USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 63
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which, in 1857, was merged in the hardware trade, in | tional journals in the country. In October, 1870, he started which he continued until 1862. In 1860 he was elected Justice of the Peace; in 1862 was appointed Deputy Col- lector of Internal Revenue for the Tenth District of Ohio ; in September, 1863, became Assistant Assessor; in 1868 was appointed Special Agent of the Post Office in Defiance; and in 1869 became Postmaster of Defiance. Ile afterward engaged in the fire insurance business, and assisted impor- tantly in the organization of the pioneer insurance company of the city-the Defiance Insurance Company-over which he presides in an able and masterly manner. Ile was elected President of this enterprise in 1875 ; the other officers are as follows : Samuel Rohn, Vice- President ; I. F. Dea- trick, Secretary ; and Henry Hardy, Treasurer.
ILITE, EMERSON ELBRIDGE, Educator, Edi- tor, etc., was born in Mantua, Portage county, Ohio, January 10th, 1829. Ilis parents, Jonas White and Sarah (Gregory) White, natives of Massachusetts, were farmers in moderate circum- stances. Until he had reached his eighteenth year he worked on the farm, and during this period secured an elementary education at the district school. When but seventeen years of age he assumed the role of teacher, and taught school for a salary of nine dollars per month, with the privilege of " boarding around." In the following summer he obtained the consent of his parents to leave home for the purpose of obtaining a more thorough education. Most of the several succeeding years he spent in the Trowns- burg Academy and in college, defraying attendant expenses by teaching and by working in baying and harvesting. In the autumn of 1851 he suspended his studies in the Cleve- land University in order to take charge temporarily of the classes in mathematics in that institution, and also to fill the place of the principal of one of the Cleveland grammar schools, who, on account of ill health, had seenred a leave of absence for two months. At the close of these engage- ments, he was surprised by the unsolicited appointment to the Principalship of a new grannar school then about to be , opened in Cleveland. As a result he abandoned reluctantly his purpose of graduating at the next commencement, and accepted the appointment, entering upon the duties of his new position in January, 1852. Ilis intention, however, was to teach but a few terms, and then enter upon the study of law. In 1854 he resigned his position, but was at once appointed Principal of the Central High School, with a salary of one thousand dollars per annum. He acted in that capacity until 1856, in which year he accepted the Superin- tendency of the Public Schools of Portsmouth, Ohio, filling the position for nearly four years. Early in 1861 he re- moved to Columbus, to take charge of the Ohis Educa- tional Monthly, which he conducted for more than fourteen years, making it one of the best and most influential educa-
a national edition of the monthly, with the title of The National Teacher. In 1875 be sold both editions of his journal to Hon. W. D. Henkle, of Salem, Ohio. In 1863 he was appointed State Commissioner of Common Schools, to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Catheart, re- signed. In the first year of his incumbency he secured an important revision of the General School Law. Among the new provisions incorporated was one establishing the present institute system of Ohio; also another creating a State Board of Examiners. In 1865 the General Assembly passed a joint resolution instructing the Commissioner of Common Schools to report to the next General Assembly the organiz.t- tion and results of the best Normal Schools in the United States and in other countries, and also to submit a plan of organizing one or more efficient Normal Schools in the State of Ohio. In compliance with those instructions he visited the Normal Schools in several of the States, and his special report on the subject under consideration was sub- mitted in January, 1866. In the third and last year of his incumbency, he prepared a codified edition of the school law, with opinions, instructions, blank forms, etc., the whole constituting a valuable manual for school officers in the ad- ministration of the school system. Since the close of his official term in February, 1866, he has devoted his time to his journal, to lecturing in Teachers' Institutes, and to other work of a literary and educational nature. Ile has been invited to take charge of several institutions, including four State Normal Schools, and to accept the superintend- ency of several city schools, but he has preferred to prose- cute a chosen work which, in his opinion, was more impor- tant and useful. Ile has exercised a wide and salutary influence