USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 6
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and learning, and so high stands his general reputauon that he has lately been appointed on the Board of Trustees for Yale College, an honor conferred upon none other west of the Alleghenies. Ile was brought forward in 1875 for Governor of the State. In March, 1876, he succeeded General Belknap as Secretary of War.
EIFER, GENERAL J. WARREN, Lawyer, was born in Clark county, January 30th, 1836. Ilis parents were Joseph and Mary (Smith) Keifer. Ilis father was a native of Washington county, " Maryland, a civil engineer and a farmer. Ilis mother was a native of Hamilton county, Ohio. General Keifer received his education in the public schools of his native county and at Antioch College. He did not, however, pursue the regular classical course, and at the age of seventeen he was withdrawn from school altogether and for two years managed the homestead farm, his father being dead. In 1855 he began the study of law with General Charles Anthony, of Springfield, and Leing admitted to the bar January 12th, 1858, at once began practice alone in the same city. April 19th, 1861, he responded to Lincoln's first call for troops, and was commissioned Major of the 3d Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and mustered into ser- vice on the 27th. Without having left the State the regi- ment was re-enlisted on June 12th for the three year service, and joined the army under Mcclellan in western Virginia, participating in the battles of Rich Mountain, Cheat Moun- tain, and Elkwater. November, 1861, the regiment was transferred to Buel's army, in Kentucky. February 22d, 1862, he was promoted to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, and with his regiment participated in the campaign against Bowling Green, Nashville, Murfreesboro', and Huntsville, Alabama. September 30th, 1862, he resigned in order to accept promotion to the Coloneley of the 110th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, joining Milroy's command in Virginia, and during the winter of 1862-63 commanded the post at Morefield. In the battle of Winchester, June, 1863, he commanded the 2d Brigade of the 3d Division of Mil- roy's army, and received a slight wound, which, however, did not disable him, and on the 9th of July, immediately following the battle of Gettysburg, he was transferred with his regiment to the Army of the Potomac, and in August sent with a brigade of Ohio troops to enforce the draft in the city of New York. Ile rejoined the Army of the Potomac in September, and participated in the battle of Mine Run, November 27th. On the first day's engagement in the battle of the Wilderness, May 5th, 1864, he was severely wounded in the left forearm by a musket ball, the bone being utterly shattered. By this he was disabled until August 26th, when he was ordered to join the army of Sheridan, at Harper's Ferry, for his campaign in the valley of Virginia, and with his arm still in a sling, participated in the battles of Opequan, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek.
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At Opequan he received a shell wound in the thigh, but was not disabled, and in the next engagement, at l'isher's HIill, he led the 2d Brigade of the 3d Division 6th Army Corps in the charge on the fortified flank of Early's army, completely routing the whole force and capturing a great quantity of artillery. At the battle of Cedar Creek he commanded the 3d Division of the 6th Corps, and for gal- lantry on the field was brevetted Brigadier-General. De- cember, 1864, he joined the army in front of Petersburg, and participated in the assault on the outer line of works of that last stronghold of the Confederacy, on the 25th of March following, and on the 2d of April led the 3d Divis- ion of the 6th Corps in the final assault which carried the place. Pursuing the retreating hosts, they came up with them on the 6th at Sailor's Creek, where they were posted in force on the left bank of the stream, with perhaps no other hope than to check the advance of the Union troops. Sheridan ordered a charge. The troops had to pass over a swamp and through the stream, swollen by spring rains till the water reached their armpits. This occasioned more or less confusion in the advancing line. The rebels in one desperate rally charged in deep column on the centre, and piercing it divided the line; but, disheartened by successive defeats, the fagged soldiery were not quick enough to take advantage of the situation. The broken line rallied and charged desperately upou either flank, the left led by Gen- eral Keifer. Nearly six thousand troops surrendered in a body, including several of the most distinguished generals of the Confederate army - Lieutenant-General Ewell, Major-Generals