USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 65
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tered the spine. His charger, wounded in two places, gal- loped among his men, and mutely told the sorrowful story. The wound was necessarily fatal, and he was found an hour afterwards, conscious, but unable to speak. His horse had probably carried him too far for the rebels to follow. Ilis men fought terribly to revenge his loss, and drove back the rebel assault with great loss. The entire army was bowed in grief after the battle. He was killed July 22d, 1864, in the full strength of manhood. In personal appearance he was a splendid specimen of a soldier, over six feet high, . well developed, and with graceful carriage. Ilis loss was a terrible blow to his family, of which he was the idol. Ile was buried in the orchard of the old homestead at Clyde. At the time he met his death he was betrothed to a young lady of Baltimore.
AYLOR, JOSEPHI D., Lawyer, was born in Bel- mont county, Ohio, in November, 1830, but with his parents removed to Guernsey county in 1833, where he has ever since resided. Up to the age of twenty years his life was spent mostly upon the farm where his home was situated, and where, in the laborious duties of farm life, alternating with hard study during the winter months and the summer evenings, was laid the foundation of those habits of intense application and persevering industry which have been the keynote to his subsequent success. After this time his attention was devoted more exclusively to literary pursuits, but having to depend wholly on his own exertions, he studied, taught school, and read law, by turns, attending Madison College a part of the time, where he went through all the branches of the collegiate course except Greck. He taught in all about five years, and was one of the most successful teachers in eastern Ohio. He took an active part in the organization and management of teachers' associations and institutes, thus contributing largely to the new era in public education, and through the Fairview High School (attended mostly by teachers), which he established and taught for several years, and through the medim of his lectures and publie ad- dresses, delivered in almost every town, village and district, in his own and some of the surrounding counties, he reached by his labors and influence hundreds of schools and thousands of scholars. While teaching he was elected County Surveyor, and was subsequently re-elected, but re- signed the office before completing his second term, to give his attention to other duties. He was School Examiner cf Guernsey county, but resigned this position upon entering the army. In March, 1859, he was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court in Columbus, He attended the Cincin- nati Law School two terms, graduating there in the spring of 1860, and the following fall began the practice of iaw in Cambridge, Ohio, where he is now practising his profession. When the war broke out he was appointed by the Governor
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a member of the county and district military committees, and gave much time and valuable aid in the organization of troops, and in procuring and forwarding supplies to the soldiers in the field. In the fall of 1861, in connection with W. 11. F. Lenfestey, of Cambridge, Mr. Taylor purchased the Guernsey Times, the only Republican paper in the county, and continued his connection therewith, publishing it under the name of Taylor & Lenfestey for ten years, tak. ing only a general management of the paper, during which time the size of the paper was doubled, and the subscription list increased from less than seven hundred to over two thousand, while the Republican party grew from a bare plurality, which had given the Democrats for years before that fully one- half the offices, to a reliable majority of not less than six hundred. In 1863, when General Morgan's com- mand crossed the Ohio river, Governor Tod issued a call for troops to defend the State, giving it as his opinion that the sent of war was about to be transferred to the north of the Ohia river. Mr. Taylor raised a company for the 88th Ohio being mustered out of the service, he was employed by the Regiment and had it in camp in about ten days, where he was by a unanimous vote of the company chosen Captain. After the regiment was sufficiently organized and drilled for active service, he was among the officers of this regiment who petitioned the Secretary of War to send them to the front instead of the undrilled hundred-day men, and the order came to this effect, but was countermanded at the in- stance of General Richardson, who insisted that the regi- ment could not be spared from Camp Chase, where they were guarding many thousands of rebel soldiers. Soon after this he was detailed on special duty, and remained on detached service until the close of the war, serving on courts-martial and military commissions as Judge Advocate, at Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and