter on the " Bedford," at a salary of forty five dollars per month. This vessel was unfortunate, sinking in the Missouri river on March 20th, 18.10. Mr. Ehler worked as carpenter ou various vessels until 1849, when, in company with Mr. Horsley, he started in the carpenter and steamboat-joiner business, and has ever since carried it on successfully, add- ing to it, after it had run some years, a lumber department. In 1865 he purchased his partner's interest, and is now sole proprietor of an enterprise which has secured to him ample means and an extended reputation as a boat-builder. Ilis business has been interrupted by misfortunes, which, how- ever, he gallantly surmounted. During the thirty years he has carried it on he has been burned out seven times; and lost more, perhaps, by the rise of the river in 1847 than he chid by the flames. During eighteen years, when he suffered mainly from fire, he carried no insurance; but now is amply covered with policies on his establishment as well as upon his own life. Ilis life insurance is $15,000, and that of his wife $10,000. Ile relies entirely upon his own judgment in the management of his affairs, and believes that if he had always pursued this course he would have enjoyed a greater measure of success. He is now fifty-five years of age and in the possession of a strong and vigorous constitution. ITe is now the only steamboat-joiner in business in Cincin- nati, and looks out for a happier termination of his active career than that of the builders and joiners who once sur- rounded him. Ile is a substantial citizen, liberal in his opinions and generous in his impulses, and has won the respect of the entire community. He was married in 1842 to Mary J. Dunn, who died in 1849. Ile afterwards mar- ried Fannie A. Perdum, who died in 1860. In 1865 he was again married, his wife being Harriet L. Dumont, daughter of Jolm J. Dumont.
ATIIEWS, REV. JOSEPH MCDOWELL, D. D., President of Hillsborough Female College, High- land county, Ohio, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, December Sth, 1804. Ilis father, John Mathews, also a native of Augusta county, Vir- ginia, followed through life mainly agricultural pursuits; he moved to Kentucky in 1814 and settled in Fayette county, where he resided until his demise, Decem- ber 18th, 1814. Ilis mother, Sarah ( MeDowell) Mathews, a native of Burke county, North Carolina, was a daughter of Major Joseph MeDowell, who served valiantly and efficiently as an officer in the Revolutionary army, was a member of Congress during the Presidencies of Adams and Jefferson, and was general of the old time militia of North Carolina; he died in Burke county, North Carolina, in ISor. The oldest child in a family of four children, his earlier years, up to the age of eighteen, were passed alter-
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nately in working on a farm and in acquiring at school a | the boundaries of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which fair elementary education, In 1822, his literary attainments he joined while in his eighteenth year. Ilis life has been one of great usefulness as a Christian counsellor and as an educator, while his career in public and in private circles has been a centre from which has radiated at all thues and in all seasons an amount of good whose beneficial influence, directly and indirectly, is of incalculable value. Swayed by quick and generous sensibilities, he has won the esteem, love and confidence of all who have been brought into con- tact with him; in social life he is pleasant and courteous; his conduct, viewed from a political standpoint, has ever been based upon a pure and disinterested love of his country and an inflexible determination to resist the at- tempts of all to undermine the unity of the republic, Ile was married in 1828 to Elizabeth A. Barry, daughter of Andrew Barry, a native of Virginia, who died in 1852; and again, in 1854, to Mrs. Martha P. Sanders, a native of Clermont county, Ohio, and a sister of Judge Philip Strong, of Batavia, Ohio, who died in 1858; and again, in 1869, to Mrs. Mary B. Harmar, a native of Dublin, Ireland, a daughter of a British army officer; she was born in Ireland while her family was temporarily stopping there. By his first marriage he had one child; two children were the fruits of his second marriage ; by his third marriage he has had no child. He was the author of two small works for the benefit of the young: " Letters to School Girls," pub- lished by the Methodist Book Concern in Cincinnati, in 1853; " Sermons to School Girls," published by the Meth- odist Book Concern in New York, in 1867. constituting a useful and varied store of learning, he as- sumed the role of educator, and found employment in teaching a subscription school at Pisgah, Woodford county, Kentucky. At the expiration of one year, spent in impart- ing instruction, he became a student in the academy of Dr. Louis Marshall, located near Pisgah, and in the three years passed in this establishment pursued an exhaustive course of classical and mathematical studies. The following season was consumed in visiting friends in Virginia, whither he travelled with a view to strengthen a rather im- paired condition of health. In 1827 be settled in Hillsbor- ough, Highland county, Ohio, and took charge of the Hills- borough Academy, an institution founded by Governor Allen Trimble, General MeDowell and other prominent citizens. Through the acceptance of the invitation then extended to him, accordingly, he became the first Superin- tendent of the academy. Until 1831 he was assiduously engaged in the discharge of the oncrons duties of that position. Ile then joined the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During several preceding years he