USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 72
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OOT, WILLIAM HENRY, retired Lumber Mer- chant, was born, June 11th, 1803, in Sheffield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and is a son of the late Ilenry Root, of Sheffield township, Lorain county, Ohio. He is of English descent on his father's side, his ancestors having emi- grated from Great Chant parish, in the county of Kent, England, in 1634, and settled in Salem, Massachusetts. Colonel Aaron Root, his grandfather, was born, March 21st, 1750, in Westfield, Massachusetts; he subsequently removed to Sheffield, where Ilenry, father of William Henry Root, was born. Henry Root married a Miss Day, who was, according to the family genealogy, of Welsh origin, and who trace their lineage back for a number of centuries. It is a noteworthy fact that within the first thirty years after the settlement of New England over eighty persons bearing the name of Day are upon record. William Henry Root attended school in Sheffichl, Massa- chusetts, until he was twelve years old, at which time he accompanied his father to the West, where they settled in what is now known as Sheffield township, Lorain county, Ohio, but then belonging to Dover. The family was the first to settle in the township, and consequently was obliged to undergo the hardships incident to a pioneer life. The nearest neighbor was at nine miles' distance, and the neces- saries of life were only to be obtained at a very high figure. For the first year after their settlement both flour and salt ruled at sixteen dollars per barrel. Less than fifty years ago, that is in 1827, in the centre of the present town of Amherst stood a solitary log cabin, wherein William Henry Root taught school. He subsequently engaged in the Inmber business, in which he continued, until within a few | Council as Police Commissioner, and has once been elected
LEMM, THEODORE, Merchant, was born in Heilbronn, Kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1839, and received his early education in Stuttgard. He subsequently emigrated to Amer- ica, and landed at New York, November 27th, 1853. Ile then found employment as a clerk in a private banking house in Wall street-firm of Adolph Klemm & Co .- where he remained until the failure of the house, an event which occurred during the course of the ensuing year. Matthew Johnson, Cashier of the Com- mercial Bank, of Toledo, Ohio, then requested him to take a position in his bank as clerk, considerable business being then done with the resident German population, which necessitated the use of an assistant as interpreter. After the downfall of the Commercial Bank he accepted the position of bookkeeper in the then new City Bank, George Hertzler, Cashier. At the expiration of one year, however, he was offered a good situation as bookkeeper with the firm of Daniel Elstoa & Co., bankers, of Chicago, Illinois, with whose offers he closed, and under whom he remained until 1857, the period of the panic in business circles, which caused the failure of the house. Ile was then brought accidentally into contact with W. J. Tuilay, of Toledo, Ohio, who persuaded him to return to that city. He was afterward employed by him as clerk in the brewery, then newly started under the name of Millard & Co. At the expiration of the original articles of partnership the brewery was carried on by Tuilay & Wilder, he still managing as principal office-man. Eventually Wilder's interest was purchased by Tuilay, and he, as a consequence, became junior partner, with the firm-style of Tuilay & Klemm. In March, 1874, he disposed of his interests in the brewery and engaged in the wholesale fruit and oyster business, which he still sustains with merited prosperity. Ile is a stockholder also in the First National Bank and in the Second National Bank, of Toledo, and owns much valu- able mining stock. He was elected by the Common
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to the same position by the people, who recognize in him a' chusetts, in 1640. When fourteen years of age he accom- valuable and an upright citizen. For sixteen years he has panied his father from Martha's Vineyard to Norwich, been a member of the Rubicon Lodge, of Toledo, Ohio. lie was married, September 26th, 1866, to a daughter of C. M. Don, ex Mayor of Toledo. Connecticut, where the family settled. In 1817 he gradu- ated from Yale College. He then entered the law office of Chief Justice Swift, of Connecticut, and on his admission to the bar was highly complimented by his learned in- structor on his proficiency. He went to Little Rock, Arkansas, and opened an office with Samuel Dinsmore, afterwards Governor of New Hampshire in 1820. In one
then removed to Ravenna, in the adjoining county of Portage. Ile was at once recognized as a man of superior. abilities, and was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives, in the State Legislature, by a majority of one. During his term Summit was admitted as a county, and he removed to its capital, Akron. In IS41 he was chosen again as a Representative, and on the organi- zation of the House was made the Speaker. It was pro- posed to repudiate the State debt; he took strong ground against it, insisting that it would be both suicidal and dis- graceful. John Brough aided him, and the scheme was dropped. In 1848 the General Assembly elected him a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State for the term of seven years. When four years remained to be served the new constitution was in force, and the office of Judge be- came elective by the people. Ile refused to become a can- didate. His opinions while on the bench are contained in volumes xviii., xix. and xx. " Ohio Reports; " and are mod- els of judicial literature. On leaving the bench he removed to Cleveland and resumed the practice of law, and also took an active part in the political