USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 68
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Erie Canal (extending from Terre Haute to Defiance), built in 1827 by a grant of public land from the government. The adoption of the resolutions created a great financial seusa- tion, millions of dollars being involved, and gave Mr. Griffith, through the untiring industry displayed by him, a national reputation. He also got through the Legislature a bill creat- ing an additional Common Pleas Judge in his judicial dis- trict. Casting his first vote for " Ilarry of the West," he was a life long Whig until Whiggery was swallowed up by the Republican party. Since the close of his legislative career he has been President of the Merchants' National Bank of Toledo. It was measurably by his efforts that this institution was started in 1871, with a capital of $300,000,' increased to $500,000 the following year. It was also largely by his influence and capital that the Milburn Wagon Works were removed in 1873 from Mishawaka, Indiana, to this city, with a paid-up capital of $600,000. In 1871 he was nominated by Governor Hayes as one of the two Com- missioners of the State for the Centennial Celebration, and was appointed to that position by President Grant. This post he has since held in connection with his colleague, llon. A. T. Coshorn, Director-General of the Exhibition. In per- sonal appearance he is of medium stature, delicately framed, but he is capable of enduring a great amount of labor. His head is well formed, his hair and whisker, dark ; he has an ample forehead and genial expression. He is a gentleman of fine social qualities and is widely esteemed. He was married, July 4th, 1844, to Margaret M. Miller, of Summit county, Ohio.
ACON, NORVAL B., Architect, was born, No- vember Ist, 1837, in Hamilton, Madison county, State of New York, of American parents and of English ancestry. Ile obtained his education at the academy in his native town, and after leaving school became a teacher for one season. Ile subsequently entered the studio of A. J. Purdy, the well- known portrait painter of Ithaca, New York, but was com- pelled to, abandon this pursuit after one year on account of weak eyes. At the carly age of thirteen years he had com- menced to learn the carpenter's trade, and continued the sme at various intervals for nine years. After relinquish- ing the idea of becoming an artist, he engaged in mechanical pursuits, including drawing, for seven years, and finally de- voted his exclusive attention to the study of architecture. He passed nearly five years with A. J. Lathrop, of Utica, New York, the celebrated architect and builder, and latterly was a resident of Boston, Massachusetts, from which city lie removed in April, 1873, to Toledo, Ohio, and has now at- tained an extensive and increasing patronage in that city. Ilis progress in his profession has been marked by the en- comagement he has received from leading citizens, and which is due to his practical, mechanical and artistic acquire. ments. During the time devoted to the study of his pro-
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fessiom he was in part the designer of many buildings and | 1855, when he complied with the regulations, taking his blocks in the East, including residences, court houses, churches, etc., in central New York. He has also been identified in the design and construction of many costly dwelling houses and business structures in Toledo, among which may be named the elegant Wallbridge & Hunker building, on Summit street, and the fine residences of Hon. R. Mott, Adam Burgert and L. S. Baumgardner, also of Toledo, all of which are among the most costly family resi- dences in the city. In political matters he acts with the Republican party. He was married, September 18th, 1873, to MI. Louise Cleveland, of Holland Patent, New York.