upon the cause of education, and is recognized as one of the leading educators of the country. Ile was Presi- dent of the Ohio Teachers' Association in 1863, of the Na- tional Superintendents' Association in 1868, presiding at the meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee ; and of the National Educational Association in 1872, presiding at the meeting held in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1866 be read a paper on "A National Bureau of Education," before the National Superintendents' Association, at a meeting held in Washing- ton, District of Columbia. The paper was finally adopted by the association as an expression of its views on the sub- ject, and he was appointed Chairman of a Committee to memorialize Congress on the importance of establishing such an office. Ile then drafted the memorial, and also a bill, both of which were introduced into Congress by Hon. James A. Garfield, of Ohio. This bill, with innmaterial amendments, was subsequently passed by Congress, and is now the law under which the bureau is administered. Ile is the anthor of "A Class-Book of Geography," first pub- lished in 1853 ; the larger portion of " Bryant and Stratton's Commercial Arithmetic," published in 1860; " White's School Registers and Records; " " White's Graded School Arithmetics," published in 1870; and a. " Manual of Arith-
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metie for Teachers," published in 1876. In addition to his ; np by hard study his deficiencies as a eadet. Ilis military many important and valuable labors as a writer and educator, he has for many years past, through his exertions and laud. able actions in other public fields, stood prominently before the community not alone of Ohio, but also of many of the environing States, which esteem and admire him as a public- spirited, enterprising and useful citizen, while his sound scholarly attainments have won for him the respect of all interested in the literary development of the United States. He has a high reputation as a public speaker, and is one of the most popular institute instructors in the country. Ile was married, July 26th, 1853, to Mary Ann Sabin, of Hudson, Ohio, by whom he has had five children-three sons and two daughters.
CDOWELL, MAJOR GENERAL IRVIN, was born in the village of Franklinton, near Columbus, Ohio, October 15th, 1818. Ilis ancestry were Scotch-Irish, and took refuge from religious per- seeution in the north of Ireland. After the siege of Londonderry, in which the MeDowells took part, they came to this country, settling first in the valley of Virginia. Some of them, including the branch from which the General sprang, removed thence to Kentucky. Abram MeDowell, the father of Irvin, after the war of 1812, in which he served in his uncle's regiment, removed to Ohio, and settled near Columbus. His wife, Eliza Lord, was a member of the Starling family, one of the most respectable and influential in that section. Abram MeDowell is de- scribed by old citizens of Columbus as being a noble speci- men of the old-school Kentnekian, and an intense aristocrat. Ile kept haughtily aloof from the masses, and prided him- self on his social position, his refinement and general cul- ture. But wealth was never his, and money had nothing to do with this pride of position. Ilis son Irvin was given a liberal education at home and abroad. Ilis old school- mates at Columbus remember him as a genial, warm- hearted companion, but his residence abroad changed this to a habit of dignity and reserve. On his return from Europe his father had procured him an appointment to West Point. .Here he was associated with the future military chieftains of both sides in the American civil war. At the academy he ranked socially very high, but in his classes he was far from being foremost. He was graduated in the same class with Beauregard, Barry, Hardee, and R. S. Granger, and ranked as low down as twenty-three, Beauregard being second. After his graduation he was assigned to the artillery arm of the service and sent to the Niagara frontier. He served in different parts of the frontier, and was for a short time on recruiting duty. In 18.11 he was returned to West Point as Assistant Instructor in Infantry Tactics, and served one year in that capacity, and three years as Adjutant of the Academy. During these years of military duty he had become a man of the world -reserved, formal and polished -and had made
