USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 60
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and Trades, founded by his father. He was for two terms President of the Toledo Library Association, and gave it needed pecuniary assistance. Ile felt that this library did not sufficiently meet the needs of the large portion of the community, whose desire for reading was greatly circum- scribed by the large cost of procuring books, and therefore he took the first steps toward the creation of an absolutely free library. It was through his exertions, eventually seconded by those of a few other gentlemen of Toledo, that a bill was presented in the Legislature, which, failing to be- come a law the first winter, was passed in the year follow- ing, and which gives to Toledo, alone of cities of the first- class in the State of Ohio, a free library, sustained by taxa- tion, and entirely untrammelled by connection with any other institution. The success of the experiment is sulfi- ciently indicated by the fact that in some months the draw- ings of books from the library have amounted to over 8000 volumes. While residing in Adrian, William Scott was married to Mary A. Winans, and there all their children, three daughters and one son, were born.
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ASSIE, GENERAL NATHANIEL, Pioncer Set. tler and Governor of Ohio, was born in Gooch- land county, Virginia, December 28th, 1763. Ilis father-a farmer in easy circumstances and of plain good sense-educated his sons for the practical business of life. In 1780 Nathaniel was for a short time in the revolutionary army. After his return he studied surveying, and in 1783 left to seek his fortunes in Kentucky. Ilere he practised his profession, and joined with it the locating of lands. He soon acquired the adroitness of the backwoodsman, and especially was this the case in hunting. Ile could " take a reckoning" with the best of them in clear or cloudy weather, and could compute distances more correctly than most of the old hun- ters. Ile was cool and courageous, and soon became acknowledged as a leader. He became interested with General James Wilkinson in speculations in salt, but with what success is not known. In his business of surveyor he! often risked his life-in fact, his business was a continua risk, as the opposition of the Indians was only exceeded by the determination of the whites to survey their land grants. Prior to 1790 much of this work was done by steanh. In 1791 he founded the settlement of Manchester, in Adams county, by offering premiums to immigrants. During the next two years he was engaged in surveying in that vicinity. In the fall of 1793 he went on a surveying tour on the Scioto, a dangerous undertaking. He was accompanied on the expedition by the celebrated Duncan M'Arthur as a chainman or marker. Ile underwent the most extreme privations in this and other expeditions of like nature. In 1798, with the aid of Duncan M'Arthur, he laid out the town of Chillicothe, on his own land. This was the fon-
| dation of the settlement of the Scioto valley. He enjoyed the confidence of Governor St. Clair, and, receiving the appointment of Colonel, it was through his excations that the militia of this region was organized. lle was a mem- ber of the Convention which formed the State Constitution, and was afterwards elected Senator from Ross county, and at the first session of the State Legislature was elected Speaker. Some of the best provisions in the original fun- damental law of the State bear the impress of his mind. lle also became a Major-General of militia under the new Constitution. Ile was at one time one of the largest landholders in the State of Ohio. Ile was in his time one of the most popular citizens in the State, and in ISo7 was candidate for Governor against llon. Return J. Meigs. Ilis opponent was elected by a small majority, but the election was declared invalid because Meigs had not resided in the State long enough to be eligible. Under the circumstances General Massie refused to accept the office. After the decision in his favor he immediately resigned. As often as circumstances would permit he represented Ross county in the Legislature. Ile died, November 3d, 1813, and was buried on his farm at the falls of Paint Creck, Ross county.