OBLE, DAVID, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, was born, August 16th, 1Szo, in the county of Donegal, Ireland, and is the son of David and Mary A. ( Hamilton) Noble. His parents were of Scotch extraction, and his paternal ancestors being of the Seceder,' faith, noted for their piety, and for their desire of educating some member of the different branches of the family in each generation for the gospel ministry. His mother's family were descended from that General Hamilton who behaved with great gallantry during the siege of Londonderry in the war of 1688, and so nobly defended that city against the rebel forces. He received a classical education in Ramelton, near his birthplace, and when eighteen years of age emigrated to the United States and located in Ohio. He soon presented himself before a Board of School Examiners, and from them received a cer- tificate of competence, which authorized him to teach in any of the common schools of Adams county for two years. He shortly after this engaged to teach in one of the rural dis- tricts for six month-, at a salary of twenty-five dollars per month ; but on account of his youth, or a lack of disciplinary power, or both combined, he was obliged to relinquish the position at the expiration of three months, He then re- moved to an adjoining county ( Highland), where he taught with great acceptance to the duectors and people for several terms, receiving a higher compensation than his contempo. raries, Having become, however, dissatisfied with teaching, and being qualified through the superior education he had acquired in Ireland, he resolved upon the study of medicine, and with that end in view placed himself under the precep- torship of that justly celebrated physician, Dr. P. J. Buck- ner, of Georgetown, Ohio. In 1846, during his attendance on the lectures in course of delivery at the Medical College of Ohio, he was appointed Attending Physician to the Hotel for Invalids, on Broadway, Cincinnati, then under the con- trol and management of those eminent men in their profes- sion, Drs. Taliaferro and Marshall. After attending one course of lectures, his funds being all exhausted, and having no friends or relatives on whom he could rely for pecuniary aid, he was compelled to defer obtaining his diploma until
final course of lectures at Starling Medical College, where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. At the com- mencement of the lite civil war, the enlistments in his neigh- borhood being few and but little zeal manifested by the people to aid the government in its struggle for existence, his patriotism prompted him to enlist as a private in a volun- teer company raised for border defence, and the regiment being disbanded, he made application for the position of Surgeon in the United States service. Having passed a successful examination, he was assigned for duty as the First Surgeon of the Goth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, He then abandoned a very extensive and lucrative practice of medicine and surgery in Sugar Tree Ridge, Ohio, in which he lund been engaged since 1847. He joined his regiment at Gallipolis, and was assigned to duty as Post Surgeon at that city. During his stay there he was forcibly impressed with the condition of the large numbers of wounded and sick soldiers, who were passing down the Ohio river on steamers bound to Cincinnati, to be transported thence by railway to Camp Dennison ; and he addressed a letter to the authorities at Washington, and also another to Governor Tod of Ohio, fully demonstrating the necessity of estab- lishing hospitals at Gallipolis, near the scene of operations of the army in West Virginia, thus adding to the comfort and perhaps saving the hives of the brave Union soldiers, which might be lost owing to the great distance between the battle fields and the then point where the hospitals were in operation. But he was destined to 'disappointment in not being able to have his favorite project carried out under his immediate supervision, for although he received orders from the War Department at Washington to have three hospital buildings erected at Gallipolis, he had just two hours before these orders reached him by telegraph also received a tele- gram from the Colonel of the Goth Regiment, ordering him to report at New Creek, Virginia, on the line of the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad, as the Assistant Surgeon of the regi- ment had resigned. Hle at once joined his regiment, then on its march to reinforce the troops under Generals Schenck and Milroy, at Franklin, they having been chiven back from Mc Dowell, Virginia, by the Confederate forces under Gen- eral " Stonewall" Jackson. He was then detached from the Goth Ohio Regiment, and appointed by General Fremont a member of the Board of Medical Examiners for the Monn- tain Department, and by them chosen as their President, which position he held until General Fremont was super- seded by General Pope. Ile was then appointed Acting Brigade Surgeon under General Piatt, and subsequently Acting Medical Director under General White, and was present at the skirmish at Currentown, and the night attack of the Union forces, under command of General Cluseret, on the troops of the Confederate General Jackson at Stras- burg, Virginia. He was also at the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic, and the engagement and surrender at Harper's Ferry. Here he was paroled, and repairing to
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Chicago was honorably discharged with the regiment, it fat Cleveland; the Ashtabula & Jamestown Railroad, and having enlisted for only one year. In 1863 he was ap the Southern Central Railroad, in the State of New York. His career as a contractor was marked with success, and he realized handsomely on all that he undertook. He was a Director of the Dominion Bank of Canada for a number of years ; also Vice-President of the Western Canada Loan and Swings Society ; Chairman of the Water Works Commis- sion, and held many other public trusts. He was married, November 25th, 1844, to Mary Welbourne, who with six children survive him. He died in Toronto, Canada, De- cember 25th, 1873, leaving a large estate. pointed Surgeon of the Board of Enrolment for the Sixth Congressional District of Ohio, and held that position until the close of the war. In 1865 he resumed the practice of mediome and surgery in the town of Hillsborough, Ohio, and was appointed Medical Examiner of Pensions. In 1872 he assisted in the organization of the Citizens' National Bank, and was elected one of its Directors. . He also took an active part in organizing the Hillsborough Building and Savings Association, with a capital of $300,000, and was elected its President. He was also one of the corporators of the Hillsborough Gas Light Company, which is now in - successful operation. He is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society, and at one time was one of its Vice-Presi- dents. In all his varied and useful life he has maintained a character for honesty and integrity, and is a striking ex- ample of what can be accomplished by industry, energy and perseverance. He is emphatically a self-made man, having arisen from a comparative state of obscurity and limited means to wealth and influence in society.