other places. In the fall of 1864 he was appointed Judge Advocate of the District of Indiana, with office at Indimapolis, where he remained until 1866. When he entered upon the new and responsible duties incident to this position, there were hundreds of criminals in the military prisons at Indianapolis, and the plans of the Sons of Liberty and' Knights of the Golden Circle to release and arm the rebel prisoners in the North had just come to light. The whole management of the Judge Advocate's department in that district was given to him by General Hovey, who was then in command, and although the duties of District Judge Advocate did not re- quire him to act as Judge Advocate of a military court, yet as soon as the necessary records, clerks, and phonographic reporters were provided, he organized two military courts, and served as Judge Advocate of both, one court sitting in the forenoon, with one phonographic reporter, and the other sitting in the afternoon, with another phonographic reporter. Colonel Taylor thus discharged the ordinary duties of three officers, his arduons labors often compelling him to remain nearly all night in his office. While on duty at Indianapolis he was sent to Cambridge, Ohio, as Judge Advocate of a military court convened by General Hooker to try the mur-
derers of John B. Cook, Provost Marshal. This was one of the military trials during the war which attracted great attention throughout the country, and assumed to some de- gree a political character. The trial lasted three months, resulting in the conviction of the prisoners, Oliver and Hartup, and their subsequent execution at Camp Chase in September, 1865, after making a full confession of their crime. Colonel Taylor won golden opinions from the peo- ple and the press for the signal ability and success with which he managed the case against the determined efforts and labored strategies of the able counsel who represented . the defence. While serving as Judge Advocate at Cin- cinnati and Indianapolis, he made, at the instance of Gen- eral Hooker, General Hovey, and Colonel Burnett, a number of important investigations and reports, all of which, as well as all the records and reports made by him while he was Judge Advocate, were approved by the Department of Jus. tice and the Secretary of War. At the close of the war, after government to act as Special Judge Advocate in the trial of two important cases at Indianapolis, that of a quarter- master and a disbursing officer of the regular army, in which the government was interested to the amount of several hundred thousand dollars. During his term of ser- vice he was twice brevetted for his faithful and efficient ser- vices in the interest of the government, which was done on the recommendation of officers of the regular army as well as of the civil service, for which, when confirmed by the Senate, he received his commissions; and his superior offi- cers also asked that he be paid extra compensation for his services. In the carly part of his professional career he was twice elected Prosecuting Attorney of Guernsey county, and was very strongly urged to be a candidate for a third term, but declined. No officer in the county ever discharged his duties more thoroughly or more acceptably, and his prose- cution of those who violated the liquor laws was so vigorous and successful that scarcely a saloon was found in the county at the close of his term. In December, 1866, he was married to Miss Hill, daughter of William Hill, of North Berwick, Maine. In 1872, when the scarcity of money seemed to impede the progress of improvements in the community where he resided, he obtained authority to organize a national bank, and procured the stock and com- picted the organization of the Guernsey National Bank, with a capital of $100,000, which has since been increased to $150,000, of which he was chosen and still continues Presi- dent. He has also been President of the Cambridge Board of Education for the past six years, during which time the board has built one of the finest union school buildings in the State; for which the people of the Cambridge Union School District are greatly indebted to him, as he led in the movement for the house and in the management of the building as it progressed. He took an active part in pro- curing the stock and location at Cambridge of the Marietta & Pittsburgh Railroad, and in all important enterprises, in-
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volving the moral and material interests of the community, | managing the State Bank of Ohio, and its several branches, he is found at the head, both, with his means and his influ- cucc. lle is now practising law in Guernsey and adjoining counties, and has a large and Inerative practice. He is a man of unswerving integrity, tireless energy and spotless reputation, and occupies the position in his State and com- munity to which these qualities and the record of a hitherto busy and useful life justly and legitimately entitle him.