ING, IION. RUFUS, Lawyer, was born, May 30th, 1817, at Chillicothe, Ohio, and was educated at Kenyon College and Harvard University. Upon leaving college he returned to his native State and settled in Cincinnati, where he rapidly achieved eminence at the bar through the ability he evinced as a counsellor and advocate. In February, 1864, Governor Brough tendered him the appointment of Judge of the Supreme Court, but he declined this offer, as he had many others, for political advancement and personal aggrandizement, preferring to devote himself to his profes- sional duties, and to those enterprises which were calculated to increase the culture and happiness of the people of the community in which he made his home. No man is more thoroughly identified with the permanent prosperity of Cin- cinnati than Mr. King, and certainly no one stands higher in the confidence and regard of the public. For fourteen years he was an active member of its School Board, and during ten years he occupied the office of its President. As a member and as a presiding officer he rendered invaluable service in building up and improving the system of public education in Cincinnati, which now ranks among the best in the country. Ile had the leading part also in founding the Public Library of that city. Ile is President of the Law Library Association, and his selection to this office indicates the estimation in which he is held by the members of the bar. Ile is President of the Board of Trustees of Cincinnati University, an institution that promises to be one of the leading seats of learning in the country. Mr. King ap- peared as one of the counsel in the " Betle case," an action
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which, under that name, became popularly known, and his argument attracted general attention. It was exhaustive in research, clear and forcible in the interpretation of the stat- utes, remarkable for its presentation of authorities and prin- ciple, and characterized throughout by treuchant reasoning and scholarly finish. His last public office was that of a member of the Constitutional Convention of Ohio. In this representative body of the ablest men of Ohio he succeeded Judge Waite, who had been appointed to the Chief-Justice- ship of the United States, as I'resident. In the position of presiding officer he secured the friendship and kindliest re- gard of the members, and received the commendations of the public for the distinguished ability with which he had, in that important capacity, served the State. Ile well de- serves the honors accorded him for the vigilance and the labor he has given to perfect the public school system ; for his support of all movements aiming at the ennoblement of national character and the advancement of public interests, and in recognition of his legal attainments, which have added lustre to the history of the Cincinnati bar.
ALLANDIGHAM, CLEMENT L., Lawyer, was born in 1822 at New Lisbon, Columbia county, Ohio, and is descended from Huguenot ances- tors. Ile received a good common-school edu- cation, and made rapid progress in all studies, and completed his literary acquisitions at Jefferson College, Ohio, where he remained about a year. After leaving this institution, he became the Principal of the academy at Snow Hill, Maryland, which position he held for two years. In 1840 he relinquished his connection with the academy and returned to his home in Ohio, where he at once commenced the study of law, which he pursued with ardor until 1842, when he was admitted to practise at the bar, being then but twenty years of age. The position of a barrister was a stepping stone to higher honors, and in 18.15 he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature, and re elected in 1816. From the close of his last ten until 1849 he was identified with the Dayton Empire, becoming its chief editor, and through this journal he greatly enhanced his influence as a politician, When his connection with the paper terminated, he gave his attention almost wholly to politics and the practice of the law, holding until 1856 various subordinate local positions. In that year he was a member of the Ohio Democratic State Convention, which was held in Cincinnati. In the autumn of the same year he was nominated on the Democratic ticket as a representa- tive to the Thirty-fifth Congress, in opposition to the then inemubent, Hon. Lewis D. Campbell, and after a thorough canvass was elected, and was re-elected two years subse. quently. At the commencement of the second session of the Thirty-fifth Congress, and during all of the Thirty-sixth, he was on the important Committee on Territories. At the
close of his second term he was a third time elected, and represented his district until March 3d, 1863. While in Congress he was a consistent opponent of the policy of the government in reference to the war. At the close of his last term of service in that body he returned to Ohio, and re- sumed for a short time his legal pursuits. His name had already been favorably mentioned by his Democratic friends as the nominee for gubernatorial honors, and he engaged in a popular canvass of the State, freely stating his position and criticising the government in its efforts to sustain the Union. On April 13th, 1863, General Burnside issued his general order, "No. 38, in which he announced, inter alia, that all persons who were in the habit of declaring them- selves in sympathy for the enemy were to be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, should be sent beyond the lines, and into the lines of their friends. On May Ist, 1863, he made a speech on the current issues at Mount Vernon, Ohio, in consequence of which he was arrested three days subse- quently. On May 5th he applied, through his counsel, for a writ of habeas corpus to Judge Leavitt of the United States District Court at Cincinnati, to