ORTHINGTON, JOHN, Stonecutter, Quarryman and Contractor, was born at Whitley Rocks, Staffordshire, England, and was educated at Cheddleton, near Stoke, where he attended school mutil he was eleven years of age, and was then apprenticed to learn the stonecutter's trade. Ile followed this calling in England, and was engaged on the new Houses of Parliament in London until the " great stone- cutters' strike " occurred, when he resolved to emigrate to America, At this time he was about nineteen years old. Ile landed in New York city, the possessor of about ten dollars and a small outfit of clothing. Having the chance of working his passage to Buffalo on a canal-bont, he ac- cepted it, and after reaching that city he started on foot to Toronto, Canada, and where he found employment at hi- trade, working by the day. During the winter of 1842 he walked from Toronto to Kingston, Canada, a distance of iSo miles, and secured the position of foreman under the Messrs. Miluer, they having the contract for building the City Hall in that place. In 1845 he accepted a position as foreman stonceutter for James Ritchie, at Toronto, which he held for a number of years. In 1851 he commenced busi- ness on his own account as contractor, and began buying stone from Henry Warner, owner of the Brownheh Quar- ries. After having great trouble in getting stone fast enough from Warner, and becoming satisfied the quarries were ex -. haustless and that they would prove a source of wealth, he purchased them in 1555. He succeeded in obtaining many contracts for the erection of various public works : among them may be named the University of Toronto; Brock's Monument, at Queenstown Heights, Ontario; Union Depot,
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ORTHINGTON, JAMES M., Manager of the Worthington Quarries, is the eldest son of the late John Worthington, and was born, November 25th, 1845, at Toronto, Canada, where also he received his education in the Upper Canada Col- lege. After leaving school he worked at the carpenter trade for two years, and then removed to Amherst, Ohio, in 1863, where he took charge of the Worthington Quarries as business manager. At that period these quarries were, comparatively speaking, in a very undeveloped con- dition. Ile subsequently entered into a partnership with his father, but retaining his position as head of the firm, his father not being an active partner. The business prospered greatly, and by his careful management they soon became the foremost operators of sandstone quarries in the United States. The present company are the owners of the exten- sive stone quarries in Brownhelm, one of the largest quarries in Amherst, and also large quarries on the shore of Lake Iluron, at Grindstone City, Michigan, where they employ about 300 hands, and their productions average about half a million dollars per annum. James Worthington has al- ways adhered to the tenets of the Republican party, and takes a great interest in the success of its principles in his adopted country. He was married, 1865, to Ilelen D. Watterman, of Cleveland, Ohio.
EAVER, WALTER L., Lawyer, was born in Mont- gomery county, Ohio, April ist, 1851, being the son of Rev. John S. and Amanda ( Hurin ) Weaver, the former of whom, a clergyman of the Presby- terian Church, was a native of Philadelphia. His mother was a native of Warren county, Ohio, and her father was one of the pioneer settlers of that State. Mr. Weaver was educated at Wittenberg, and graduated in the class of 1870, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Subsequently the degree of Master of Arts was conferred in course. He read law with General Keifer, and by diligent and careful study thoroughly prepared himself for profes. sional labors. Ile was admitted to the bar on March 28th,
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1872, and at once entered upon practice under auspices of | business life would indicate, but he is possessed of a strength the most flattering character. In 1874 he was elected Prose- cuting Attorney on the Republican ticket, and discharged the duties of his office with great ability. He has a good practice, and i, gradually winning his way to a leading position in the profession. Ile is an influential Republican, and has for some time been a member of the Republican County Committee, of which in 1$75 he was Chairman. Mr. Weaver is a young man with a bright future in prospect.