LLEN, IION. JOIIN W., Lawyer, was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1802. llis father, John Allen, a lawyer by profession, was a native of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where Wil- liam Cullen Bryant began life as a lawyer and made Green river famous in one of his earliest and sweetest poems. After removing to Connecticut, he became a representative of that State in the last Congress held in Philadelphia. The subject of this sketch left Litch- field at sixteen years of age and moved to Chenango county, New York, where he received a fair classical education and studied law. Ile next removed to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1825, and after one year's necessary study and residence com- menced the practice of law in 1826. From 1831 to IS35 inclusive he was elected annually Presi.lent of the village corporation, and Mayor of the city of Cleveland in 1841. In 1835-37 he represented the district of which Cuyahoga county was a part, in the Ohio Senate, and in 1836 was elected to Congress, commencing with the extra session called in September, 1837. He was re-elected in 183S. In the division of parties of that day he was a Whig, and by reason of his admiration of and devotion to the person and public policy of Ilenry Clay, he was classed with a large party of old-line Clay Whigs. He was one of the original movers and workers in the enterprise of having railroads to add to the growth and prosperity of his city and State, and he has been fortunate enough to live to see the iron rail laid all over the States, even to the Pacific. Hle discussed the subject of railroads in the newspapers as early as IS37, and made some direction of such enterprises, but without practi- cal avail on account of the financial embarrassments of the country following that period, and perhaps for the further reason that his enterprising spirit was a few years in advance of his contemporaries. In 1847 he was mainly instrumental in procuring the legislative charter for the Cleveland, Co- lumbus & Cincinnati Railroad, and canvassed the line of the river to ask the people to subscribe to the stock, which resulted in his obtaining the first subscription of $100,000. He became the first President of the company, and by his zealous activity and adroit management, in the face of apa- thy, rival interests, and open opposition, secured its success doubtless many years before it otherwise would have existed. Ile was, for a time, one of the five commissioners of the State, charged with the duty of putting into operation and
and under whose supervision it proved a sound and ad- mirable banking system. In 1850 he was appointed, under a resolution of the Legislature, the agent of the State to investigate the claims of the State against the national government, growing out of the grants of land in aid of canals, which occupied him five years at Washington. Ile was eminently successful in this service, and his labors were of great value to the State. Ile received from Presi- dent Grant in 1870 the appointment of Postmaster at Cleve- land, and his commission was renewed in 1874. Hle proved a very efficient officer, devoting his whole time and attention thereto. Ilis official intercourse, like his social, was admi- rable in manner and spirit, which caused the public to regret very much his retirement. Ile resigned in January, 1875. Ile was twice married. Ilis first wife was Aun Maria Per- kins, of Warren, Ohio, who died carly. Ilis second was Harriet C. Mather, of New London county, Connecticut. Four children were born to them, two sons and two daugh- ters.
URGERT, ADAM, Boot and Shoe Merchant, was born in Stark county, Ohio, November 14th, 1826. Ile is the son of David Burgert, an old and suc- cessful merchant of the village of New Bedford, Coshocton county, Ohio, and acquired his early education in his native place. Until his eighteenth year was reached he found employment under his father in the capacity of clerk, and moved subsequently to New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where during the ensuing year he was similarly occupied, in clerking in a dry-goods store. In 1846 he embarked in business on his own account, and proseented it for a period of three years. Disposing afterward of his interests in this trade, he resumed his former station as clerk for M. W. Henry & Co., of Akron, Ohio, with whom he was connected for about three years. At the expiration of that time he removed to Cali- fornia, and in the fall of 1852 received an appointment as Deputy Sheriff in Eldorado county, in which capacity he acted for two years and six months. While sojourning on the Pacific slope he received various desirable office appoint- ments in addition to the one mentioned, and wherever placed uniformly gave entire satisfaction to all parties concerned. As Collector of Foreign Revenue, under D. E. Buel and William Buchanan, in 1853-54, and part of 1855, he met with notable success, conducting himself with laudable ability and fidelity. In July of the latter year he resigned the collectorship, and returned to Cleveland, Ohio, where he was employed for four years as a clerk in a wholesale boot and shoe house. Ile left Cleveland for Toledo in the fall of 1859, and went into the wholesale hide and leather busi- ness. Therein he continued until January Ist, 1866, when he was compelled to sell out his interests in order to recruit his health, which had suffered severely through rheumatism,
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contracted in the business. The summer of that year he | ical College he is Treasurer, a member of the faculty, and aund his family spent in New Orleans and Mobile. Hle re- adso one of the incorporators of that institution. In religion he is a Protestant, being a member of the Second Presby. terian Clauch of Cincinnati, of which Rev. Thomas 11. Skinner, D. D., is pastor. Dr. Bradford was married on October 6th, 186S, to M. A. MeCroskey, of his native city. turned home in September, with health very much improved, and in the following December opened out in the wholesale boot and show business, in which he has been engaged ever since, and has been uniformly prosperous. He is now doing a trade of four hundred thousand dollars annually. An excellent man of business, a keen and shrewd observer, he has fairly earned the success that has erowned his efforts. Politically he has been successively a Whig and a Repub- lican. He was married September 3d, 1857, to Elizabeth Wood, daughter of Bourdett Wood, of Bellevue, Ohio.