had preached more or less regularly, and had se- enred favorable attention as a local preacher in Kentucky. After remaining for two years in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he had been stationed, and performed ministerial duties as au itinerant clergyman, he was removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained for one year. In 1834, his health being in a very precarious condition, he settled on a farm near Hillsborough, and there rested, for the purpose of regaining his lost energies, until 1839. In this year he started, as a private enterprise, the Oakland Female Semi- nary, at Hillsborough, and succeeded in obtaining a charter for the institution. With the labors incident to the super- intendency of this school he was intimately identified until 1857. Ile afterward took charge of Hillsborough Female College, an institution established by the influence of many influential and public-spirited citizens of the town. In the discharge of the numerous and highly important duties at- tached to his position there he was steadily ocenpied until 1860, when he relinquished the superintendency, and, re- turning to Kentucky, took charge of the Jessamine Female College, at Nicollettsville, Kentucky. Of that institution he had charge until 1863, when, the events of the civil war affecting its status, he returned to Hillsborough, Ohio. In the course of the same year he took charge of a private boarding school, and there administered instruction for a period of nine years. In the meantime, after a second in- vitation, he accepted the Presidency of Hillsborough Female College, and of this celebrated institution of learning has since ably acted as chief and head. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred on him by the Augusta College, of Kentucky; his degree of D. D. was conferred on him sub- sequently by the Ohio University, at Athens, Ohio. Re- ligiously, his sentiments find a congenial atmosphere within
OMERENE, JULIUS C., Attorney-at- Law, was born in Salt Creek township, Holmes county, Ohio, June 27th, 1835. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and his father was a farmer in com- fortable circumstances. His is the only family of the name that has emigrated from France to Am- erica, his paternal grandfather having come to this country with General Lafayette, and at the close of the war settled in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He attended a district school in his native place until he was seventeen years of age, in the meantime working on a farm during the summer months. Hle then pursued a course of higher studies for two terms in Mount Union College, employing himself in the intermediate terms by teaching school. After passing a subsequent term in the academy at Hayesville he taught for two years in a select school in Middletown, Holmes county. In the summer of 1857 he commenced the study of law in the office of Hoagland & Reed, in Millersburg, under whose preceptorship he remained for one year. He then attended the Ohio State and Union Law College, at Cleve- land, where, at the expiration of one year, he graduated in June, 1859. In the following November he entered on the active practice of his profession in Coshocton, with Colonel
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Josiah Given, with whom he was connected until May, | Franklin and Nashville, or Brentwood Hills, Tennessee, in 1801. He then practised alone until September, 1862, at which date he associated himself with B. S. Lee, and with him continued his professional labors until May, 1868, when the present law hrm, consisting of him and E. T. Spangler, was formed. He has a leading practice in the courts of Coshocton county, and practises his profession in the Supreme Court at Columbus and in the United States Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He was married, April Sth, 1862, to Irene Perky, daughter of Dr. John F. Perky, of Findlay, Hancock county.
OGE, GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON, was born near Behnont, Belmont county, Ohio, February 22d, 1832. Ilis parents, Asa Iloge and Asenath Ann ( Mead) Hoge, were natives of Loudon county, Virginia. llis grandfathers were Isaac Hoge and Samuel Mead. His father, yet living, has resided in the State from territorial times. Hlis earlier years were passed on the paternal farm where his father had settled when the surrounding country was a sparsely settled wilderness. He attended the common schools located in the neighborhood of his home, and was also educated partly in a private school at Barnesville, Bel- mont county. In 1852, 1853 and 1854 he taught in public schools in the counties of Guernsey and Belmont. He then commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Benjamin S. Cowen, St. Clairsville, and was admitted to the bar, December 34, 1855. He was then professionally occupied in Belmont county until January, 1862, when he was ap- pointed Chief Clerk of the Secretary of the State of Ohio, where he remained until his enlistment in the Uuion army, July 8th, 1862. Ile entered the service in the 126th Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On organizing Company B, in August, 1862, he was elected First Lieuten- ant, and mustered as such. June 25th, 1863, he was pro- moted to a Caplaincy, and served in Virginia and Maryland until transferred. in November, ISbj, to the command of the IS3d Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. From July, 1863, until March, 1864, he was with the 3d Army Corps, and subsequently was attached to the 3d Division of the 6th Army Corps. He commanded his regiment in several engagements and was three times wounded, while upon two other occasions his clothes were pierced with bullets. On the evening of the 5th and the morning and evening of the 6th of May he was engaged in the battles of the Wilderness; served at Spottsylvania, May 9th to the 12th ; was at Cold Harbor, June ist and 3d, and on the 22d at Peter lig; participated in the movement at Monocacy, July 9th; was present, September 19th, at Opequam, or Winchester; and, September 21st and 22d, took part in the action at Fisher's Hill. On October roth he served at Cedar Kum, and was a participant also at the battles of
