USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
scope of his official duties, was pursued with the same vigor and organizing force which had marked his previous ad. ministration. This was necessarily in conflict with the spirit and purpose of the President, Mr. Johnson, and in the spring of 1868 General Pope and General Swayne were relieved from duty in the same order, and on the eve of important elections in both States; the design, which was afterwards in good part carried out, being to place these elections in the hands of men hostile to the policy of re- construction. In December, 1868, General Swayne was married. to Ellen Harris, daughter of Alfred Harris, Esq., of Louisville, Kentucky, his regiment in the regular army being then stationed at Nashville, Tennessee. Soon after, he was ordered to Washington, and placed in charge of an important burean in the War Department; but not liking department life, in June, 1872, he applied to be retired, and removed to Toledo, Ohio, where he at once formed a part- nership with John R. Osborn, of that city, in the practice of law, taking, presently afterwards, a very active part in developing and increasing of railroad facilities, and as a member of the Board of Education, in promoting the edu- cational interests of the city.
OOMIS, FINNEY R., Merchant, and Member of the House of Representatives of the Sixty-first General Assembly of Ohio, was born in Medina county, Ohio, on the 3d of September, 1841, his parents being Milo and Lucy A. Loomis, Ile received his early education in the public schools of Medina county, and subsequently entered Oberlin Col- lege, where he graduated. When the war of the rebellion broke out, he was among the first to enter the military ser- vice in the cause of the Union. Ile enlisted as a private on the 19th of April, 1861, and served as a private and orderly sergeant until the battle of Antietam, in 1862. In that battle he distinguished himself by special gallantry, and was promoted therefor to the rank of Second Lieuten- ant. He was severely wounded in the hip during the engagement, and was, of course, incapacitated for active service for a time thereafter. As soon as he was able for duty, however, he was back in the field again, and served so effectively that, in January, 1863, he was promoted to a First Lieutenancy, and detailed to the position of Ordnance Officer of a brigade in the 2d Army Corps. In July, 1863, he was still further advanced in rank, being made Captain and Commissary of Subsistence of his brigade. At the battle of Gettysburg he was wounded in the shoulder. lle, however, remained in the field, and continued to do active service until his regiment-the 8th Ohio Volunteers -was mustered out, by reason of expiration of term of ser- vice, July 13th, 1864. All his military service was with the Army of the Potomae. Immediately after his return to his
391
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
bome at Lodi, Medina county, he was made Postmaster of the place, and also engaged in general merchandising busi- ness. He continued in this business until the spring of 1873, when be gave it up. In that year, 1873, he was elected on the Republican ticket as a member of the House of Representatives of the Sixty-first General Assembly, from Medina county, and was placed on the Committees on Claims, Retrenchment, and Blind, Deaf and Dumb, and Imbecile Asylums, being secretary of the two latter. Ile proved himself an admirable committeeman, and as good a legislator as he had been a soldier, which is saying that, as a legislator, he left little to be desired. Ile has been twice married. In November, 1862, he married Nellie G. Slater, of Wayne county, Ohio. She died in October, 1863, and on the 10th of January, 1865, he married Catherine C. Kill- mer, of Brooklyn, New York, by whom he has one child, a son, born March 16th, 1871. In September, IS75, he purchased property in Medina, the county-seat of his native county, where he removed with his family soon after, and where he now resides.
ELLS, IION. JACOB M., Attorney-at-Law, was born in Clermont county, Ohio, June 8th, 1821. Ile was the oldest child in a family of thirteen children, whose parents were Eli Wells and Eliza (Mahan) Wells. His father, a native of Mason county, Kentucky, followed through life princi- pally agricultural pursuits. Ile moved to Ohio in 1803, settling in Clermont county, where he has since permanently resided. His mother, a native of Bethel, Clermont county, Ohio, was a daughter of Jacob Mahan, early pioneer and preacher of that county. The sires of the Wells family were active participants in the stirring events of revolu- tionary days, and the Mahans took part in the subsequent war of 1812. Until his twentieth year was reached his days were spent alternately in attending school through the winter months, and in laboring on a farm during the summer seasons. The year (Squ saw him in possession of a liberal education, and be then assumed the role of teacher in a school of Brown county, Ohio. During the ensuing eight years of his experience as an educator he applied himself with more or less regularity to the study of law. In the spring of 1853 he settled in West Union, Adams county, and taught school there for one year. Upon his admission to the bar in 1854 he immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in West Union, and has down to the present time continued to prosecute his professional labors with notable success. He has been twice elected Justice of the Peace, the first time about the year 1847, and for two years he acted as Surveyor for Adams county. Also, for one term, he officiated as Prosecuting Attorney of Adams county. Hle has never descended into the political arena as a par- tisan office-seeker, but in the movements of the hour has uniformly supported the man and cause that, in his views,
promised to accomplish the greater good. The principles of the Republican party are mote thoroughly in harmony with his sentiments and ideas than are those of any of the other political organizations. His religions opinions are ex. pressed in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ile was married in April, 1844, to Elizabeth J. Robbins, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca Robbins, of Adams county, Ohio, who died in August, 1868. He was again married, in January, 1870, to Elizabeth F. Thompson, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, a graduate of Olome Institute, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. He is the father of seven living children by his first marriage, four sons and three daughters.