movements of the day. He had been trained a Democrat, but when the Fugitive Slave law was enacted, in 1850, he abandoned the Democracy and joined the Free-Soil party, pledged to oppose the ex- tension of slavery. Ile was a prominent delegate at the Free-Soil Convention, in 1852, which nominated John P'. Hale for the Presidency. When the Republican party was organized he took an active part in the councils, was a member of the first Republican convention, at Pittsburgh, in 1856, and a delegate at large for the State of Ohio at the Philadelphia Convention, which nominated John C. Fre- mont. In October, 1862, he was elected to Congress from the Eighteenth District of Ohio. He was appointed a member of the Standing Committee on Naval Affairs, and of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, and on the formation of a select committee on the bankrupt law he was made its chairman. In 1864 he was re-elected to his sent, and was made a member of the Committee on Appro- priations, and retained his position as a member of the Committee on Bankruptcy. In 1866 he was chosen for a third term in Congress, serving on the Committee on Ap- propriations, the Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the United States and upon the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress, With this, the Forticth Congress, his
ARKALL, BENJAMIN, Merchant, was born, January 6th, 1801, in Calvert county, Maryland, year and a half he removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, and is of Scoich descent on his father's side, his settling at Warren, where he remained sixteen years. He paternal ancestry having left that country about two centuries ago to settle in America. Ilis maternal grandfather was of English blood, was named Bond, had studied medicine in Philadelphia, and had just graduated there as doctor of medicine when he was appointed Surgeon of the American portion of the army under General Braddock, which was subsequently defeated near Pittsburgh. After the retreat he returned to Maryland and settled in Calvert county, where many of his descendants continue to reside. Benjamin was educated at Charlotte Hall College, Maryland, from which he gradu- ated in 1817, and originally intended to study medicine; but in the autumn of that year he removed to Belmont county, Ohio, where he commenced farming, and continued in that avocation until 1828, when he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Barnesville, and so continued until IS52. Ile was elected the first Recorder of the incorporated village of Barnesville, and, with a few exceptions, has been con- nected ever since with the municipal government, filling at various times the positions of Councilman, Clerk of the Board, Recorder and Mayor. In 1839 he was elected a Justice of the Peace, and, excepting a brief interval, has served in that capacity ever since, and at present holds a Justice's commission and is also Clerk of the town. In 1845 he was elected to the State Senate, serving out his term in that body ; and previous to his election had served as Postmaster for ten years, resigning from this position when elected Senator. He was reappointed Postmaster in 1853, and resigned in 1861. In 1821 he was elected First Lieutenant of a volunteer company, and became success- ively Captain, Lieutenant-Colonel, full Colonel and Brigade Major. Ile has always acted with the Democratic party, polling his first vote for General Jackson, in 1824. IIe was married in 1823 to Mary Pearce near Wheeling, Virginia.
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PALDING, HON. RUFUS PAINE, Jurist and Statesman, was born, May 3d, 1798, at West Tisbury, Massachusetts, and is the son of Dr. Rufus Spalding, who was an able practitioner of medicine. lle is of the seventh generation of old New England stock, his linea ancestor, Edward Spalding, being a residem of Braintree, Massa-
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legislative career closed, the duties being too onerous for | he deliberately ran away from home and commenced the his advancing years. Several months before the time of nomination, therefore, he wrote a letter to his constituents, positively declining a nomination and announcing his pur. pose to retire from public life. His Congressional record was one of honor. He took part in all of the leading debates, and with such effect that he received and held the attention of the House whenever he obtained the floor, and largely influenced its action. In his second term he took a leading part in legislating for the reconstruction of the Southern States. In the early days of the rebellion he made a speech in which he indicated the measures he re- garded as best adapted for the purpose, and the suggestions he offered were subsequently adopted in the reconstruction laws. The military features originated in an amendment proposed by him when the first reconstruction bill of Thad- deus Stevens was presented. In his closing term he was somewhat independent of party ties; he took a promi- nent part in the financial debates, and his speeches at- tracted attention in Congress and out. IIe also worked : faithfully in his committee rooms. No man ever suspected him of bribery or corruption. Ile was faithful to the in- terests of his district, and was noted for the patient industry with which he attended to every wish of his constituents, collectively or individually. After leaving Congress he returned to the practice of law. As a lawyer he was as distinguished as he was as a statesman. His personal ap- pearance and manner added to the effect of his arguments, being dignified and impressive. In October, 1822, he was married to Lucretia A. Swift, eldest daughter of Chief- Jus- tice Zephaniah Swift, of Connecticut. Seven children were born of this marriage, of whom but three survive. In January, 1859, he was married to his second wife, S. N. Pierson, of Windsor, Connecticut.