which General Burnside re- sponded. Judge Leavitt decided that the legality of the arrest depended upon the extent of the necessity for making it, and that was to be determined by the military commander, and so decidely refused application of the writ. Ile was thereupon tried by court-martial, Brigadier-General R. B. Potter presiding, and on the 16th of May found guilty. He was first sentenced to confinement in Fort Warren, Boston harbor, which sentence was commuted by President Lincoln to banishment from the North, an order being issued that he should be taken, under a secure guard, to the head- quarters of General Rosecrans, and be put by him beyond the Union lines, and in case of his return, to be arrested and to be put into close custody for the term of his sentence. This order was duly executed, but he soon ran the blockade and went to Canada, taking up his residence at Windsor, opposite Detroit. Meanwhile the Democratic Convention, which assembled at Cincinnati in June, 1863, denounced the sentence of banishment as a violation of the Constitution, and he was nominated by this body as their candidate for Governor; and at the clection, held in October of the same year, he was defeated by Brough by the unprecedented ma- jority of 101,099 votes, Ilis case had been taken to the United States Supreme Court, and was decided February 15th, 1864. A writ of certiorari had been asked directing the Judge Advocate General to revise the sentence of the court-martial as illegal for a citizen. This writ was refused, as the court decided the court-martial was legal; and even if illegal, the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction in the case, as a purely civil court could take no cognizance of the ac- tions of a military tribunal, On March 7th, 1861, he wrote his celebrated letter on " Retaliation " from Windsor, in which he advised all citizens of Dayton, Ohio, who had suffered at the hands of Union soldiers to retaliate in kind, being their only course. Ile returned to Ohio June 15th,
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1864, although the term of his sentence had not expired, | least, and where he continued until August, 1862, when he tinsting to the public sentiment of the locality that he would entered the United States service as the Surgeon of the 99th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was subsequently consolidated with the 50th Ohio, and he was retained as the Surgeon. With these commands he was continually at the front, and participated in various cam- paigus, especially that of Atlanta. He was permanently detailed as one of the operating Surgeons of the division, and was often in charge of hospitals at the front, as well as Surgeon of various posts. The last year of his service was occupied with staff duty, and in this he continued until the close of the war. After his return home, he accepted an appointment as Professor of Physiology and Histology in the Cleveland, Ohio, Medical College, and filled that chair for six years. Ile subsequently withdrew his connection with that school and removed to Toledo, where he resumed the practice of his profession. In political matters he takes a deep interest, and has ever been an ardent Republican, but has never had any aspirations for filling any office in the gift of the people. Ile is still unmarried. not be molested. On the same day he addressed the Demo- cratie Convention at Hamilton, and two days later another at Dayton. Ile was not arrested again by the government, as he had not done anything very public or important. In both 1864 and 1868 he ardently advocated the election of the Democratic candidates for the Presidency, having served as a delegate to both the Democratic National Conventions of those years, held at Chicago and New York ; and on the defeat of his party in the latter year, he retired for a time from the political arena. When he emerged from his privacy he had abandoned his former position, and advised a new departure for the Democracy, based on an acquiescence in the results of the war, and in the reconstruction legislation of Congress. Ile enjoyed an excellent reputation as a lawyer, and was a man of fine abilities. Ile was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and served as a delegate in both the State and General Conventions of the church. Ile was defending a man charged with murder, and while handling a pistol to illustrate the homicidal act, he accident- ally shot himself, and the wound proved mortal, his death occurring June 17th, 1871.
OODS, JOSEPH THATCHER, M. D., Physician, was born, March 16th, 1831, in the town of Columbiana, Ohio. His father is of German de- scent, the grandfather of the latter having emi- grated to this country with his two brothers to better their fortunes. Their surname was Woltz. Having found employment in a pions Friend's family, he not only imbibed their tenets, but requested them to Angli- cize his name, and this effort resulted in the present nomen- elature of " Woods." One of the brothers, however, retained his original appellation, and thus the families are by name divided. Dr. Woods' mother was Rebecca Thatcher, said to be a lineal descendant of a man bearing that name who came from England in the " Mayflower," 1620. Ile re- ceived his education primarily in a district school in Portage county, Ohio, and completed it by occupying in study minutes and hours that were not devoted to aiding his father in the cultivation of a farm. He was constantly engaged in ac- quiring all useful knowledge by close reading. Having resolved to study medicine, he placed himself under the preceptorship of the family physician, although he was en- tirely without means ; but by dint of performing extra work, especially in harvest time, teaching school in the winter, and the practice of the severest economy, he was at length able to command the means by which he attended the lectures delivered in the medical department of the University of Michigan, from which institution he afterwards graduated. Ile commenced the practice of his profession at a " cross- roads " in Hancock county, Ohio, where he established a professional reputation, perfectly satisfactory to himself at |ing recognition of his qualities as a scholar and tutor in 1870,
