USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 16
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ERRY, NATIIAN, Pioneer Merchant of Cleveland, was born, in 1786, in Connecticut, and died, June 24th, 1865, in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, Judge Nathan Perry, first came from Connecticut to Ohio in 1796, and continued during that sea- son with the surveyors, who were engaged in running the boundaries of that portion of the Western Re- serve lying on the east si le of the Cuyahoga river. The judge removed with his family to Cleveland in 1806. When Cuyahoga county was organized in ISog, he was elected one of the judges of the new county. He died in 1813, leaving four children, a daughter who married Peter M. Weddell, and three sons: Horatio, who settled in Lorain county ; Horace, who was for many years county clerk and recorder of Cuyahoga county, and who died in 1835, very generally respected and esteemed, and Nathan, who settled at Black river in Lorain county, Ohio, in 1804, and engaged in trade at that place. With great difficulty he mastered the Indian dialect, and built up an extensive trade with the tribes, which occupied all the territory west of the Cuyahoga river. An incident of his life, given in the " llistorical Collections of Ohio," relates that in the spring of 1807 a fishing expedition set out from Cleveland for Maumee river. The vessel was a Canadian bateau, on
board of which there were goods, "sent by Major Perry to his son Nathan, at Black river, and a hired woman named Mary, as a passenger to that place." The bateau was wrecked opposite what is now the township of Dover, and all hands were lost save a Mr. Plumb, who escaped by straddling the capsized boat and floating ashore, where he remained, nearly perished with cold and exhaustion, until news of the disaster reached Black river, when Nathan Perry and Quintus F. Atkins went to that place in the night, and lighting torches, found Mr. Phimb at the foot of a perpendicular cliff, and hauled him up its face by means of a rope-no easy task for men already worn down with the fatigue of a night's travel. In 1808 he removed from Black river to Cleveland, and began trading at that place, where for over twenty years he was the leading merchant. Ilis store and house were under one roof, on the corner of Superior and Water streets, where is now located the Sec- ond National Bank building. A few years later, a brick store and dwelling were erected on the lot, it being the third brick building in Cleveland. On one occasion he took twelve thousand dollars worth of furs to New York, and followed the wagon containing them from Buffalo to New York, where he encountered John Jacob Astor, who was anxious to learn his price of the furs. He was sharply informed that he could not have them at any pricc, for he had made up his mind that he could do better with any other person than with Mr. Astor, who was at that time the great fur merchant of the country. Having a strong con- stitution, great energy and enterprise, he was well qualified to encounter and overcome hardships, exposures, and perils incident to the frontier life of the pioneer merchant of Ohio. The merchant of that day transported his goods from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in wagons, and thence to Cleve- land on pack horses or by ox-team; and then bartered them with the Indians for all kinds of commodities. Mr. Perry formed an opinion at once, and then rarely yielded it. He was never known to relent or change his decision. When those lips were once firmly compressed, it was under- stood that there was no use of further talking, as the case was decided. The charter for the village of Cleveland was granted in December, 1814, and he was one of the trustces elected at the first village election in the following June. Ile invested largely in real estate, which increased in value enormously, and made him, at the time of his death, very wealthy. A large portion of his extensive real estate pos- sessions in the heart of the city were purchased at from five to ten dollars per acre. His last illness was of about five weeks duration. Paralysis sct in first in the lower ex- tremities, and gradually worked up until it reached his heart. Ile was married in 1816 to a daughter of Captain Abram Skinner, of Painesville. His son, Oliver Hazard, named after Commodore O. II. Perry, the hero of the battle of Lake Erie, and a distant relative of the family, met with a melancholy death from a railroad accident, in December, 186.4. Ilis only daughter was married to lon. H. B.
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Payne, of Cleveland. Ilis eldest grandson and namesake, | Ist of August, 1840. Ile remained in this position about Hon. Nathan P. Payne, was elected Mayor of Cleveland in April, 1875.