HOMAS, DAVID W., Attorney-at-Law, was born in Loudon county, Virginia, August Inth, 1833. Ile was the fourth child in a family of six children whose parents were Joseph Thomas and Sallie (Worthington) Thomas, also natives of Loudon county, Virginia, and descendants of families whose members had been participants in the stirring events of the Revolution. Ilis father followed through life the business of wagon and carriage-maker, and moved to Ohio in 1836, settling at Mount Vernon, Knox county, where he remained during the ensuing three years. He then re- moved to Adams county, near Mount Leigh, where he re- sided until his decease in 1870. He was noted for his ability as a master-mechanic, and esteemed for his sterling integrity of character. He was of Welsh extraction. Ilis earlier years were passed in various employments, in the carriage-shop and on the farm, Ilis early education, limited in degree and kind, Was acquired by his own exer- tions. While in his twentieth year, his literary attainments having been improved by diligent study and observation, he assumed the role of educator in a school at Locust Grove, Adams county, where he taught during two winters, while the summer months were devoted to field labor. In those years he also began the study of law. In the winter of IS00 he removed to West Union, and resumed his law studies under the supervision of Colonel Joseph R. Cockerill. In May, 1861, he entered the Union service as a private of Company D), of the 24th Regiment of Ohio Volunteer In- fantry. With that body he served actively for three years, and while connected with it was a participant in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Lookont Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and in numerous other minor engagements. On the second day of the battle of Shiloh he was wounded in the thigh by a Minie-ball. This casualty incapacitated him for service for about two months. After the battle of Stone River he was promoted to a First Lieutenancy, and subsequently was raised to the rank of Captain. In June, 1864, he received an honorable dis- charge from the army, his term of service having expired, and returned to West Union. There he continued the
392
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
study of law under the direction of llon. E. P. Evans, and, | has had four children. lis son, William HI. Miller, is October Ist, 1864, was admitted to the bar. Since his entry Superintendent of the Columnbus Gis Works, a most worthy and exemplary young gentleman. into professional life he has, with the exception of two years passed in Georgetown, Brown county, resided constantly in West Union, and has there acquired a very extensive and remunerative practice. In 1867 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Adams county, and served for one term. 1le was elected Mayor of West Union in 1873, and re-elected to the same office in 1874, serving three years. 1Ie is an ally of the Democratic party. llis integrity of character is unassailable, and his course in life has uniformly been characterized by untiring industry and well-directed energy. Ilis views on religious matters are liberal and free from any taint of bigotry or intolerance. He was married in 1854 to Elizabeth Frilts, a native of Loudon county, Virginia.