INSDALE, BURKE A., President of Hiram Col- lege, was born, of New England parentage, in Wadsworth, Medina county, Ohio, March 31st, 1837. Until after reaching manhood he worked on a farm, and then entered the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, now Hiram College. Previous to this time, however, he had attended the public schools of the neighborhood, and had had a few terms of higher instruction in the Eclectic Institute. He had had the usual experience of rural school-teaching that falls to the lot of so many young men in this country, who are anxious to im- prove their minds and attain to a high grade of scholarship. In 1860 he was made an assistant-teacher in the institute above referred to, and held the position for two years, when he resigned. At the age of twenty-five he was united in marriage to Mary E. Turner, of Cleveland, and about the same time entered the ministry of the Christian Church, in which he has since preached very regularly. In 1863 he re- turned to Iliram as an instructor, remaining six years, and then went to Solon, Cuyahoga county, to fill the pulpit of the Christian Church there, in which pastorate he remained two years. Thence he moved to Cleveland to fill the same position in a church of the same denomination. In 1866 a religions newspaper, favoring the cause of his accepted faith, was started in Cleveland, called the Christian Stan- dard, and for three years he was on its editorial staff, the literary labor of book- reviewing being a part of his duties. In 1869 he was elected Professor of History and English Literature in Alliance College, which position he acceptably filled for one year, and afterward occupied the same chair in Iliram College for a like period. Ile received a flatter-
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when he was elected to the Presidency of Hiram College. In connection with his duties as President, he has also filled the chair of Philosophy, History and Biblical Literature. In the field of literature he is a frequent contributor to the Christian Quarterly, and in 1872 a Cincinnati fim pub- lished a work from his pen entitled " The Genuineness and Authenticity of the Gospels," which was well received by readers of religious literature and inquiring minds generally. In his writings he naturally leans very strongly to religious subjects, although he is very fond of the historical as well. Ile has not been a settled pastor since 1867, but is, never- theless, a constant preacher. He has received the honorary degree of A. M. from Bethany College, West Virginia, and Williams College, Massachusetts. No State outside of New England is more famed for its institutions of Icarning than Ohio, and Professor Hinsdale, although a comparatively young man, hoks a high rank among the instructors of youth. Ile is a man of commanding appearance, approach- ing six feet in height, with a well-built frame to support a powerful intellect, that is ever active in promoting some idea with voice or pen.
OHINS, DANIEL JAY, Physician, was born, March 18th, 1797, in West Stockbridge, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and was educated at Salisbury, Connecticut. Ilaving selected medicine as his future profession, he studied that science in the medical department of Yale College, and, after a careful examination by the professors and trustees of the institution, received in ISIS a license to practise as a physi- cian and surgeon. This date was prior to the passage of the law which afterwards required the regular graduate to receive a diploma. In the summer of the same year he removed to Ohio and settled at Wellington, a town which then existed only in name, and in which locality he has ever since resided. He practised medicine among the early settlers as well as among the aborigines. One of the latter was Captain Williams, a half-breed, who had carried orders from General (afterwards President) Harrison to Crown at Sandusky; this Williams was the son of a daughter of Par- son Williams, who had been stolen by the Indians during the French war. Ilis practice extended throughout the then county of Medina (now Lorain and Medina) more than twenty miles in all directions from his home in Well- ington, and there was but another professional associate in all that territory, so sparse was the population. Ile was actively engaged for over forty years. Ile is now nearly fourscore years of age, but retains his health remarkably well. Some time ago he had an arm broken by the fall of a limb, and it remained paralyzed for the period of two years, but he has since regained its use. Ilis political pro- clivities inclined him to vote the Democratie ticket, but after the election of General Jackson to the Presidency he lxcame a Whig; and since the dissolution of the latter party / tation. In the night schools of Cincinnati he began his
has adhered to the Republican organization. He was elected a Magistrate, and served in that capacity for two terms. In IS3S he was appointed Associate Judge, and was on the bench for seven yems. In 1851 he was General Agent of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cinchmati Railroad, and re- mained in that office until the completion of the road. In token of the valuable services he rendered that company, and as a mark of their appreciation of his efforts in their behalf, he was tendered by them a free pass over the line during life. He was married in 1823 to Mary Wadsworth; she died in 1870, leaving a numerous family.