ELSON, THOMAS LOTHROP, Merchant and President of the Savings Deposit Bank, Elyria, Lorain county, Ohio, was born in Lyme, Grafton county, New Hampshire, January 11th, 1823. lle attended school only at the district common school and a short time at Thatford Academy ; beyond the humble knowledge thus gained his acquisitions are all his own. For two years after leaving school he found employment in a store in his native town. About the age of twenty-one he left Lyme, and with all his seanty wardrobe in the small compass he could carry in his hand, turned his face towards the setting sun, and arrived in Oberlin, Ohio, with a capital of only one dollar. Relin- quishing his original iden of studying at the college, he pushed his way in another direction. Travelling a long distance on foot he at length found himself weary, footsore and despondent in Musfield, Ohio. He remained here six months. Providence next led his steps to Elyria, Lorain county, Ohio. In this place he began a career of success and influence, by entering the store of S. W. Baldwin & Co. as clerk. By the most stringent economy and self-denial, he swed h's earnings, and after the lapse of five years, Mr. Baldwin, the senior partner, retiring, he formed a partner- ship with Starr Brothers & Co., which continued for six years, doing a successful business. Then a new company was formed, under the firm-name of Baldwin, Laundon & Nelson, and. prosecuted this business until 1872. Thus constituted, the fhm of Baldwin, Lamundon & Nelson, and then branch store at Wellington, Ohio, have done the largest business of general retail merchandising in Lorain county, ANIELS, THOMAS, Pharmacentist and Inventor, was born, March 21st, 1823, in Abergavenny, Monmonthshire, Wales, and when seven years old came with his parents to the United States, residing for several years in the vicinity of Canan- daigua, New York State, where he received his education both in the common and select schools of that vicinity. The family removed to Toledo, Ohio, in 1837, and in the spring of 1838 he became an apprentice to the drug business, wherein he continued about six years, when he commenced on his own account in a small way, his only capital being his savings during his clerkship and his in- dustry. By dint of close application to his vocation he has amounting some years to $350,000 per annum. In 1872 he established, in connection with others, the Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria, of which he is now President. He is ever in close sympathy with all that is noble and just, and is a stanch friend of education. For many years he has been President of the Board of Education of Elyria, and is one of the Trustees of Oberlin College. For one year he offici- ated as Mayor of Elyria ; other positions he has invariably declined. His first vote was cast in connection with the Whig party, and since that time he has been successively a member of the Liberty and Republican parties. The subject of this sketch is not ouly a man of remarkable energy and business skill, as his victory over the toils and perils of been reasonably successful. He was among the first to
and sagacity of mind which give to him a kind and degree of influence quite wonderful. In the prime of life, he has developed a character, rendering it but justice to say he fills in a high degree that greatest title -- a Christian gentle- man. He is genial and benevolent to all; generous to all calls charity has upon him, and his life is a perennial sun- beam of geniality, casting its cheerful influence on all about him. Cultivated taste and unaffected piety have ever made his home a model of happy and refined domestic life.
OLT, PARLEY CURTIS, Teacher, Bookseller and' Publisher, was born, February 28th, 1819, at Derby, Orleans county, Vermont, and received his primary education in the common schools and at the Derby Seminary. He was left an orphan at the early age of eight years. After acquiring his education he taught school for a considerable period in New England, and then removed to Ohio in 1843, where he con- tinued to teach, and travelled for eight years in the book business. In his thirty-third year he commenced dealing in books in Maumee City, Lucas county, on his own ac- count, and still continues in that calling. In May, 1873, he added to his business the publication of the Muonce Ad- vertiser. lle was formerly a member of the Whig party, but since it has ceased to exist has been a firm and consistent Republican, He was appointed Postmaster of Maumee City by President Lincoln, and beld that position above eight years, Ile has been connected with the City Council for fourteen years, and during four years of that period served as President. He was also a Director of the Infirmary for three years. By his genial and manly deportment he has won the esteem of all with whom he has come in contact. He was married in October, 1851, to Charlotte Dimmmond, who died in May, 1857. He was a second the united in marriage, in July, IS58, to Miss Post, of Maumee City.
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improve soda water apparatus, and constructed a novel and | encroached upon the boundless forest, It was necessary for complete method of drawing the beverage with great rapidity, it at the same time being of extreme frigidity. He obtained two patents upon the apparatus, which in fact cover all the principles involved in the elegant fountains now in general use. At an early day he was an active member of the Toledo literary societies, frequently taking part in debates and lec- tures, and for some time was President of the Young Men's Association, which at a later period was merged in the To- ledo Library Association, His political creed was first that of the Whigs, with which he was affiliated until its dissolution, since which time he has taken a deep interest in the princi- ples and the success of the Republican party. He was married at Hudson, Ohio, January Ist, 1850, to Mary, daugh- ter of John B. Clark, of that city.