qualifications were very high, and in appearance he was every inch a soldier. These brought him to the notice of General Wool, who appointed him an Aide de camp on his personal staff, a position reserved for the most promising of the younger officers. He continued duty as a staff-officer almost without interruption until the outbreak of the rebel- lion, and had become a strict disciplinarian, devoted to his profession, and a thorough student of the art of war. For " gallant and meritorious conduct " at Buena Vista he was brevetted Captain. After serving in various capacities dur- ing the Mexican war, General Scott appointed him to his staff. Ile seldom visited his old home, and in the army lie was known as a remarkably abstemious man, never dissipat- ing with brother officers, never tasting wine, and never play- ing cards. So careful was he in avoiding stimulants that he abstained from tea and coffee. When the war broke out he was a Brevet Major on duty in the War Department. Through Salmon P. Chase, who had known him in Colum- bus, he was sought out and consulted as to the military or- ganization of the republic. His advice in military matters was found of great service in the then demoralized condition of affairs. Governor Dennison proposed to make him com- mander of the Ohio contingent, but changed his mind in favor of Captain (General) Mcclellan. McClellan was not then in the service, and he was only appointed after much influence had been brought to bear on the Governor. Gov- ernor Dennison wrote Major Mc Dowell explaining his con- duct, and he replied in the most generous spirit, fully in- dorsing the appointment. Later, partly on his recommen- dation, McClellan was appointed to a Major-Generalship. Government officers urged his appointment to a like posi- tion, but he modestly held back. But the same bulletin that announced Mcclellan's advancement announced his own to that of Brigadier General. General Scott opposed this latter promotion, as he wanted it for another officer. The old chieftain opposed him in many ways. When the cam- paign in Virginia was decided upon, he was assigned to the leadership of the army. As his personal testimony proves, he had his misgivings, not as to his competency to perform the task, but as to the obstaeles that were being thrown in his way at head-quarters in Washington. The history of the disaster at Bull Run is too well known to be repeated here. The press of the country heaped censure upon the gallant officer in command of the Union forces, and the more rad- ical portion of it even accused him of treason. Ile was also accused of drunkenness, although he never tasted liquor. It is the opinion of many military men and dispassionate writers that he was defeated as much by influences in the rear (Washington) as he was by the army opposed to him at the front. It is conceded that the plan of the battle was admirably arranged, but that the raw condition of liis troops and the failure of one of his generals to carry out his in- structions, turned the tide of the day at the very moment when the Union officers were congratulating themselves on
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a brilliant victory. The people of the country clamored for the removal of the commanding general, and the story of the battle, as narrated in the press, made him really odious in their sight. Ile was accordingly removed, and placed in a subordinate position, although President Lincoln assured him that he still had confidence in him. His evidence be- fore the Committee on the Conduct of the War is the manly utterance of a dignified soldier. Ile never undertook to refute the slanders heaped upon him, except in reply to of- ficial inquiries. He did not resign his commission, and thus make a virtual confession that he had been humiliated, Ile was a soldier willing to serve his country in any capacity, and is serving it still. But he was peculiarly unfortunate, being disliked by the citizen soldiery for his strict ideas of discipline. He served throughout the war in various posi- tions, but fate was against him. He never became famous, yet he never lost the confidence of the authorities, who still consulted him in military matters of importance. He was virtually retired from active service. He was President of a board to investigate cotton frauds in the Southwest. Dur- ing a portion of the year 1863 he was President of a board for retiring disabled officers. In July, 1864, he was sent to the Pa ise co ist to take charge of th ut department. Previous to the first appointment, a court of inquiry had fully vindi- cated him, but the country has never done him justice, March 13th, 1865, the rank of Brevet Major-General was conferred upon him for " gallant and meritorious services " at Cedar Mountain. In June following he was assigned to the de- partment of California, where he still remains. General McDowell is a man of large, well-developed frame, of ex- cellent presence, and fine address. His general bearing is reserved and coldl, but among his friends, and in the freedom of the social circle, no man can be more winning. Although married and having a family, he is devoted to military life, and will probably never leave the service unless overtaken by incapacity. Ile enjoys the confidence and respect of his superiors. as he did through all his troubles in the late war.