ONIIAM, PERRY J., one of the leading Lawyers of Cincinnati, was born on a farm in Clermont county, Ohio, May 25th, 1822. His family is one of the oldest and most worthy pioneer fam- ilies of the State, having emigrated from Penn- sylvania and settled in Clermont county as early as 1800. Ilis father, Colonel J. S. Donham, was an officer in the army during the war of 1812, and was present at the siege of Fort Meigs. Ile became one of the first farmers and largest stock-raisers of Clermont county. A man of fine personal and social habits, few men of his day stood so high in the estimation of the community. In 1856 he died, leaving a fine estate and a family consisting of nine chil- dren, four sons and five daughters, and their aged mother, who was Elizabeth Ayres, of New Jersey, and who is still living, active and healthy, at the advanced age of eighty-one. The subject of this sketch worked on the farm and went to school until the age of seventeen, when
world on his own account as a school teacher. Determined to receive no assistance from home, he taught until he had made money enough to pay his way at college. Accord- ingly in iSajt he entered Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. After leaving college he returned to his father's fann, where he remained for a year or two. Ilaving for a long time chosen the law for a profession, in 1846 he went to Georgetown and began a course of legal study in the office of General Thomas L. Ilamar, where he remained until that distinguished lawyer and soldier entered the army, in the war with Mexico. In 1848 he was admitted to the bar, but at once turned his attention to teaching, in order to make money to buy a law library. This being accom- plished, in 1849 he went to New Richmond and com- menced practice. With flattering successes, he remained in New Richmond until 1863, when he went to Ports- mouth, where he practised three years with continued good fortune. But still looking for a wider field, he removed to Cincinnati in 1867. Since that time he has devoted his entire attention to the duties of his profession. For several years he has been especially concerned in corporation and admiralty causes, in which he has gained a reputation as one of the first men at the Cincinnati bar. During the memorable Presidential contest of 1860 Mr. Donham stumped the southern part of the State for Douglas, and was at various times connected with the movements of his party. At this period he had acquired a reputation as a public speaker to which few of his profession attain, and which compelled him to give much of his time to address- ing educational and other assemblies. When the rebellion broke out be at once espoused the cause of the government, and made many war speeches and in every possible way advanced the interests of the country. Among some old war records, consulted in connection with this sketch, is a speech made by Mr. Donham at New Richmond, immedi- ately after the firing on Fort Sumter, which is so character- istic of the man and the time that a few passages claim insertion here. On being introduced he said : " I am not here for the purpose of making a speech. This is not the time nor the occasion for speech-making. The publie mind is already overcharged with excitement, and I do not so much rise to speak of the necessity of action as I do to advise calmness, the exercise of judgment and silent deter- mination to do the thing most calculated to promote the interests of our common country. . I have no desire to advance an opinion as to what cause led to this humil- iating condition of the country, or even how the storm of war might have been averted. We are now in the midst of the dread calamity, and the philanthropist and patriot turn their eyes to every quarter and exclaim, What is now to be done for the salvation of the country ? In answering this great question I see but one course to be pursned : to stand by the Union. 'United we stand, divided we fall.' This was the motto of great statesmen, adopted in moments
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of calm reflection, and let us all now stand by it, when | summer of 1847. In the autumn of that year he emigrated agitation and commotion, like a mighty river, are sweeping over our land. I see before me hundreds who have hitherto belonged to different political organizations, contending for the supremacy of their favorite policy, but in this dread moment I see but one party, whose hearts are throbbing by one impulse, whose arms are directed to but one end ; and that is the rescue of our common country. To that end let us direct our energies, and upon that altar let our sacrifices be laid. Let this once more be the prevalent feeling, . . . and the tide of war will soon be stayed, desolation be at an end, and then, and not till then, will the smiles of prosperity once more rest on the heads of a happy nation." Since the war Mr. Donham has had no party connection, voting for men of both political organizations as he deems them most worthy of his support. Although closely devoted to his legal duties, he still finds leisure for literary pursuits, and few men of his profession have a more extended range of general knowledge. He has one of the finest general and law libraries in the country. In 1851 he was married to Sarah A. McClain, daughter of Captain William McClain, one of the widest known and most esteemed steamboat men of his time, and familiarly known as the " Napoleon of the Ohio." In 1862 she died, leaving two daughters, Carrie and Belle. These beautiful and accomplished daughters are now the great care and pride of his life. This is a brief sketch of a Christian lawyer ; exemplary in all his private, social and business habits; with a mind naturally keen, clear and analytic, trained by long and varied culture; with a mild and even temper, that renders him a genial com- panion, and would characterize him in any deliberative body; with the broadest and most kindly feelings towards men in their successes and misfortunes; devoted to his profession, while finding in his family the quiet, unspoken pride of his life.