Kershaw, Curtis, Lee, and Pickett, besides a number of brigadiers. In the confusion and exhaustion succeeding the desperate engagement and surrender, word was brought to General Keifer that a considerable body of rebels were concealed in a wooded ravine to the right. None of his stall happened to be by, and disbelieving the statement, he rode off alone to reconnoitre. Ile had hardly gone three hundred yards till he came upon a long line of troops lying upon the ground and concealed by the dense thicket. lle was upon them. The smoke of the battle lning in the woods. The light was imperfect. They saw him, but had not discovered his identity. To attempt re- treat would insure discovery and death, as a horse could not be forced with any speed through the thicket. Com- prehending the situation at a glance, and relying on the dimness of the light, he had the coolness to save himself by a coup de main. Ilalting, he gave the command " For- ward !" and turned toward the scene of the battle. It is probable they were not apprised of the result of the engage- ment, and supposed they were being led up to sustain their comrades. The more he hurried his horse through the underbrush to get in advance the greater seemed the urgency for their presence on the field. When he emerged from the woods they were at his side. The clear light dis- covered his uniform. Instantly a dozen muskets covered his form, some almost touching his person. The puzzled
| officers about him shouted "Stop!" and the commander rushing forward saved his life by throwing up the muzzle of a discharged gun with the blade of his sword. General Keifer dashed away, and before they could recover from the embarrassment of the situation charged down upon them with his own command. Throwing down their arms, they surrendered without a struggle. It proved to be the Marine Brigade, formerly employed in naval service on the James. . Not less than thirty-five naval officers of rank, in- cluding Commodore Tucker, formerly of the United States navy, and afterwards Admiral-in-Chief of the Peruvian navy, and Captain John D. Simmes, surrendered their swords to General Keifer. In gratitude to Commodore Tucker, who had saved his life, he refused to accept his sword, and afterwards used his influence with the War Department to obtain the parole of Simmes and several of the other officers who claimed to have restrained their men from firing, but who had deserted the United States navy to join the Confederacy, and were therefore not entitled to the usual consideration of prisoners of war. After Sailor's Creek he participated in the surrender of Lee at Appo- mattox, and for gallantry in the campaign was brevetted Major-General. In command of the 3d Division he was ordered to join Sherman, in North Carolina. Leaving his fagged army at Danville, however, he was only able to make his way with his staff to Greensboro' in time to wit- ness the surrender of Johnston. On the 27th of June, 1865, he was mustered out of service and resumed his practice at Springfield. In the following October he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular army upon the recom- mendation of General Grant, but declined to serve. In 1867 he was elected to the Ohio Senate on the Republican ticket. In 1868, while Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, he organized the Board of Control to estab- lish the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, at Xenia, of which the State assumed the support in 1870, making General Keifer one of the Trustees. March 22d, 1860, he married Eliza S. Stout, of Clark county. He enjoys an extensive practice and a high standing at the Springfickl bar.
OULTON, CHIARLES WILLIAM, Lawyer, was born at Richfield, Summit county, Ohio, Decem- ber 16th, 1830. Ilis parents were of New Eng- land origin. Ile was educated at a high school at Medina, and after this went to Cleveland and passed some five or six years there in a retail dry- goods store. ITe then studied law in that city with the Hon. Samuel W. Treat, and was admitted to practise law at Columbus in the winter of 1856-57, before the Supreme Court. On May 9th, 1855, he was married, at Mansfield, Ohio, to Frances B. Shuman, daughter of Judge Shuman, late of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Ile entered upon the duties of his profession at Toledo, Ohio, in the spring of
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1857 or IS58, and was thus engaged until the opening of | subject, William Stoms, had great natural taste, and the the rebellion. In June, 1861, he was appointed Assistant Quartermaster, with the rank of Captain. He served in the Quartermaster's Department through the war, having been transferred to the regular army and promoted to a Colonel. . In October, 1365, he resumed his profession at Cincinnati, where he has now a large practice.