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ALLRIDGE, HORACE S., Banker, was born, July 21st, 1828, at Syracuse, New York, and is a son of Chester and Mary Wallridge. He received his education in Toledo, and when twelve years old was employed as a clerk in a grocery story, re- ceiving one dollar per week. He was so ocenpied for two years, when he changed to a dry goods store, where he remained for a year on a small compensation. He then labored for eighteen months in a flour mill, and subse- quently was engaged for six months in erecting a saw mill. In the spring of 1846 he went to Cincinnati, where he passed a short time in selling straw hats. In June, 1846, he re- moved to Toledo, and was engaged by Thomas Watkins as one of his assistants in his commission and forwarding es- tablishment. There he remained until the death of that
gentleman, August 9th, 1852. During a portion of those years-from 1849 to 1851 inclusive -- he was the travelling clerk, engaged in the purchase of produce on the lines of the Ohio canals. On the ist of October, 1852, he took charge of the business of P. Buckingham & Co., at Toledo, a large commission house, receiving a salary of one thousand dollars per annum ; and during the winter of 1853-54 be- came a member of the firm, which expired February Ist, 1857, and was succeeded by the commission house of Brown, Wallridge & King, which subsequently became Brown, Wallridge & Co., and this latter firm gave place to Il. S. Wallridge & Co., which terminated in the spring of 1868. All these firms did a large and successful business. Mean- while, in the autumn of 1865, the house of Wallridge, Wat- kins & Co. was founded at Chicago. This firm also dis- solved in the spring of 1868, as the senior partner in both establishments found that he could not give his attention to the business while interested in real estate .operations and city matters. With this step he dissolved all connection with the commission houses, resolving thenceforth to devote his entire time and mind to banking and real estate. le has displayed great activity in this latter branch, and no one has contributed more towards building up the city than him- self. Ile has served three years as a member of City Coun- cils, but has resolutely declined office, when asked by his fellow-citizens to be nominated thereto. He was President of the Board of Trade of Toledo for two terms. At present he is the President of the Northwestern Savings Bank, and is connected with two other moneyed institutions as stock- holder, Director and Vice President. He was married, Oc- tober 18th, 1854, to Isabella D. Watkins, at New Bedford, Massachusetts, and has had five children, of whom one son, Thomas HI., is now at school in Troy, New York, and two daughters at home; the others are deceased.
IKEN, SAMUEL C., D. D., Presbyterian Minister, was born in Windham, Vermont, September 21st, 1791. Hle entered Middlebury College in 1813. Among his classmates who afterwards became distinguished were Silas Wright, Governor of New York and United States Senator, and Samuel Nelson, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. His resolution to become a minister of the gospel having been taken during a revival which occurred while he was at college, he entered Andover Theological Semi- mary, and spent three years in fitting for that profession. He was then called by the Young Men's Missionary Society in New York to labor under its auspices in that city. Ilis first call to the pastorate was from the First Presbyterian Church of Utica, New York, where he was ordained and installed February 3d, 1818. He continued to be pastor of that society for more than sixteen years. From a handful of struggling people in that little town, his congregation
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became the sole minister of the church. Dr. Aiken con- tinned, however, for about ten years to take temporary charge of churches, at d to perform much ministerial work in the neighborhood of Cleveland, and assisting largely in the organization and building up of new churches. His purity of life, faithful labors, superior talents and great in- fhience have endeared him to thousands, and have given him a national reputation. He always receives marks of respect and esteem from men of every degree in life and of every shade of religious opinion. Now, after more than fifty-three years' labor in the Christian ministry, his majestic form, somewhat bent under the weight of over four- score years, is seldom seen in public.