November and December. March 13th, 1865, for gallant and meritorious conduct, he was promoted from the Col- oneley of the 183d Regiment Ohio Volanteer Infantry to the rank of Brigadier General by brevet. He was mustered out of the service in Jaly, 1865, and subsequently resumed the practice of the law in connection with his father-in-law, with whom he was associated until December 22d, 1867. When in partnership with General B. R. Cowen, now Assistant Secretary of the Interior, he established in Bellaire the private bank with which he is still connected. The present style of the house is Hoge, Sheets & Co., and was formerly Hoge & Cowen, the former name, owing to the addition of new partners, having been adopted July Ist, 1869. He is also President of the Belmont Glass Works and of the Bellaire Street Railroad Company, an enterprise projected and put into operation in a great measure through his efforts. He is Register in Bankruptcy for the Sixteenth Congressional District, having been ap- pointed to this position by Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice. Ile has also been several times a member of the City Council and of the Board of Education, and has held various other public offices. He is interested in the build. ing and real estate development of his town, and was an efficient coworker in the establishment of the Bellaire Manufacturing Company. He is interested also in the National Glass Manufacturing Company, and was instru- mental in securing the establishment of the Bellaire Water- works. He was married, December 10th, 1857, to Mary T. Cowen, daughter of Ilon. Benjamin R. Cowen.
ALLENBERG, LOUIS, Manager of the Cincinnati Grand Orchestra, was born, July 22d, 1840, at Frank fort-on-the-Main. His father was concerned in the German Kevolution of 1848, and when the perseentions were instituted he was compelled to seck an asylum in the United States. Louis commenced his musical education in Europe, under the direction of his father, who was a musician, and his first efforts were on the piano and flute. Upon his arrival in Cincinnati, in 1852, he spent three years in mercantile service. Mr. J. M. Strobel, the most prominent orchestral leader in the city at that time, discovered Mr. Ballenberg's ability as a musician and induced him to take a place in his band. He first emme into requisition as a substitute in the place of the chief flutist, being a player of unusual taste and skill on the flute. In 1863 Henry Hahn assumed the leadership of the orchestra at Pike's Opera House, and under him Mr. Ballenberg commenced his first regular engagement. Ile remained with this company until the burning of the opera house, in 1866. During this period, however, be made a number of tous though the country in connection with Gran's Italian Opera Troupe. He was
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for some time engaged with the orchestra at the Oid Drury, [ he is a valued member of the Board of Health of Youngs- or National Theatre, when it was under the management town, and is one of the more prominent and influential citizens of that flourishing town. He was manied in ISot to Sarah R. Campbell, of Plain Grove, Lawrence county, Pennsylvania. of Mr. Colville. He then arranged with K. K. J. Miles to manage and supply his orchestras, a position which he ha, since held and which secured for him the management of the orchestra at the Grand Opera House, He has, how- 1 ever, during this arrangement filled many engagements as flute soloist in other cities. During a tour with the English Opera Troupe his father died, leaving the support of his family to him. After visits of the Thomas' Orchestra to Cincinnati he conceived the idea of organizing a first-class orchestra of home talent, and took immediate steps to carry out this idea. Ile engaged a number of superior musicians, and secured Mr. George Brand, the talented violinist, as director of the new organization. Mr. Ballenberg had now mastered the difficult art of controlling a large body of in- strumentalists, and in 1872 the Cincinnati Orchestra, with thirty-six performers, gave its first series of concerts. The favor and support of the patrons of music in that city were at once enlisted by the splendid success of this first venture. Mr. Ballenberg now took every step which in his judgment would increase the artistic ability of the organization. To- day it takes rank as the leading orchestra of the West, and is doing great service in developing and improving musical taste and culture in Cincinnati. Mr. Ballenberg is yearly adding to the numerical strength of the orchestra, the con- ductorship of which is now held by Michael Brand, a gentleman of fine discrimination and unquestioned musical genius, After encountering many dismaying obstacles Mr. Ballenberg has made this orchestra an established institu- tion, and has the satisfaction of noting that it gains in public esteem and confidence daily. The leading positions in the company are filled by gentlemen who have a high reputation as soloists. Mr. Ballenberg has a large stock of classie nisie and musical literature, and has devoted him- self with creditable enthusiasm to the elevation of orchestral music. Ilis efforts have secured for him the respect and admiration of the lovers of the art in Cincinnati.