RADFORD, THOMAS C., M. D., Physician and Surgeon, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 3d, 1835, and is of Scotch and Irish extraction. Ilis education was acquired in the literary insti- tutions of his native State. After leaving school he determined to make the practice of medicine a profession, and for that purpose he entered Jefferson College in Philadelphia, and subsequently Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York city, where he was graduated in the spring of 1864. The superior advantages of the Eastern medical colleges over the Western, for obtaining a thorough scientific, medical and surgical education, led Dr. Bradford first to Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, to be pre- pared by their unequalled didactic course of instruction for the clinical study of disease at the bedside in the large charity institutions of New York city, to one of which, as its name indicates, Bellevue College is attached, and in which the most able faculty of the school taught the student first the theory and then the practice at the bedside in the dif- ferent wards of those great hospitals. With such advantages and close application to his studies he was enabled to pass a creditable examination on each branch of the profession, and was graduated. Ilis education having been purchased by the proceeds of his own labor, it was considered too valuable to be thrown away. Consequently directly after the school closed in 1864, he located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and began the practice of his chosen profession. ITis arrival in Cincin- nati was opportune indeed, as within a very short time of his appearance in the field several of the oklest physicians of both schools were removed by death, leaving a large opening that some one could fill without treading on the toes of any one. Thus he early found use for the knowledge gained at school, and by constant and well-directed efforts he has gained the position he now holds in the city and profession. Dr. Bradford's life has thus been devoted entirely to the healing art. Having had all of his time absorbed in the practice of his profession, he has taken no active part in politics and therefore is not known in the political world. He has a fine medical and miscellaneous library, to which he is greatly attached. Of the Pulte Med.
LEXANDER, WILLIAM II., Lawyer, and In -. surance Agent, was born April 11th, 1832, at Fredericktown, Washington county, Pennsylvania. Ile is of Scotch and German descent, and a son of Andrew Alexander, an extensive coal merchant and agriculturist in his day. William received instruction in the old log school house on the banks of the Monongahela river, and completed his education at Car- michael's Academy, in Greene county, Pennsylvania. When twenty three years old, he removed to Knox county, Ohio, where he engaged in teaching school, at the same time reading law under the supervision of Vance & Cooper, of Mount Vernon. After his admission to the bar, he removed to Canton, in Stark county, where he commenced the prac- tice of his profession in partnership with W. K. Uphanı. After continuing a few years in this connection he relin- quished the law, in order to devote his whole time to insur- ance as a profession, and removing to Toledo, in the autumn of 1867, he engaged actively in this business, Towards the close of the year 1870, being assisted therein by IS. O. Brown and C. E. Bliven, he succeeded in perfect- ing and putting into practical operation what is termed the " Toledo Schedule Rating." While not entirely new, this mode of rating was then for the first time made practicable; and the surveying and rating of the entire city of Toledo was the first instance on record of the application of the system to a whole city. Ile has continued since that date to perfect the schedule, until it is now acknowledged to be the most finished and just method of fixing an adequate and exact rate for insurance. Notwithstanding the opposition it has met, many of the first insurance men believe it to be the best mode of determining rates, and that it will come into general favor. Its perfection is mainly due to the genius, perseverance and application of William II. Alexander.