TOMS, WILLIAM, Merchant, was born at Bridgeton, New Jersey, December 20th, 1811. He was the eldest of the four children of Jacob Stoms, a descendant of the Holland Dutch, and who determined in the spring of 1818 to remove to what was then the " Far West." Father, mother and children, with all their household goods and other possessions, were stowed in an okl-fashioned, four- horse wagon, and after many farewells the long and tedious journey through a wild and unknown country was com- menced. The country was sparsely settled and the roads in bad condition, which, added to the discomfort of the rude conveyances of that period, rendered the trip exceed- ingly slow and monotonous. They arrived at Pittsburgh one bright morning in early June, and after a period of rest embarked, with all their goods, on a flatboat which the father had purchased, and slowly floated out upon the hosom of the " La Belle" river. They floated with the current down the Ohio, and on the morning of July 4th, ISIS, rounded the bend of the river and first gazed upon the Queen City. They landed amid the booming of cannon, the beating of drums and the huzzas of the people, who had gathered upon the public landing to celebrate the natal day of our great republic. Flags were flying and processions of patriotic men were forming, and among the latter were some who had taken an active part in the achievement of American independence.' It was an epoch in the history of our subject that left an indelible impres- sion on his mind, and from which he dates all the impor- tant events of his life. He attended the common schools of Cincinnati, colleges and universities being then almost unknown west of the Alleghenies. At the age of seventeen years he became a clerk in a grocery store, and for three years devoted himself by night and day to the acquirement of a thorough knowledge of the business in all its branches. He became clerk and salesman in the large wholesale and retail grocery house of Gotham & Dair, at the northwest corner of Sycamore and Lower Market (Pearl) streets, January 12th, 1831, being then under twenty years of age. Ilis application and business qualifications won such recog- nition that upon the death of the senior partner, in 1835, he was admitted to a partnership, and the firm-style changed to John F. Dair & Co. This firm in time relin . quished the grocery business and gave their whole attention to seeds and agricultural implements, for which branch our
firm speedily became one of the most widely known of any in that line throughout the South and West. In 1865, after a harmonious and profitable association of over thirty years, John F. Dair retired, and Mr. Stoms associated with him his two sons, under the firm- name of William Stoms & Sons. After getting his "boys" fairly started, he relin- quished mercantile life and retired to the enjoyment of the legitimate fruits of his years of energetic and unceasing application to his business, and has since lived in quiet retirement. Many events of his public life are worthy of historic note. IIe has been for twenty-five years an honored member of, and for two years presided over, the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, an association as old as the Queen City herself, and which has enrolled the names of very many such men as Nicholas Longworth, Robert Buchanan, Dr. J. A. Warder and Ilenry Probasco. Ile was a delegate from the First District of Ohio to the National Republican Convention, which convened at Chicago, May 20th, 1868, and nominated General U. S. Grant for the Presidency. In April, 1870, he was elected as the first representative of the First Ward in the Board of Aldermen of Cincinnati, which had just been created, and served his constituents faithfully and efficiently for two years. Ile was appointed Park Commissioner, April 27th, 1872, by IIon. S. S. Davis, then Mayor of Cincinnati, and unanimously confirmed by the Common Council. In 1875, though an avowed and carnest Republican, he was the recipient of the unusual honor of a reappointment by the Democratic incumbent, Ilon. George W. C. Johnston, and was again unanimously confirmed by the Council, a ma- jority of which belonged to the opposite political party. The Park Board is composed of the best and most respected citizens, and has done much to increase the attractiveness and comfort of the city. He was one of the jury in the condemnation cases of the property upon the site of the new Post Office, and Custom House building, which occupied the United States Comt for thirty-nine consecutive days and involved about $1,000,000. The awards of the jury were awaited with the greatest anxiety, and the event was one of great interest to the city. Ilis son, Captain Horace G. Stoms, was appointed Internal Revenue Assessor of the First Ohio District, by Andrew Johnson, and continued in that office by reappointment of U. S. Grant until March Ist, 1871, when he was removed by the intervention of Jesse R. Grant, the father of the President, who was then Postmaster at Covington, Kentucky. The questions in dispute were fully discussed in the public press, and are properly a part of the history of Grant's administration. Jesse R. Grant, though an old man and unfit for active business, insisted upon making the appointments of gaugers in Mr. Stoms' district, and was for a time allowed to make suggestions, and his reasonable demands granted ; but when he came from an applicant for a certain position, with an offer of $500, which he actually proposed to accept and
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divide with the assessor, he was peremptorily and indig- | In June, 1844, he returned to Cleveland, formed a partner- nantly refused. The quarrel which followed was full of bitterness, resulting in the removal of Captain Stoms and the estrangement of the principal actors; but Jesse K. Grant, upon his death-bed, expressed his regret that the quarrel had taken place, and expressed a desire to see his old friend William Stoms. He was married, October 12th, 1837, to Eliza 1 .. Mears, a lady of rare culture and refine- ment, and who has proved a devoted wife and' mother, and who sprung from one of the pioneer families of the Miami valley. Seven children, six sons and one daughter, have been born to them, all of whom survive except the eldest, William G. Stoms. The others are spared to add comfort and peace to the declining years of the estimable pair. In great measure self-made and self-educated, he ranks among the most prominent and respected denizens of the Queen City, and well deserves to have his name enrolled in the history of his adopted city as " one of its builders."
