USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 62
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during his subsequent military career. General Brown assuming the command of the army, and finding that Fort Erie was commanded hy the British position, determined, on the 17th of September, 1814, to assault his strongly in- trenched camp. In this memorable and successful move- ment Major Trimble, in Miller's brigade, was in the advance, and after storming and carrying two rcdoubts, fell mortally wounded, as it was thought, within the British , lines, shot through the lungs. He lay many weeks recov- ering from his wound at the hospitable home of his friend and comrade in the sortie, General P. B. Porter, of Black Rock, after his removal from Fort Erie, and to the great
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active duties in the field. He was brevetted, September 17th, 1814, for his gallant services in the sortie and defence of Fort Erie, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and upon peace being established was retained in the army with the same rank in the Sth Infantry, Colonel Nicholas, of Kentucky. In the fall of 1815 he was ordered, with his regiment, to St. Louis, Misoun, and in the winter of that year established the military post of Fort Des Moines. His command was then ordered to Natchitoches, ascending the Red river in keel-boats and barges. From thence he was ordered to New Orleans, with the command of the Eighth Military Department under General Jack- son, co-operating with him in his celebrated Florida cam- paign of 1818, and capture of St. Marks and Pensacola. Becoming weary of the monotony of military life in time of peace, and his health being apparently restored, he returned to the home of his brothers in Hillsborough, and tendered his resignation in the army. In the election for United States Senator, in 1819-20, Colonel Trimble's military services, and his high character for patriotism and intelligence, caused his name to be presented as a candidate for that honorable position. His opponent was the late Governor Worthington, and he was elected after a spirited contest. Ilis senatorial career was short, serving only one session, but it was marked by a large and car- nest public spirit. In the fall of 1821 he was invited by his old friend and comrade in the army, Governor Cass, of Michigan, to meet him at Chicago, then old Fort Dearborn, where a council was held with the Northwest Indians for the cession of Wisconsin, etc. On his return to Detroit in an open barge, with the Governor and suite, the exposure caused inflammation of his old wound, through the lungs, and with slow and weary stage he reached Washington City, where he breathed his last, surrounded by many personal friends endeared to him by military and social relations, among whom was his early and estimable friend, Judge Campbell, representing his district in Congress, and who received his last message of love to a devoted mother and affectionate family. Ile was buried at the National Cemetery, under the auspices of the Senate, with all the civil and military honors which his country could confer on a gallant and meri- torious soldier and Senator. He died, December 21st, 1821, aged thirty-six years. A career which prom- ised to be one of exceptional brilliancy and usefulness was thus terminated at little more than its outset. llis young and gallant brother and comrade in the army, Captain C. 11. Trimble, died in September preceding, and still another younger brother, Dr. Cyrus W. Trimble, . of Chillicothe, followed them to the grave the next year, 1822. They were all educated and accomplished gentle- men, everywhere esteemed for their worth, and the loss of such citizens was a shock and calamity which the public deeply felt and appreciated in cordial sympathy with the bereaved family.