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TEEL, SAMUEL. F., Lawyer, Judge of the Second Subdivision of the Fifth Judicial District of Ohio, was born in Hillsborough, Highland county, Ohio, July 5th, 1837. Ile was the fourth child in a family of six children whose parents were Samuel Steel and Ann J. ( Russell) Steel. Ilis father, a native of Ireland, near Londonderry, was through life a Presbyterian clergyman, who, after attaining enviable distinction as a zealous and able spiritual counsellor and
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guide, died in November, 1869. His mother, a native of others relative to the investments he had in contemplation. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a daughter of Captain Russell, commander of a merchantman that was lost at sea. fle received a liberal gaeliminary and literny education, was a student for one year at the Miami University of Ohio, and for the same length of time attended the Centre College of Danville, Kentucky. For one year also he pursued a course of studies at the Princeton College of New Jersey. After graduating in 1859, he began teaching school, as private tutor for Mrs. Whitney, and was engaged at this occupation for three years. In 1862 he returned to Hills- borough, Highland county, Ohio, and there-having studied law while sustaining the role of educator-resumed his legal studies. In the fall of 1864 he was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He was subse- quently engaged in successful professional labors, making rapid strides toward the leading rank of practitioners, until the fall of 1871, the date of his election as Judge of the Common Pleas Conrt. In the discharge of the duties of this honorable position he has since been assiduously engaged. He is one of the youngest Judges of the State of Ohia, yet the possessor of the confidence of the general community, and the sincere esteem of his brethren at the bar, and on the bench, His political conceptions and principles are embodied in the rule of action of the Demo- cratie party, to which, accordingly, he lends his influence and support. Religiously, he favors the doctrines of the Presbyterian church. He was married in 1875 to Mary F. Poor, of Washington, District of Columbia,
ENT, MARVIN, Projector and ex- President of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, was born at Ravenna, Ohio, September 21st, 1816. His father, Zenas Kent, was a joiner and carpenter by trade. When a young man, he formed the acquaintance of Captain Heman Oriat. 'This gentleman discovered in Mr. Kout high qualitications for business pursuits, and in 1815 succeeded in inducing him to embark in mercantile life at Ravenna, The executive and financial ability which he displayed, coupled with enterprise and methodical management of his affairs, soon made him one of the most successful as well as one of the most reput- able merchants of northern Ohio. It was in his establish- ment that his son, Marvin Kent, was trained. Up to the age of nineteen, his time was alternated between his father's store and the school. His education was finished at Tall- madge Academy, and while it was in progress he was being inducted into the practical details of mercantile life. In his nineteenth year his father intrusted him with the purchase of his spring stock of goods, and for this purpose he visited Philadelphia and New York, having special instructions to buy on his own judgment and to disregard the advice of
Ilis father was pleased with his purchases, and with the high order of mercantile skill which his son, at so early a period in life, had exlabited. In $$335, the year following the attaiment of his majority, Marvin became associated with his father in mercantile business at Franklin Mills, Ohio, now Kent, but on account of the precarious state of his health relinquished it soon, and embarked in tanning in an establishment erected by his father and Captain John Brown, subsequently of Harper's Ferry notoriety. While thus engaged he was married to Maria, daughter of the late " Colonel William Stewart, Ile conducted the tannery with success for some years, and in 1844 returned to mercantile life, becoming at the same time largely interested in the manufacture of flour. In the latter business he continued without interruption for about twenty years, In 1850 in company with others he engaged in the manufacture of window glass at Franklin Mills, and erected and placed in operation extensive works. It was during the same year that he entered upon the most important labor of his life, and which secured to him a reputation that must be co-cx- istent with the grand public work he carried to completion. Ele projected in 1850 the Atlantic and Great Western Rail- road, designed to connect the Erie with the Ohio and Mis- sissippi Railway, and to form a grand trunk line, uniform in gauge its entire length, from New York to St. Louis. In 1851 the necessary legislation was obtained, but in order to secure the charter he was obliged to subscribe for the full amount of stock required by law for the organization of the company, etc., as well as to indemnify some of the first Board of Directors for the payment of one share subscribed by each to make them eligible for election. This was necessary, as little confidence was then felt in the success of so great an undertaking. The organization of the new company was completed by the choice of Mr. Kent as President. This responsible position he filled with the highest integrity and ability, excepting an interval of the years, until the com- pletion of the road in 1864. On June 21st of that year he had the indescribable satisfaction of driving the last spike in the last rail. In his maiden speech, delivered upon this auspicions occasion, he referred to the fact that on the 4th day of July, 1853, he had broken ground for the new road with his own hands, and removed the first shovelful of earth. It was especially gratifying to him to participate in the ecremony of finishing the road, which, united with the Eric and the Mississippi Railway, formed a continental line, with a gauge of six feet, from New York to St. Louis. This road, projected by Mr. Kent, encountered perhaps more opposition in its construction than any other in the Union, yet notwithstanding the obstacles that were constantly set in the way of this grand undertaking, he carried it forward with unwavering energy, and was at length rewarded with the honors of a triumph. The Portage County Democrat, of June 3d, 1863, contained this tribute of respect to him : " The location of the shops at Franklin Mills is doubtless
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