ILLER, JOIIN, Banker, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, March 16th, ISTO. Ilis early edu- eation was liberal, and obtained in the then com- mon schools of his native place. After a residence of several years in Savannah, Georgia, where he took a clerical position, he returned to Worcester, and there was engaged for a brief period in the arena of business. In 1838 he moved to Columbus, Ohio, and em- barked in the grocery business, which he sustained with success until 1854. In February of this year he engaged in the banking business, under the firm-style of Miller, Donakl- son & Co., over which house he still presides as head. He has served in all twelve years as a member of the City Council. In 1862 he organized the present Steam Fire Department, and until 1865, the date of his resignation, officiated as its Chief Engineer. From 1863 to 1865 he was Director of the Ohio Penitentiary. Ile was also Director of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company for twenty-one consecutive years, and at the expiration of that extended period declined a longer service. Ile has been President and a Director of the Columbus Gas- Light and Coke Company, and of the Franklin Insurance Com. pmy, from the dates of their organization down to the present time, and was President of the first Street Railroad built in the city of Columbus. He was also one of the commissioners to build the new depot of the Cleveland, Co- lambus & Cincinnati Railroad. During the years of his residence in Columbus, he has been zealously engaged in the support and aid of all public enterprises of an important nature, and has acted in a most laudable spirit in furthering, with well-directed energy, the fruitful development of the city's natural and artificial resources. The possessor of a large fortune, he is ever ready to listen to the story of dis- tress, and as ready to assist the deserving unfortunate, while his record, public or private, is without a stain. lle was married in 1834 to llarriet R. Robinson, by whom he
INEGARNER, DAVID C., Hardware Merchant, Mayor of Newark, Ohio, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, November 6th, IS33. 1lis parents were residents of Virginia, and his father followed through life mercantile pursuits. Ile was edu- cated primarily at a country school located in the vicinity of his home. lle was subsequently a student in Granville College, now Dennison University, where he re- mained until eighteen years of age. Hle was then employed as a elerk in a store at Pataskala, Licking county, Ohio, for about two years. At a later period he was occupied for a time on a farm, and also in teaching school during the winter months. In the spring of 1857 he moved to Keokuk, lowa, where he carried on the business of a grocery store for eighteen months, sustaining through this time a fair trade. In the spring of 1860, having spent nine months in St. Louis, in the cigar and tobaeco business, he removed to Newark, Ohio. Here he embarked in the hardware busi- ness, successively in partnership and alone, in which he has since continued. From 1869 to 1875 he was a member of the Board of Education of Newark, and in the spring of 1874 was elected Mayor of the town. In addition to his private business as a hardware merchant, he possesses a valuable interest in the glass works of Shields, King & Co. In his prominent and honorable position as head of the city powers, he conducts himself with marked loyalty and ability, and by his administration has deservedly won the respect and esteem of his fellow-townsmen. lle was mar- ried, March 12th, 1861, to Mary E. Ilaver, of Fairfield county, Ohio.
ARROTT, COLONEL EDWIN A., President of the Dayton (Ohio) Malleable Iron Works, was born in Dayton, Ohio, November 30th, 1830. 11is parents, Thomas Parrott and Sarah A. (Sullivan) Parrott, were natives of Dorchester county, Mary- land, and moved to Ohio in 1829. The Parrott family has a New England origin, and Captain Abner Par- rott commanded a privateer which was fitted out at Salem, and which was one of the first vessels to engage in the revo- lutionary struggle, and establish the reputation of the Amer- ican navy. lle received his education in the Ohio Wes- leyan University at Delaware, Ohio, graduating in the class of 1849 with the degree of A. B., that of A. M. being con- ferred at a subsequent period. After abandoning collegiate life he registered for the bar in Dayton, and applied him- self to the study of law during the ensuing eighteen months. Ile also attended one term at the Harvard College Law
393
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
School. Ile then returned to his home and engaged in the | his term he withdrew from politics, and has since devoted manufacturing business with his father. Having, however, himself exclusively to business. He is President of the Dayton Malleable Iron Works, an enterprise of extensive proportions, of which he is the founder. Ile was married in February, 1866, to Mary M. Thomas, daughter of Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Thomas. kept up his legal studies in private, he passed the required examination, and in 1853 was admitted to the bar. From that time until 1850, not desiring to enter on the practice of his profession, his attention was engrossed by the manu- facturing business. He was then elected to the Legislature on the Republican ticket, thus securing the honor of being the first member returned by his party from Montgomery within the preceding ten years. During the eventful period ECK, WILLIAM LAUREN, Physician and Su- perintendent of the Cincinnati Sanitarium, was born in Woodbridge, New Haven county, Con- necticut, on the 7th of July, 1820. Through both branches of the family he is descended from revo- lutionary stock. His parents were both natives of Connecticut, and his father, Lauren Peck, was a direct descendant of one