ABER, COLONEL LLEWELLYN, Lawyer, Rep- resentative in the General Assembly and Dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention, was born at Roxton, a country seat in Jefferson county, Virginia, near Summit Point, on August 3d, 1824, being the only son of Rev. James Baber, an Old School Presbyterian minister, and of Maria Jordan Llewellyn, a woman of sincere piety and rare intelligence. She was one of four daughters of Richard Llewellyn and Philippa Bate, of St. Mary's county, Maryland, where the Llewellyn family settled at the organization of the Mary- land colony. John Llewellyn came to America with Lord Baltimore in 1634, and was the custodian of the land records of the colony. Richard Llewellyn removed from Virginia to Kentucky in 1818, and died at Louisville, August 6th, 1832. Colonel Baber's father was born in Ilanover county, Virginia, in 1794, and was a descendant of the earliest English settlers in that colony. He died at Columbus, Ohio, August 19th, 1863, his wife having died in Virginia, October 6th, 1850. The education of Colonel Baber, until nine years of age, was conducted by his mother with skill and devotion, his father's pastoral. en- gagements preventing him from giving that superintendence to his son's studies which he so much desired. When nine years of age he was sent to the academy at Carmichael- town, Greene county, Pennsylvania, where his father was officiating as a clergyman, and in that institution received the thorough drilling in the classics and the leading English branches which contributed so much to his success as a collegian. In 1837 he returned with his father to Jefferson county, Virginia, and his preparation for college was com- pleted at Battletown Academy and in private schools. In 1841 he entered Princeton College, New Jersey, becoming a member of the sophomore class, and graduated in Sep- tember, 1843, with the honors of Greck orator. Upon leaving this institution he went to Columbus, Ohio, and commenced to read law in the office of Hon. Noah II. Swayne, now Associate-Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to whom he is related by marriage. Ilis removal to Ohio, instead of to Tennessee, was at the earnest solicitation of his mother, who belonged to the old school of Virginia Emancipationists, and, under the belief that civil strife must follow eventually in the slaveholding States of the South, desired her son's destiny to be with the free West. Columbus was a small place when he entered upon the study of law with Swayne & Bates; but the hold- ing of the United States District and Circuit Courts there, Judge MeLean being npon the bench of the Circuit Court, brought to that place the Ewings, the Stansburys, the Walkers and other distinguished lawyers of the State. Under these circumstances the capital afforded Colonel Baber most excellent opportunities for thoroughly preparing himself for practice. At the December term, in 1845, of the Supreme Court of Ohio, at Lancaster, he was admitted to the bar, after a most critical and searching examination,
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conducted by Mr. Brazee, Mr. Ewing, and Mr. Stansbury, who subsequently became Attorney-General for the United States. Ile settled in Piqua, Miami county, and after a year's residence in that place removed to Xenia, where he made his home until isso, when he returned to Columbus. In these localities he had discharged his professional duties with skill, and was gradually earning a standard reputa- tion for excellence as an advocate and counsel. In Janu- ary, 1853, he became the law partner of Judge Swayne, on the election of the latter's old associate, J. L. Bates, Esq., to the Common Pleas bench. For seven years Colonel Baber continned in the laborious practice of the profession in a firm which had the largest business at the capital, as- sisting Judge Swayne, one of the strongest advocates and most diligent preparers of briefs in the State. In addition to controlling the office business he took part in the trial and argument of every case in court. In the spring of 1860 this partnership was dissolved, and in the campaign of the fall of that year Colonel Baber was mainly engaged in stumping the State as one of the electors on the Lincoln ticket. At the outbreak of the civil war he was appointed Paymaster, and acted as such until November, 1865, when he was mustered out and brevetted as Lieutenant Colonel for faithful and meritorions services. From boyhood he had always manifested a decided taste for politics. In 1854, upon the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, Colonel Baber, who had been Secretary of the Whig State Com- mittee, actively labored to produce a co-operation of all the opponents of the repeal in the anti-Nebraska movement. In 1855 he declined to vote for Chase for Governor, on ac- count of his course when elected United States Senator in 1849 under the Morse-Townshend bargain and sale in the Legislature. He refused to affiliate with the Know- Nothing movement, and was one of the few hundred Whigs of Franklin county who stuck to their old allegiance to the last. In 1856 he supported Fremont and Dayton for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, and stumped the State for them. In June, 1859, when the rivalry for the Presi- dential nomination was keenest among Governor Chase, Ilon. William H. Seward, Judge Bates and Simon Cam- cron, the thought occurred to Colonel Baber, after a careful reading of the Donglas-Lincoln debate, reported in the Chicago Tribune, that Abraham Lincoln would make the most available candidate for that nomination. Ile com- municated this opinion to the Hon. Samuel Galloway, of Ohio, and it was agreed that the latter should write to Mr. Lincoln on the subject, which he at once did. The re- sponse to this very tersely and very forcibly discusses the issues at stake in the political contest of that time as follows :
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, July 28, 1859.