ALKER, WILLIAM THOMAS, Merchant, was born, December 28th, 1825, near the city of Dub- 4. lin, Ireland, and is of English and Welsh ancestry. His education was attended principally by a pri- vate tutor until he was fourteen years of age, when he entered a wholesale grocery and wine merchant's office in the town of Carlow as junior clerk, and during the space of four years passed through the different grades, until he became bookkeeper in the establishment. In 1845 he left the house to assist his father in his business at Athy, in the county of Kildare, as he was in failing health. llis father having died in 1846, he closed up the business, and accepted a position on the staff of the govern- ment engineering department, then established to furnish work for the relief of the destitute people, made so by the failure of the potato crop. In this connection he served as Inspecting Officer and Surveyor of Work done on the pub- lie works, until the partial abandonment of the service in the
to the United States. The winter of IS47-48 was a very severe one, and he found himself unable to stand the cli- mate; and for the purpose of a change he enhsted in the 2d Regiment New York Volunteers, then serving in Mexico. He left New York in January, 1848, with others to join the regiment. After landing at Vera Cruz, he was detached for special service as clerk in the hospital department at Vera Cruz, where he remained until the close of the war. Ile returned to New York with his regiment, and soon thereafter sailed for England, where he passed the winter of 1848-49, but left that country for the United States in the fall of 1849. Soon after landing in New York he went to the West, and reaching Buffalo, effected an engagement as foreman on the public works. Ile subsequently became connected with the New York & Eric, the Erie & State Line, the Buffalo & State Line, and the Buffalo & Canan- daigua Railroads, as Foreman and Clerk, and on the latter as Manager. In 1853 he became bookkeeper for the house of Chamberlin & Crawford, of Cleveland, in one of their branch establishments on the Ohio river, at Rochester, Pennsylva- nia, where he remained four years, part of the time as book- keeper and part as resident manager of their transportation business, which consisted of steamers, barges or keel-boats on the Ohio, and canal-boats on the canal. In 1857, at the solicitation of the senior partner of the house, who took a great interest in him, he removed to Cleveland to act as shipping clerk, by which means he could acquire a knowl- edge of the mode of transacting lake business. He re- mained in that office for one year, when he received the appointment of Agent for the Northern Transportation Com- pany at Toledo. lle built up very soon an immense traffic for the line, and has continued to act for the line ever since. In the meantime, however, he established a commission business at Toledo, which has been so far successful. He takes a great interest in Freemasonry, having joined that fraternity in 1853, at Rochester, Pennsylvania, being made a Master Mason in Rochester Lodge, No. 229; a Royal Arch Mason in Fort Meigs Chapter (Toledo), No, 29; and a Royal and Select Master in Toledo Council, No. 33. He is also a Knight Templar in Toledo Commandery, No. 7. lle has held several offices in the lodge, chapter and com- mandery, and now has the honor of being Eminent Com- mander of the Toledo Commandery, No. 7, one of the finest and best in the State, composed as it is of the leading business and professional men of the city. In addition to these he is a member of the Orient of Cleveland, and of the Ohio Consistory, at Cincinnati, "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons," and has attained the thirty-second degree. Ile is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, worshipping at Trinity Church, Toledo, though, during the lifetime of his first wife, he was a member with her of the First Baptist Church of the same city. He has been a patron of and believer in life insurance, and has in- creased the amount of his policies contemporaneously with
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the increase of his family and as his ability permitted, and in accordance with a settled belief that a man should make provision for his family commensurate to the style of living to which they have been accustomed, if at all possible. Ile is not nor has he ever been a speenlator, but believes in steady labor as the best for all. Ilis manners are rather re- served until he becomes well acquainted with those he meets. With his employés he is kind but stern, allowing no idling of time, but making them follow the rules he laid down for himself while young-to do everything, whether it be little or much, to the best of his ability, and to keep employed during business hours, and to work for the inter- ests of his employer. Through life he has been frequently intrusted with offices in the Board of Trade and other insti- tutions and associations. Ile is now a Director of the Toledo Fire and Marine Insurance Company ; also a Direc- tor of the Toledo Masonic Temple Association. IIe lives well and comfortably, but dislikes show either in himself or family. The desire of his heart is to leave a name to his children of being an honest Christian man, and a good and true Mason. In this latter respect he desires to be found faithful to the trust confided to him, and living and acting with all men in accordance with the teachings and promises he has made upon the altar of Freemasonry. Ile was mar- ried in 1852 to Julia Barrill, of Evans, New York. She died in 1870, leaving six children-four sons and two daugh- ters-all of whom are living. In 1871 he was united in marriage to Rose Jennings, of Adrian, Michigan, by whom he has two children living, one son and one daughter.