of the original settlers of New Haven. A prominent feature of William's early discipline was the discipline of labor, and his father's farm was his earliest school. The father, however, was in circumstances that en- abled him to give his children-there were seven of them and William was the third-a good general education. Of his opportunities in this direction William availed himself fully, and obtained a very thorough education. When he was twenty years of age he began the study of medicine, having early resolved to devote himself to that profession. His habits of hard work and patient study served a good purpose now, no less than his excellent natural abilities. While going through the elementary discipline of medical study, he supported himself by teaching school and laboring at other pursuits ; and not only supported himself, but accumu- lated enough to enable him to go through a course of study in a medical college, when the time came. Having finished his course of elementary study, he entered the Berkshire Medical College, from which institution he graduated in the year 1848, and immediately thereafter he established himself in the practice of medicine at Pittsfield, Massachu- setts. In connection with his medical practice he opened a drug store, and rapidly achieved prosperity, both as a med- ical practitioner and as a druggist. He remained at Pitts- field until 1851, when he sold out his interests there and removed to Ohio, locating himself in Circleville. There he devoted his entire time and attention to the practice of medicine and surgery, and attained a substantial and envi- able success. Ile remained there until the fall of 1862, when he was appointed Surgeon of the 3d Ohio Volunteers, to succeed Dr. McMeans, who had died after the battle of Perryville. He at once accompanied the regiment to the field, and continued with it until it was mustered out of service in June, 1864. After leaving the army he returned to Ohio and took charge of the State Lunatic Asylum at Columbus, in which position he remained for the next ten years. In April, 1874, he severed his connection with the asylum, and was placed in charge of the Cincinnati Sani tarium, located on College Hill, near Cincinnati, and his of the secession of the Southern States, he acted as Chair- man of the House Committee on Federal Relations, and ex- hibited a fearless boldness in urging the goverment to make a decisive stand and strike pitilessly to preserve the national existence. Perceiving the inevitable drift of mat- ters, the day after the first call of President Lincoln for troops he resigned his seat in the House, and hastened back to Dayton in order to organize a militia regiment, of which he was Major, and prepare it to assist in the defence of the capital. With four companies of the Ist Regiment of Ohio Militia, speedily brought together, he returned to Columbus within a week, where his forces were augmented by com- panies from other parts of the State. Thus was formed the Ist Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, of which he was promptly elected Lientenant-Colonel. Moving immediately to the front, he participated in the engagement under General Schenck at Vienna. The term of service of those troops; which was limited to ninety days, expired three days before the battle of Bull Run; they remained under orders, how- ever, until after that engagement, and were active partici- pants in it. " The shadow of this memorable defeat cannot fall on the patriotism of the Ist Ohio Regiment." On his return to his State, the regiment was re-enlisted, retaining its old number, while he was elected to occupy its colonelcy. The elective system of determining officers had, however, just been abolished, and the position of Colonel was given to an officer of the regular army, he resuming his former position as Lieutenant-Colonel. Joining the Army of the Cumberland he served on the staff of General A. B. McCook until May, 1862, when he was promoted to the full rank of Colonel. Ile commanded the 3d Brigade of the 2d Divi- sion of the Ist Army Corps from January, 1863, until Sep- tember Ist, at which date he was detailed to organize the Provost-Marshal's Bureau of Ohio, with head-quarters at Columbus. In this position he remained until February, 1864, when the death of his father made it necessary for him to give his personal attention to the settlement of the estate, and he accordingly resigned his position in the army. At this date, however, the war was practically ended, and a few weeks later the Confederacy collapsed. Ile was at the head of his regiment in the famous battles of Pittsburgh Landing and Murfreesboro', and led it also in the minor engagements occurring up to the period of his detail- ment. In 1865 he was again elected to the Legislature, and was chosen Speaker of the House. At the conclusion of
50
1
394 .
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
position as Superintendent of this institution he still holds, | remained until 1859, when he removed to the southeast The Sanitarium is a benevolent institution, under the control of a board of directors. Its purpose is, most especially, to afford relief in cases of nervous disorder. During the years 1874 75 about one hundred and fifty persons of both sexes received treatment there, and left the institution materially benefited. Of these about one-tenth were inebriates, three- fourths were lunatics, and the remainder were afflicted with various nervous infirmities. Politically Dr. Peck is a Re- publican, although the constant demands of his profession have left him little time for active participation in politics. Hle is an active and consistent member of the Presbyte- rian Church, and was for years a deacon of that body. IIe was married on the 18th of April, 1841, to Sarah Vienna Olds, a native of Vermont, and a daughter of Amasa Olds, of Marlborough in that State.