OOD, REUBEN, cx-Governor of Ohio, was born in Middletown, Rutland county, Vermont, in 1792. HIis futher was a clergyman and chaplain in the revolutionary army. Ile obtained a good Eng- glish and classical education in Upper Canada and then commenced the study of law. Ilon. Mar- shai S. Bidwell, of New York, was one of his classmates. In 1812 he was drafted by the Canadian authorities to serve in the war against the United States, He was determined not to fight against his native country, and one stormy night escaped, accompanied by Bill Johnson, afterward an Amer- ican spy, and known in the patriot war of 1839 as the " Ilero of the Thousand Isles." They took a birch-bark camnoe and attempted to cross Lake Ontario, A gale of wind swept the lake, and the rain fell in torrents, Pitch darkness enveloped them. They were in great danger of drowning when they took refuge on a small island where they were confined by the storm for three days, Their suf- fering for food and from exposure was very great. At last, in a most deplorable condition, they reached Sackett's Harbor, on the New York shore of the lake. As they en- tered the hubor in their frail cause, they were arrested as spies by the patrol boats of the American fleet. For four days they were held as captives on board of one of the ships. An unele of Mr. Wood, hearing of his arrest, gave assurance of the patriotism of the two young men, and se- cured their release. Reuben Wood went to Woodville, New York, where his family had gone, and raised a com- pany, of which he was chosen Captain. As his company was marching to repel a threatened invasion on the northern frontier, the battle of Lake Champlain was fought and the British defeated. The volunteers then returned to Wood- ville and were disbanded. Mr. Wood then entered the law office of General Jonas Clark, of Middletown, Vermont. In 1818, two years after his marriage, he emigrated to Cleve- land, Ohio, where he found only a small village, The clearing opened upon the bank of Cuyahoga river searcely
him to apply to the Supreme Court, then in session at Ravenna, lor anthority to practise in the comts of Ohio, Ile was to poor that he made the journey on foot. Ilis wife and infant daughter soon joined him at Cleveland, taking the steamer " Walk-in-the-Water," from Buffalo. This steamer was the first on Lake Erie. When he thus finally took up his residence in Ohio, his worldly possessions consisted of his wife, his daughter, and a silver quarter of a dollar. In 1825 he was elected to the Senate of Ohio, and continued in the Senate six years. Soon after he was appointed Presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of his district, and was subsequently promoted to the bench of the Supreme Court, and served as Chief- Justice the latter portion of the time. In all he served on the bench of the Supreme Court fourteen years. In all the various offices he filled so acceptably, the breath of suspicion never touched him. Even the heat of party strife, where so much injustice is practised, never left a blot upon his character. His tall, crect form and commanding mien won for him the title of the "Old Cuyahoga Chief." In October, 1850, hc was nominated for Governor by the Democratic party, and though the dominant party had been Whig for a number of years, he was elected by a majority of 11,000. The canvass was very spirited, but not a line of abuse or any blemish on his private character was ever hinted at by any paper in the State. Ilis personal friends were numerous among the Whigs, and they voted for him. The Fugitive Slave Law had filled the country with bitterness, and Governor Wood in his inaugural expressed his abhorrence of slavery, while at the same time he counselled obedience to law. " I must not," he wrote, " by any means be understood as attempting to defend the propriety and expediency of the law. It is unacceptable to a very large majority of the people of the North. It has crowded Northern feeling to its utmost ten- sion. Public disapprobation will continue to hamper its execution and agitate its early repeal. But with all these objections to the propriety of law, violence is not to be thought of for a moment. There is a constitutional and legal remedy, which will not overthrow that stately edifice of freedom erected by our ancestors on the ruins of colonial oppression, and which has hitherto been fully protected by the majesty and supremacy of law. The remedy is amend- ment or repeal." During his administration Ohio was very prosperous, and it was universally admitted that the guber- natorial chair had never been more worthily filled. The new State Constitution went into effect in March, IS51, thus vacating the office of governor. He was renominated by the Democratic party, and re-elected by a majority of 26,000. At the assembling of the great Democratic Convention at Baltimore in 1852, to nominate a candidate for the Presi- dency, the division in the party was such that forty or fifty unavailing ballots were taken. The Virginia delegation then offered to give its entire vote lo Governor Wood, if Ohio would bring him forward. The hostility of one man
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