UNNINGHAM, JOHN S., Physician and Sur- geon, was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 4th, 1833. He is of Scotch extraction, 6 and received his elementary education in the common schools located in the vicinity of his home, and also in the Poland Academy, Ohio, and the Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Ile commenced the study of medicine at Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated at the Jefferson College, Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, Since 1862 he has been engaged in professional and successful labors in Youngstown, Ohio, where, and also throughout the surrounding country, he is esteemed as an able and reliable practitioner, At the present time
UGGLES, IION. BENJAMIN, United States Sen- ator and second President Judge of the Third Circuit of Ohio, was born at Woodstock, Wind- ham county, Connecticut, February 21st, 1783. This town was originally named Koxburry. His father was a farmer in moderate circumstances, who intended that his sons should be educated for the ministry. This intention was thwarted by the loss of his property. Ile became surety for a neighbor, and by the default of the latter his means were all swept away. lle died when Benjamin was eight years old, leaving his family in straitened circumstances. Benjamin studied at the Brooklyn Academy, and after his graduation from this in- stitution he read law with Judge Peters, of Hartford, Con- necticut, and was admitted to the bar of that city. In 1807 he moved to Ohio, settling in Marietta, Washington county, where he pursued with great success the practice of his profession. Ilis profound learning, his skill and care as a counsellor, his power for rapid analyzation and conclusive argument, at once commanded not only professional but public attention, and he carved his way quickly to the front rank of the jurists of the day. In 1810 he was elected by the Republicans in the Legislature to succeed Calvin Pens as President Judge of the Third Circuit, and was the second incumbent of that judicial office. Shortly after he moved from Marietta to St. Clairsville, and in the year 1812 he went to Connecticut, where he was married, and brought his wife to Ohio. She died in 1817, and in 1825 he was again married. Ile lacked the gifts of an orator, and failed to make that impression of substantial ability as successfully in open court as in chambers. He was not distinguished as an advocate, but as a consulting attorney he had, perhaps, few superiors in the country. In 1815 be was elected by the Legislature to the United States Senate, and resigned the office of Judge, after having ably filled it for five years, to enter upon his new duties. Being very popular with his large constituency in Ohio, he was twice re-elected to the United States Senate, and during his carcer in that body he rendered valuable, if not brilliant, services both to his State and the nation. He was president of the caucus hell in Washington that nominated William II. Crawford, of Georgia, for the Presidency, at the time when Clay, Adams and Jackson were in the field. At that period Martin Van Buren and Judge Ruggles were political friends, and quite an extensive correspondence was carried on between them during the campaign. The Judge was for a long time Chairman of the Committee of Claims in the United States
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Senate, and was favorably spoken of in 1840 for the Vice- Presidency, being strongly supported by several journals throughont the country. When fifty years of age he retired bom political lite and gave his attention to his farm, and more especially to the cultivation of fruit. He was instiu. mental in introducing to the growers of that section some of the choicest varieties. For a time, after the expiration of his last term as Senator, he was President of the Bank of St. Clair,ville. Ile died, after a brief illness, at his residence in that place, on September 2d, 1857. Judge Ruggles enjoyed in an eminent degree the confidence of the Senate, and was greatly respected in his professional and private career. He was a firm believer in the great truths of Christianity, and exerted wherever he went, or wherever he was known, an excellent moral influence. Ile was liberal in his views and generous in his impulses, and contributed to the advancement of all worthy move- ments in the interest of the well-being of his fellow- citizens, When he died the State lost an able man and society a beloved member.
AYLOR, DAVID D., Editor and Politician, was born near Fairview, Guernsey county, Ohio, July 24th, 1842, being one of nine sons whose parents were natives of Virginia, but were raised in Ohio, Ilis father was a farmer in moderate circum- stances, who during the latter portion of his life engaged quite successfully in the practice of law. David received his education in the common and select schools, and for a time at a school taught by General George W. Iloge. When eighteen years old he became an apprentice in a newspaper office, where he remained a few months, and, the rebellion having just begun, then joined the $5th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a private, serving with that command four months, the term of his enlistment. Hle re- turned to Cambridge and re-entered the newspaper office, teaching in the winters in some of the county and village schools. In 1866 he became associate editor of the Guernsey Times, a journal started by Mr. John Aiken in 1824. In 1868 he obtained a partnership interest in this paper, and held it until January Ist, 1872, during which time that journal steadily advanced in influence and greatly increased its circulation. Ile was appointed County School Examiner, filling the duties of this office for a term of three years. In January, 1874, he re-purchased his former in- terest in the Guernsey Times. Mr. Taylor is an easy, graceful and forcible writer, thoroughly versed in political affairs, in the discussion of which he has been, whenever great issues were at stake, very prominent. He is an enter- prising newspaper man, thoroughly alive to the needs of an influential journal, and has in this professional labor earned a high as well as extended reputation. In May, 1875, he was appointed Postmaster of Cambridge, and discharged
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