ELSON, RICHARD, Author and Teacher, was born in Castleward, county of Down, Ireland, July 9th, 1822. His father, James Nelson, was a sen-captain, well known in Belfast, one of the ports in which he traded before his death, which oc- curred in 1868. His ancestors, the Nelsons and Moores, of the third generation, both were from Newcastle- upon- Tyne, England, and settled on either side of Strang. ford river, in the county of Down. His education consisted of the elementary branches which were acquired in Strang ford near Castleward, and the higher course in science, mathematics, and English literature in Belfast, under the professors of the Belfast Institution. Soon after leaving Belfast he served under his brother Horatio on board the " Britannia " as cabin-boy, but in a short time was appren- ticed to sailmaking with Francis McCracken, in Belfast, at one time the largest sailmaker in Europe." In the third year of his apprenticeship Mr. MeCracken died, and the subject of this sketch was made second foreman of the establishment, and subsequently first foreman. At that time he had served as an apprentice but four years, and as the law of the trades. union required seven years, the workmen, in accordance with their rules, refused to work under Mr. Nelson as fore- man until he had completed his seven years. This action of the trades-union changed his entire course, and he en- gaged a few years in study, and then took a position as tutor in a family in Kings county, where he remained several years. In 1847 he opened a mercantile and classical academy in Great Howard street, Liverpool, England, where he remained till July, 1849, when he sailed for the United States, and settled in Barnesville, Ohio, where he was proffered and accepted the charge of the academy of that town. In 1851 he removed to Wheeling, West Vir- ginia, and obtained the principalship of Centre Wheeling Public School. In 1853 he located in Cincinnati and opened a commercial college on Central avenne, where he
corner of Fourth and Vine streets. In 1866 11. A. Faber, now President of Queen City College, was admitted to part- nership, and took the position of principal of the business department. After seven years' connection with the insti- tution ill health compelled him to dissolve the partnership. Mr. Nelson's wonderful success in this college was due to the method of instruction, which was entirely original, and was introduced by himself, viz., that of imparting instruction through the medium of an organized business community, as described by a writer in the Cincinnati Gazette. Clerks, bookkeepers, merchants, teachers, old and young, were at- tracted to the institution. Business men who had retired on their wealth were found side by side with graduates of literary colleges and clerks preparing for higher positions. Principals of the public schools spent their evenings and spare hours on Saturdays, in preparing for employment more congenial to their taste, as well as more lucrative. Young men were drilled in bill-making, and acquired familiarity with business paper, learned by experience how to transact business, and were thus prepared to fill the more humble positions to which their ages assigned them, and from which they were soon promoted. This college Mr. Nelson disposed of in 1871. When in Wheeling, Virginia, he organized the Mechanics' Institute, and secured for its members night schools in various parts of the city. In 1859 he wrote and published his " Mercantile Arithmetic," in 1866 his "Common School Arithmetic," and in 1870 his " First Part of Bookkeeping," now a text-book in the schools of Cincinnati. For a number of years he published a paper, The News and Educator, which was merged into the Edu- cational Times, a magazine edited by the IIon. A. J. Rickoff, now of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1875 he published, in conjunction with II. A. Faber, " The New Mercantile Arithmetic." Mr. Nelson in addition to his college duties was a partner in a veneer mill, and was of the firm of Nelson & Co., furniture manufacturers. During his connec- tion with the International Business College Association, he was for three years Chairman of the Committee on Text Books and Course of Study. In politics he belongs to no party, yet his sympathies are with the Republican party. In religion he is an orthodox Congregationalist. In Eng- land he was an Independent, having left the Episcopal Church on account of the heresies of Pusey, when his atten- tion was directed to the ministry. He never held a public office except that of teacher. During the war he furnished a substitute, and was a member of the Teachers' Rifle Com- pany. At present he is associated with Mr. Bolles in a land office on Third street, Cincinnati, and has just published a very interesting book of about two hundred pages, entitled "Suburban Ilomes." Ilis residence is in Montgomery, a suburb of Cincinnati, adjoining which he has a beautiful farm. December 24th, 1846, he was married to Ellen Iligginson, a daughter of Mr. Higginson, of the county of Antrim. She is a graduate of the Home and Colonial In-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.