which can scarcely be sustained on a personal acquaintance. Two things done by the Ohio Republican Convention, namely : the repudiation of Judge Swan and the " plank " for a repeal of the Fugitive Slave law, I very much ie- getted. These two things are of a piece; and they are viewed by many good men, sincerely opposed to slavery, as a struggle against and in disregard of the Constitution itself. And it is the very thing that will greatly endanger our cause, if it be not kept out of our National Convention. There is another thing our friends are doing which gives me some uneasiness. It is their leaning towards " Popular Sovereignty." There are three substantial objections to this: First, no party can command respect which sustains this year what it opposed last. Secondly, Douglas (who is the most dangerous enemy of liberty, because the most in- sidious one) would have little support in the North, and by consequence no capital to trade on in the South, if it were not for our friends thus magnifying him and his humbug; but lastly, and chiefly, Douglas' Popular Sovereignty, accepted by the public mind as a great principle, nationalizes slavery and revives the African slave trade inevitably. Taking slaves mto new Territories and buying slaves in Africa are identical things-identical sights or identical. wrongs -- and the argument which establishes one will establish the other. Try a thousand years for a sound reason why Congress shall not hinder the people of Kansas from having slaves, and when you have found it, it will be an equally good one. why Congress should not hinder the people of Georgia from importing slaves from Africa. As to Governor Chase, I have a kind side for him. He was one of the few distin- guished men of the nation who gave us their sympathy last year. I never saw him, suppose him to be able and right minded ; but still he may not be the most suitable as a can- didate for the Presidency. I must say that I do not think myself fit for the Presidency. As you propose a corre- spondence with me, I shall look for your letters anxiously. I have not met Dr. Reynolds since receiving your letter, but when I shall, I will present your respects, as requested. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN.
This was the first letter which he wrote in reference to the Presidency. In response to, the invitation of the Re- publican State Central Committee, of which Colonel Baber was a member, Mr. Lincoln spoke in Columbus on Sep- tember 16th, 1859, and subsequently in Cincinnati. These specches, which were published and scattered over the State, contributed greatly to the success of the Republicans in the gubernatorial contest, and in the election of a Re- publican Legislature. The State Board of Equalization met early in December, and furnished a favorable oppor- trinity for requesting Mr. Lincoln to send on a copy of his debates with Senator Douglas, to be used in the ensuing Presidential campaign. On Colonel Baber's proposition, the Republican members of the State Board on Equaliza- tion, the State officers and State Central Executive Com- mittee united, on December 7th, 1859, in letters of request to Mr. Lincoln, and under his instructions his private see- retary, Mr. John G. Nicolay, personally visited Columbus and delivered to the Republican State Executive Committee a copy. The correspondence was withheld so long from publication, though the committee had ordered it imme- diately printed, that Mr. Lincoln wrote Mr. Galloway on
HON. SAMUEL. GALLOWAY :- My Dear Sir :- Your very complimentary, not to say flattering, letter of the 23d inst. is received. Dr. Reynolds had induced me to expect you here, and I was disappointed not a little by your failure to come, and yet 1 Year you have formed an estimate of me | the subject, declaring that the delay was placing Ium in an
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unpleasant and unfavorable position. It was asserted that | report of the Committee on Federal Relations, submitted to this delay was caused by the friends of Mr. Chase; but, however far this may be true, it is certain that it was to Colonel Baber's energy, enterprise and personal influence that this important correspondence saw the light of day in printed form on January 23d, 1860, in the Ohio State Jour- nal. The proceedings of the Chicago Convention, at which Colonel Baber was an active friend of Lincoln, are matters of history. During the campaign which followed, being one of the electors on the Lincoln ticket, he was one of the most effective speakers and active canvassers in se- curing in the State a Republican majority of over forty thousand. At the commencement of the war he was ap- pointed Paymaster, United States army, and stationed first at Washington, whence he was ordered to Louisville and Cumberland Gap, with General George W. Morgan. Hle proceeded then successively to Cincinnati, Memphis, St. Louis and New Orleans, arriving at the latter place in October, 1863, and remaining on duty there until June, 1864. A great portion of his time was spent with the army in the field, accompanying General Washburne in his cam- paigu up the Bayou Teche country, and General Banks in his Red river campaigns. From New Orleans he was transferred to Cincinnati, and put in charge at Camp Den- nison until mustered out, in November, 1865. While in the field he aided his friends at home in the Lincoln and Johnson movement, by public correspondence and by his effective co-operation among the soldiers. The result was the sending of a delegation from Ohio to the Baltimore Convention which cast a solid vote for Lincoln and John- son as the standard-bearers of the party. Colonel Baber was appointed one of the five members on the new Union State Central Committee, to represent the army in- terest, and rendered great services in this capacity. Ile sympathized with the bolters of the Philadelphia Conven- tion of August, 1866, believing that the only wise plan was to adhere to the old Lincoln policy, and upon the ignoring of this policy he sided with others who had formerly acted with the Union