OSLER, GUSTAVE, Manufacturer, of Cincinnati, was born at Hultschim, Prussia, April 22d, 1816. Ile served an apprenticeship as a lithographer, and for many years carried on quite extensively the lithographic business in the old country. But desiring a new and freer field, and being con- cerned, unfavorably to the reigning family, with the Prussian domestic troubles of that time, he determined to come to the United States, and accordingly landed in New York with his family July 30, 1849. In New York he learned cigar- making. This he followed for some time after locating in Cincinnati, to which city he removed in 1851. In 1853, in addition to the manufacturing of cigars, he began the litho- graphic business. These two he carried on quite largely until the monetary crisis in 1857, when he was compelled, under the pressure of the times, to turn his attention into a new channel. And now commencing the world anew, as when he first landed in America, so far as everything but a large and favorable friendship was concerned, he in the same year became business manager of the old German paper, Hochwachter. In 1859, in connection with several workmen of different safe manufactories, he organized the Diebold, Balimann & Co. Safe Manufactory. In 1865 he established the Mosler, Moorman & Co. Mantel and Grate Works. And shortly after this, with Mr. Frederick Bah- mann, he established the Mosler, Bahmann & Co. Fire and Burglar-Proof Safe Manufactory. Ile was President of the company during his life, and lived to see it one of the most flourishing manufacturing establishments of the country. A member of seven different social orders, he filled in them some of the highest and most responsible positions. Ilis wife was Sophia Wiener. They had eight children, five sons and three daughters. Mr. Mosler was one of the most unwearyingly active business men of Cincinnati. In all his adventures he was not probably successful, in the popular sense of the term, but in all of them he was eminently suc- cessful in leaving an honorable reputation. He died Sep- tember 28th, 1874. One of his sons is Herr Henry Mosler, the artist, now resident at Munich, the old art capital of Germany. This young artist has already a world-wide repu-
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education. For many years his day hours were spent in the | facturing business, which he followed for several years. On tobacco factory, and his spare moments at all times with leaving this occupation he became editor of the Massillon News, which he conducted successfully for three years, and then accepted the position of Freight and Ticket Agent at Massillon for the theu Ohio & Pennsylvania, uow the Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway. He remained in that connection two years, and left it to accept the post of General Freight and Ticket Agent on the recently completed extension of that road from Crestline to Fort Wayne, then Jame, Beard and his own easel. Two years during the war of the rebellion he was sketch correspondent of Ihopers' Weekly, and Aide-de- Camp to General Nebon and Briga- dier.General Johnston of Indiana. One of his most popular productions is the famous " Lost Cause," which established his reputation as one of the first of American artists. Many others of his works have been placed among the best American productions of art, and have brought European ; known as the Ohio & Indiana Railroad. On retiring from prices. IIe is married to Sarah Cahu, sister of D. Calin, that position he removed to Toledo, where he edited for some time the Daily Toledo Blade, which he relinquished to assume the duties of the office he has filled for the past fifteen years-that of Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of the State of Ohio. In 1850 he was Grand Master of the same jurisdiction, and for eight years has been its representative in the Grand Lodge of the United States. Ile has been for a number of years President of the Toledo Agricultural Works. In political matters he was formerly an old line Whig, and since the organization of the Repub- lican party he has been an active and zealous member of the same. Ile has never sought political office, being content with the occupations and positions he has held in private life. Ile served for seven years as Canal Collector; was a Trustce of the Ohio Lunatic Asylum for ten years, being appointed by three different Governors ; and is now, by elec- tion, a member of the Police Board of the city of Toledo. Ile was married, January 30th, 1843, by Rev. John Swan, at Massillon, to Harriet T. Wheeler, formerly of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and who is still living. His family con- sists of four sons, all of whom have now grown to manhood. once proprietor of the Gibson House, and has two children. Mr. Max Mosler, brother of the artist, now fills his father's place in the manufactory, and is President of the company. Like the artist brother, he began his business career in a tobacco factory. Before and during the war these brothers carried on quite an extensive cigar manufactory. But this business not proving desirable, he finally entirely abandoned it. In 1862 Max entered the army as Lieutenant in the IOSth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After one year's service, he was compelled to resign on account of bad health. When his father organized the safe works in IS69, he en- tered his employ as general agent for the company ; which position he filled until in 1874, when he took the place he now holds. Ile has made several trips to Europe, and travelled over the greater part of that continent. Ile is one of the most thorough-going and accomplished young busi- ness men of Cincinnati, and recently the entire management of the vast business of the firm of which he is member has devolved upon him. From the smallest beginning this house has arisen to vast proportions, employing several hundred workmen, and sending out yearly to all parts of the United States and Canada thousands of their fine safes. The oldest member of the firm now is Mr. Frederick Balimann, an old safe manufacturer, who was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1820, and early emigrated to this country. Ile soon after located in Cincinnati, where he has lived a successful and honorable career. A few years ago he met with the great misfortune of losing one of his legs, at which time his active connection with the house ceased.
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