ESSIONS, FRANCIS C., Merchant and Banker, was born in South Wilbraham, Massachusetts, on February 27th, 1820. His grandfather, Robert Sessions, was a clerk in Boston in 1773, and was one of the " forty or fifty " men whose exploit at the celebrated Boston Tea Party is thus described by Bancroft : " On an instant a shout was heard at the porch (of the old South Church) ; the war-whoop resounded; a body of men, forty or fifty in number, disguised as Indians, passed by the door ; and, encouraged by Samuel Adams, Hancock, and others, repaired to Griffin's wharf, . . . took possession of three teaships, and in about three hours, three hundred and forty chests of tea, being the whole quantity that had been imported, were emptied into the bay, without the least injury to other property." His ancestor was sub- sequently called to fill important official positions. IIc married Mary Ruggles (whose brother was United States Senator from Ohio during three terms-eighteen years), and died at the age of eighty-five. The father of Francis C. Sessions, Francis Sessions, was born in South Wilbraham, Massachusetts, married Sophronia Metcalf, of Lebanon, Con- nectieut, and died at the age of thirty. His widow lived to be eighty years old, and was a woman of remarkable physi-
cal and mental vigor which she retained almost to the last. Francis C. Sessions attended in succession the academies of Suffield, Westfield, Wilbraham and Monson. The failure of his health preventing him from entering college, as he had intended doing, he visited Ohio in the fall of 1840, and the following year accepted a clerkship in a store in Colum- bus. In 1843 he entered into a copartnership under the form of Ellis, Sessions & Co., in the dry-goods business. Purchasing the interest of his partners after two years, he continued the business on his own account until 1856, when he disposed of his store and engaged in the wool trade. In 1869 he became one of the proprietors and the President of the Commercial Bank. Throughout the whole term of the late civil war Mr. Sessions spent a large part of his time in the service of the Sanitary Commission. IIe made the memorable trip to Fort Donelson, and to quote from the records of the Commission concerning him, " went to Pitts- burgh Landing immediately after the battle, where he was connected with the great work accomplished in the care of the sick and wounded during the spring and early summer of 1862. Ile went with Dr. Smith to Murfreesboro' upon the occasion of the battle of Stone River; visited Virginia during the second campaign in that State, as well as most other important points in our field of operation ; always as an earnest, hard-working, good Samaritan." The report of the Commission further records that " the establishment and success of the Columbus (Soldiers') Home are in a large degree due to the efforts of Mr. F. C. Sessions, a member of the Columbus Branch of the Sanitary Commission, a gentleman who was one of the earliest volunteers in the cause of humanity called out by the war, and who, during its entire continuance, by his labors on battle-fields, in camps and hospitals, while he sacrificed his personal inter- ests and his health, won for him the admiration and respect of all who knew him. His name frequently appears on the records of the work of the Sanitary Commission at the West, in which, though an unpaid, he was a most earnest and faithful worker. Throughout the existence of the Ilome at Columbus, Mr. Sessions gave it his constant supervision, and was in fact its outside superintendent and manager." Mr. Sessions has held many benevolent and educational trusts ; has been a Trustee of Marietta College, of the HIannah Neil Mission, and of the Ohio Institution for the Blind. The erection of the magnificent new Blind Asylum was intrusted to the supervision of himself and Henry C. Noble. He has contributed not a little to the growth of Columbus in the building of business blocks and numerous middle-class houses. Ile has at different times acted as Director and President of manufacturing enterprises. Ile was one of the original members of the Third Presbyterian Church, and subsequently of the First Congregational Church, Columbus. Of the latter he is still a Deacon, and has from its inauguration contributed very largely of his labor and treasure to its prosperity. He was for many years an enthusiastic and successful superintendent of its Sunday
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