organization, and in 1867 supported the Democratie ticket, aiding in the defeat of negro suffrage in Ohio by a popular vote of 50,000, and securing the return of Allen G. Thurman to the United States Senate in the place of Benjamin F. Wade. On the meeting of the Legis- lature he drafted the resolution, which was adopted, with- drawing the former assent of Ohio to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, on the ground that the State had the right to do so at any time prior to the acceptance of that amendment by three- fourths of the States. Ile attended the Democratic and the Soldiers' National Conventions in New York, in 1868, and again had the satisfaction of aiding in the defeat of Chase's nomination. During the ensuing Presidential campaign he stumped for the Democratic ticket, and his speeches were circulated far and wide as the ablest of the campaign doen. ments of the party. In the winter of 1869 he wrote the
the Senate of Ohio, setting forth the reason for the rejee- tion of the Fifteenth Amendment. In the Democratic State Convention, which was held in 1866, he was instrumental in procuring the nomination of General Rosecrans for Governor, a nomination which unfortunately was declined. In the Ohio General Assembly, which met on the first Monday in January, 1870, Colonel Baber, who had been elected a representative from Franklin county in October, 1869, was appointed on the Committees on Federal Rela- tions and Elections, whose proceedings mainly concerned the exciting party issues which were debated in that ses- sion, Ile was soon recognized as one of the keencst and most logical of debaters, analyzing the political issues of the day with such readiness and perspicacity as to establish his reputation not only as a man familiar, even to infinite detail, with our past history, but as a statesman capable of tracing the effect of that bistory upon the grave political questions of reconstruction then agitating the nation. Ilis was, perhaps, the clearest argument delivered in the Legis- lature against the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, which passed by a majority of one only in each house. Ile . introduced a law to protect political organizations from fraud in their primary nominations, which passed the House but was defeated in the Senate. It was reintro- duced at the succeeding session, passed both branches, and became a law on February 24th, 1871. Its familiar title is " The Baber Law." During his service in the General Assembly he secured the personal good will of his oppo- nents, and became consequently most successful as a local member in the interests of his constituents. Colonel Baber supported the Greeley movement, in 1872, and in Septem- ber of that year he spoke, by special invitation, with Ilon, E. D. Campbell, General Gordon, Governor Vance and Hon. Benjamin Ilill, at the reunion, at Louisville, of the supporters of the Greeley ticket in the Southern and West- ern States, In 1873 he was chosen by the Democratic party as a delegate from Franklin county to the State Con- stitutional Convention, and proved one of its most ener- getic, Laborious and influential members. Ile has, in company with Senator Thurman and other leading Demo- crats, repeatedly stumped the State. In addition to the manifold variety of labors performed by him he has been one of the ablest and most constant contributors to the press, Ilis first article was a searching review of the specch of the celebrated Ilon. Thomas Hamer, delivered during the Clay campaign of 1844. It was published in the Ohio State Journal, then conducted by Mr. Follett, and was generally conunended. Since then he has written a great deal that has invariably been instructive in matter and entertaining in form relative to the issues of the times, his productions having been published in the leading jour- nals of the country. Ile is now engaged in the practice of his profession, occupying the oldest law office in Columbus. It was once used by Mr. Wilcox, with whom Attorney-Gen-
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eral Pierrepont read law. Colonel Baber was appointed, a ployed until he received the appointment of Principal of at a meeting of the bar of the State, at Columbus, in the winter of 1875, a member of the executive committee of six to secure the passage of judicial reforms asked for, and the submission by the General Assembly to the electors of the State of the constitutional amendment for the creation of a Judicial Commission of five, with like powers as the Supreme Court, to be appointed by the Governor, to dis- pose of the business of that court, then five years in arrears. Most of the reform legislation was obtained, and the pro- posed constitutional amendment, drafted by Colonel Baber, passed the Legislature, through his activity, with only two dissenting votes, and was indossed by all the Judges of the Supreme Court in a correspondence with the committee. The amendment was printed on both party-tickets, and ratified by the electors at the last October election with only 93,000 votes against it out of 600,000 votes cast. It is universally believed to be a most salutary relief in the judicial system of the State. On the resignation by the Ilon. Hugh J. Jewett of his seat in Congress from the Columbus district, Colonel Biber, at the Democratie Nomi- mating Convention to fill the vacancy, in 1874, received 73 votes against 75 for Hon. William E. Fink, the nominee, an old and distinguished member of former Congresses, re- siding in another county of the district. Franklin, his own county, voted solid for him, the first time it has done so for any candidate since it was represented by the Ilon. S. S. Cox. The circle of Colonel Baber's influence is not confined to his own city, county, or the State. Ile is well and popu- larly known to all the leading men of the country. Ilis thorough legal training, his eloquence and powers of argu- ment in political controversy, his career as a public officer, in civil and military service, have secured for him a lasting reputation. Ile is still a bachelor.