ASTLE, MARSHALL, S., Lawyer, was born in Essex, Chittenden county, in the State of Ver- mont; on April 21st, 1822, and came to Cleve- land with his family in 1827, being then five years of age. lle remained in the various schools of the village until 1834, when his father, a then prosperous builder, died of the cholera, leaving him, at the age of a little over twelve, with several brothers and sisters a burden and charge upon a vigorous and energetic but proud and ambitious mother. He im. mediately sought employment. Many remember him as a boy-clerk in the dry-goods store of the late Solomon L. Severance, with whom he lived for about a year, when he entered upon the trade of a watchmaker with David E. Field, now of New York. Here he evinced the taste and inclination which led him to the profession of the law. Early in April, 1841, he left for the city of Tremont, then called Lower Sandusky, and entered the office of the llon. John L. Greene, as a law student, where he pursued his studies until June, 1844, with his brother-in-law and most watchful and attached friend, when he was admitted to practise law. It is worthy of note in this connection that in this county the avenues to education are open to effort and energy, and that its highest branches may be attained by ardent labor and persistent zeal. For nearly five years Mr. Castle, then a boy and pursuing his daily occupation, having attracted the notice of several gentlemen of learning and education, among whom were General Calvin C. Wal- ler and Francis A. Burroughs, received regular and steady teaching and instruction from them. General Waller was a lawyer, and encouraged young Castle's ambition to enter upon the profession. Mr. Burroughs was a gentleman of leisure and of great ability, and watched his young friend's opening intellect with an interest only excelled by his love.
ship with George W. Lynde, and entered upon the practice of the law. Few men have spent a busier life of had from the beginning more varied professional engagements than he. ile has credit at the bar for clear and sound judg- ment, for plain and concise opinions, for great generosity and liberality in the bestowal of his services, and for an un- changing courage and persistency in the attainment of an end he believes just. But he is most conspicuous and far the best known as a jury lawyer. It is here that he best evinces the peculiar powers of his nature, and here the brilliant talents which have long distinguished him as an advocate shine most conspicuously. It is not alone the richness of his flow of language and choice of words : nor is it in the inimitable beauty of his fancy, nor the glowing figures his imagination paints and hands over to his listeners, like old memories from real life. It is in an electric thrill born of all these, with an added sense of his earnestness, his naturalness, his own conviction, and his personal and spiritual identity with his theme. Wonderful and effective as this power is in man, he has it in a marvel- lous degree, and exercises it at the bar and on the rostrum. As a criminal lawyer, he has few equals and no superiors. le has had great experience in defences, and has officially prosecuted for Cuyahoga county from 1865 to 1867. 11e has defended in some of the cases of homicide most known and best remembered at Cleveland for the very long and learned conduct of the trials. The State against Spooner he defended on the plea of insanity, and successfully, making one of the best arguments of his life. Ile defended Dr. Ilughs for the murder of Miss Tamsen Parsons, a trial which lasted about twenty days and in which also the plea of insanity was interposed, and in which his argument for the defendant was over seven hours in length. Ile de- fended Mrs. Victor for the poisoning of her brother, and in her case held the court and jury for twelve days over the evidence and the facts on the question of her sanity. In politics he was originally a Whig, but supported Douglas in 1856 and after. But on the breaking out of the late war he joined the ranks of the Northern defenders of the nation, and all through stood by his country in every emergency, aiding by every means to fill up the ranks of the Federal army. Well is remembered the day, April 28th, 1865, when the body of the murdered Lincoln lay in the park in Cleve- land. Well remembercd also, on being called to speak to the sad and grief-stricken populace, the words of clo- quence and power with which he clothed his thoughts on that gloomy and solemn day. It will be seen that Mr. Castle has been at the bar for thirty-one years. He has been for the most part in good health, and has industriously followed his profession. Ile has been engaged in many cases of that exciting character which leave a lasting recol- lection, and in all of which he has made a very conspicuous mark. Ile is a younger-looking man than he really is, is in the very strength and vigor of his manhood, and bids fair