grew to be one of the largest in unmber and highest in cul- ture in the State. The Erie Canal had been built during that time, and the humble village, whose chief trade was in furs borne in bateaux down the Mohawk to tide-water, had become a large and prosperous city. With it, also, the sub- ject of this sketch had ripened into a strong and vigorous man, whose influence upon the people of that community and in the councils of the ecclesiastical body was very great. In the spring of 1835 he accepted a call to become the pas- tor of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, Ohio. The society had just completed a small stone edifice on the corner of Ontario street and the Public Square. He was installed its pastor in November, 1835. In person he pos- sessed a commanding figure, fine features, a dignified car- riage, a clear strong voice, a mind somewhat slow to act, but, when aroused by great occasions, showing surprising power. The people with whom he came in contact were HOTWELL, GEORGE II., Real Estate Dealer, was a native of New Jersey, having been born in Rahway in that State, on January 25th, .1811. Ile was of Quaker parentage, both his father and mother, who were natives of New Jersey, being members of the Society of Friends. His educa- tional advantages were of a very limited character, and much scholastic training was not among his early experi- ences. At the age of nineteen years he left his home and went to Cincinnati. He became a salesman in a pork- packing house there, and after occupying that position long enough to acquire an insight into the details of the business, learning bookkeeping in the meantime, he was made book - keeper of the house, in which position he remained for a period of five years. At the expiration of that time he en- tered into business on his own account, engaging in the rec- tifying of whiskey. In this he was very successful, and soon built up a large and lucrative business. His trade constantly and steadily increased until the year 1847, and then reverses came. A sudden and very heavy decline in whiskey occurred that year. He had a large stock on hand, and besides that he had shipped large quantities to New Orleans and other Southern ports, and was unable to make any collections therefor. These facts compelled him to close up his business, and from that time until 1849 he was kept busy in settling up his deranged affairs. In the year 1850 he entered into business again, this time as a money broker. In this, as in his previous venture, he was very successful. In 1855 he succumbed to the " gold fever," and determined on going to California. He started, hut on the Isthmus of Darien he was attacked with a heavy illness, and by the advice of his physicians, as soon as he was able to travel again, he retraced his steps towards home. Ile reached Cincinnati safely, but the next year he determined to go again on a journey to the far West. This time he went to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he resided about three years. During his residence there he made visits to Denver, Colo- rado, and to Pike's Peak. His business during these three of a great diversity of character and sentiment in conse. quence of the constant arrivals of emigrants from the Eastern States. Ilis great talents and cultured mind at- tracted to him the most able and thoughtful of the profes- sional and business men of the community, and through them the influence of his elevated piety and wisdom went out to form the new institutions and correct the baleful tendencies of that growing community. Ilis published addresses on public education, theatres and social crimes ; his articles of controversy on Romanism, his sermons on the leading topics of temperance, Millerism, and slavery, show the ripeness of his scholarship, the soundness of his arguments, and the great influence he exerted in his professional and social life. He delivered in Utica a discourse before Governor De Witt Clinton and the New York canal commissioners, on the oc- casion of the opening of the Erie Canal, an event recognized by him as signaling as well great designs of Providence as great enterprise and sagacity of statesmen. He delivered an address before the officers and guests of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company, when that road was completed in 1852, which was worthy of the occasion- the commencement of a new era in the history of Western civilization. At the Presbyterian General Assembly, which convened in Cleveland in 1857, which will long be remem- bered for its great discussions of the slavery question, his great power was fully appreciated. Nearly all of the States of the Union were represented. The hot debates between the Northern and Southern ministry were stormy. Dr. Aiken had been known as a conservative, and opposed those who advocated the " Higher Law." At the close of this great discussion he reviewed his own past course on the subject, and finally declaring that slavery was too flagrant a crime to be ignored, gave his great influence against his Southern brethren, carrying with him a large number of the ministry and laymen. He continued his ministry in the Stone Church society without any interruption until IS58, when he resigned on account of the infirmities of age, and Dr. Goodrich, who had been for several years his associate, years was speculating in Western lands. And he was also,
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in connection with: Messr .. Ryan & Hensley, of Cincinnati, [ after the road was regarded as a model. In 1255 he be- largely engaged in furnishing supplies to the government troops stationed at levenworth. He returned to ('incin. nati in the year 1800, and opened a real estate broker's office. He continued in the real estate business there until his death, and his transactions were large and lucrative. His death occurred on the 14th day of January, 1869, and was occasioned by a kick from one of his carriage horses. It may be said that he was the founder of the real estate busi- ness in Cincinnati, it being claimed that he was the first there to conduct the business on a regular and legitimate basis. Ile was a thorough business man, and it is said of him that he was a man whose word could always be im- plicitly relied upon, and who took, for his business motto, " Honesty, integrity and fair dealing." His business, while a real estate dealer, was the largest ever carried on in that line in Cincinnati. Ile was married, on the Sth day of No- vember, 1836, to Mary E. A. Tudor, of Cincinnati. Two sons and two daughters were the result of this union. The oldest daughter, Cordelia, is the wife of Dr. J. C. Campbell, of Cincinnati; the eldest son, Cassius, is in the real estate business in Cincinnati; George, the youngest son, is also in the real estate business; and the youngest daughter, Mary, is the wife of W. W. Backman, a prominent pork-merchant of Cincinnati.
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