ONES, HENRY MASON, Superintendent of the Cincinnati Hospital, was born in Salem, New London county, Connecticut, September 15th, 1823. Ile is a son of Edmund Jones and Sarah (Holmes) Jones, who were both born in the same year, 1796, and are still living. This branch of the Jones family is descended from Rev. William Jones, a Presbyterian minister, who came from Wales to Massa- chusetts in 1640, and afterward settled in Salem, Connecti- cat, where many of his descendants are still to be found. Ile was educated at Bacon Academy, in his days one of the best institutions of its class in the country. In IS41 he re- linquished school life as a pupil, and during the ensuing winter sustained in a district school at Colchester the role of educator. After spending the summer of 1842 upon his father's farm he again engaged in teaching in the fall. In the spring of 1843 he left his home to pursue the vocation of teacher in Long Island, New York. He was thus em-
Public School No. 3, at Morrisania, New York, when he moved to his new field of Libors, and entered upon the dis- charge of his duties, September Ist, 1851. That position he retained until July, 1856, when he accepted an appoint- ment as Superintendent of the Cincinnati House of Refuge. lle took charge of this institution in the following August, and retained his position there until failing health com- pelled him, notwithstanding the reluctance of the Board to lose his valuable and zealous services, to hand in his res- ignation. July 31st, 1865, accordingly, he left the House of Refuge, and for a time devoted his attention to the task of re-strengthening his enfeebled system. In March, 1867, he was earnestly solicited to assume the superintendence of the Commercial Hospital, which, established January 220, 1821, as the Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, has since become the Cincinnati Hospital; the crection of its new buildings, commenced in July, 1867, was completed in January, 1869. April 15th, 1867, he assumed the control of this institution, and has since con- tinned to act as its Superintendent. Under his steady, skilful and efficient management the affairs of the hospital have been uniformly kept in an excellent condition, while its reputation as a sanitary institution is not eclipsed by that of any other establishment in the country. Ile has been for several years a member of the Baptist Church. Ile has always shunned the tumult and intrigues of the political arena, and, being identified with no particular party, exer- cises the elective franchise in accordance with his own judgments on men and measures. To this day he is held in grateful remembrance by former pupils and patrons on Long Island and at Morrisania, while his irreproachable management of the important institutions over which he has presided in the Queen City has won the esteem and approbation of all who have become cognizant of their workings. Ile was married, July 6th, 1845, to Ilarriet Maria Latham, daughter of Deacon Amos S. Latham, of Colchester, New London county, Connecticut.
ALSTON, JOSEPHI, President of the Dchance Insurance Company, Defiance, Ohio, was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, June 20th, 1818. In 1824 his parents removed to Lebanon, Leb- anon county, in the same State, where he at- tended the Lebanon Academy, graduating from that institution in 1831. In April, 1832, he moved with his parents to Stark county, Ohio, and in 1837 commenced teaching school near Massillon, Ohio. In this occupation he was engaged until the winter of 1842-43. Ile subse- quently removed . to Defiance county, Ohio, and there devoted his time and attention to agricultural pursuits until 1850. In February, 1851, he settled in Defiance, in the same county, and engaged in the dry-goods business,
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