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to fulfil the hopes and expectations of his friends. "He | successful. Having recited the struggles of his early life, married Helen M. Beaugrande in September, IS.44, and it may be quite superfluous to add that he is a self-made man ; and the plane to which he has gravitated may like- wise be inferred from the honorable and responsible position which he has been called to occupy. He was married, January 22d, 1852, to Mary, daughter of Robert Beckett, one of the pioneers of Butler county. He has had eight children, six of whom survive, three sons and three daugh- ters, a son and a daughter having died. has had three children : Nellie M. Burt being the oldest and Maggie Castle the youngest, his only son, Marshall Il., having died at sixteen years and three months of age. Personally, he is stoutly built, about five feet eight and one- half inches high, with a brilliant dark gray eye and dark brown. hair. His love of his country and reverence for the Constitution are known to all men who know him, and enter into and patriotically color every act and principle of his life.
ROWN, WILLIAM E., Lawyer and Banker, was born at Xenia, Ohio, November 13th, 1825. His parents were Edward and Anne ( Mitchell) Brown. They were both natives of Pennsyl- vania, and came to Ohio only a year previous to the birth of their son. In the way of schooling Mr. Brown enjoyed only very meagre advantages, and at the age of thirteen was apprenticed to the trade of shoe- making. Having, however, a taste for books and an ambition to better his condition, he so much improved his education by private study that by the time he was eighteen he was able to teach school. At nineteen he began the study of law, and supported himself by his trade until he was admitted to the bar, in 1849. He soon after started the practice of his profession in the city of Hamilton, where he still resides; and after the usual term of penury and disappointment, which marks the opening of most profes- sional careers, he acquired a fair patronage and began to form that reputation for sound judgment and integrity which the subsequent course of his life has so distinctly
ROSBY, GEORGE, Merchant, was born in Phil- adelphia, Pennsylvania, May 21st, 1817, and is of English and Irish descent. His father died when he was but six years of age, and he was in consequence of that event obliged to leave school at the early age of thirteen to go into business. Five years later, when eighteen years of age, by great per- severance and industry he was enabled to enter Marion College, in Missouri. But his dearest hopes were soon blasted by ill-health, which compelled him to relinquish the object almost within his grasp, and on which his heart was wholly centred-a classical education. When but a youth he was admitted to membership in the Mercantile Library Association of Philadelphia, and being a great reader improved all of his leisure time in acquiring a knowledge of books, of which he had been deprived by a combination of circumstances. Ere he had attained his majority he allied himself with the American Sunday- School Union, and has been one of the most efficient workers and organizers of that great home missionary enterprise. That which has rendered him most conspicu- confirmed. Butler county from time immemorial having ! ous is his great executive ability. In 1841 he organized in been the unassailable stronghold of the Democracy in Ohio, and Mr. Brown being an unflinching Republican, the professional career he chose was not the open sesame to public life with him as with the average lawyer in American country towns. But he is not of the throng who live to repent the sacrifice of their principles and at the same time mourn the disappointment of their hopes, for, with the best qualifications for public usefulness, he has been singularly free from political ambition. The failure of his health long ago compelled him to relinquish his profession and engage in pursuits that permit greater physical exercise. For a time he retired to a farm and gave his attention to agriculture. Later, he engaged in the insurance business, and in 1870 was made President of the Second National Bank of Ilamilton. In the confidence which his management has inspired the deposits of the institution have increased from $111,000 to $350,000, and he has crected an elegant stone bank building, four stories in height, and one of the most tasteful architectural efforts in the town. For many years he has been actively engaged in the real estate business, and his dealings have been very
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