MITII, SAMUEL MITCHIEL, M. D., Physician, was born in Greenfield, Highland county, Ohio, on November 28th, 1816. Ile was the only child of Samuel and Nancy ( Mitchel) Smith. Ilis mother dying a few days after his birth, he lived several years with his grandparents, when his father was again married to Sarah Galloway, sister of the late Ilon. Samuel Galloway, and took him home. Ile spent his youth with his father's family on the farm and attending public school until he arrived at the age for preparation for college, when he was placed under the in- struction of Dr. Caruthers, a man of wisdom and learning. During this tine he received the impressions and cultivated the principles which exerted such an influence on the years of his maturity. He was very early in life associated with the little band that patiently worked long before the abolition of slavery was generally contemplated as probable or even possible. In the fall of 1832 he entered Miami University, at Oxford, and graduated in 1836 in the class with HIon. William Dennison, John G. Deshler, Channcy N. Olds, George M. Parsons, and other prominent citizens of Colum- bus. During one of his vacations Dr. Smith assisted in nursing the son of a neighbor, and becoming impressed with the idea that a physician had a wide field of usefulness, he shaped his thoughts with the ultimate view of studying medi- cine. After his graduation he determined to devote his attention for a time to teaching. Ilis friend, Professor Mc- Guffey, recommended him to a school in Kentucky. IIe went to that State with the intention of availing himself of the recommendation, but while remaining one night at a hotel he heard the cries of a woman undergoing punishment incident to the times of slavery. Such associations were revolting to him, and he determined to cast his lot in a frec State. Ile crossed the river to Rising Sun, Indiana, and assumed charge of the academy there. He taught for two years, attending one course of medical lectures in Cincinnati during the time, and reading with Dr. Morrison, of Rising Sun. After a second course of lectures in Cincinnati he went to Philadelphia, where he graduated in the University of Pennsylvania. In the same city he connected himself with the Old School Presbyterian Church. In after years he was an elder in the Second Presbyterian Church of Co- lumbus, during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Hitchcock. After supplying himself with a stock of medicines, a proceeding indispensable in the profession at that day, he went to his home in Highland county. While undecided as to where he should locate, he heard of a vacancy in the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum, then under the superintendence of Dr. William M. Awl, of Columbus, and secured the appointment of Assistant Physician, entering upon his duties about the
three years, entering earnestly into the duties of his office, and taking a warm interest in the affairs of the asylum. He planted many of the trees that now adorn East Park Place, formerly the asylum grounds. From the practical knowl- edge he gained here he was enabled to give special attention to the subject of insanity in his subsequent practice. On the Ioth of July, 1843, he left the asylum to enter upon his gen- eral practice of medicine in Columbus. During that summer he was married to Susan II. Anthony, eldest daughter of llon. Charles Anthony, of Springfield. Ile continued in the practice of medicine, his business growing, and when Willoughby Medical College was removed to this city he was appointed to the chair of materia medica. At the time of the establishment of Starling Medical College, about the year 1848, he was appointed by Lyne Starling a member of the first Board of Trustees, and during his subsequent con- tinuous connection with the college served at different times as Professor of Materia Medica, Professor of Theory and Practice, and Dean of the Faculty. In 1873 he was ap- pointed Emeritus Professor in the college. During the memorable cholera scourge of 1849 Dr. Smith was nnceas- ing, faithful and fearless in his practice, and passed through like labor again in 1859. Ile was appointed by Salmon P. Chase, then Governor of Ohio, Trustce of the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum, in which position he served for eighteen years, most of the time as President of the Board. When the war broke out he was anxious to enter the army, but was persuaded that he could do better service in other ways. Ile was a member of the Board of Examiners of Army Sur- gcons at Camp Chase, and took charge of several expeditions to bring home wounded soldiers-one trip to Fort Dennison, five to Pittsburgh Landing, one to Nashville, and one to Stone river. On his return from one of these trips lie brought an oak sapling which had been split by a cannon ball, and planted it in Capitol Square, where it is now growing. Ile was appointed Surgeon-General of Ohio by Governor Tod, and during his term had heavy work in sending surgeons to the field and attending to his large gen- eral practice. Among his other services of a public char- acter, Dr. Smith was Examiner of Pensions, and while in the performance of his duties kept a valuable record of dif- ferent accounts of battles given by the soldiers applying for pensions. Ile was also Physician for the Deaf and Dumb Institute. In 1865 he became one of the proprietors of the Ohio State Journal, in association with his son-in-law, the present editor, General Comly. In politics he was a warm Republican, making political speeches occasionally, and in 1871 he allowed his name to be used in connection with the State Senatorship. In the summer of 1872 he made a visit to Europe, and attended as a delegate the International Prison Reform Convention in London, where his views were received with warm approbation. At the time he left for Europe he was in declining health, and expected benefit from the trip, but this he did not receive, and under sore
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domestic affliction he failed perceptibly. Ile still continued his practice, although much enfeebled; delivered the most of his course of lectures at the college, and commenced the final examination in March, when his task was interrupted by a stroke of paralysis, which affected the muscles of his face, but in no way involved his mind. He spent some months in New Orleans, receiving benefit, and returned home in June. He died November 30th, 1874, aged fifty- eight years. Dr. Smith was an untiring worker, a man of large intellectual capacity and extensive and profound knowledge. Ile was a student all his life, keeping pace with the advancement of his profession. With a broad com- prehension of the duties entailed on those who care for the sick, and with conscientious application to those duties, he was a man capable of doing great good, and never lost an opportunity of exercising his powers until his unceasing vigilance undermined his health. Ile was an active helper of young men, and systematic and liberal in his charities, One of his special desires was the establishment of a city hospital, and he was always ready to extend aid to it. In all his relations in life he was honorable, faithful and kind.
OBLE, COLONEL JOIIN, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, November 15th, 1789. Ile was of Scotch-Irish descent. From his native , ticipate in every good work. He also wrote and published place he removed in early years with his father's sketches of his early experience and recollections in the local papers. The characteristics of Colonel Noble were energy, self-reliance, strict integrity and independence. Ile had no vices, Ile died January 23d, 1871, aged eighty-two years. The military title was acquired after the war of 1812, at the time when there was a general reorganization of the volun- teer militia of Ohio. family to Emmittsburg, Frederick county, Mary- land, growing to manhood in a mechanical pur- suit. He found the old institution of slavery chafed his free and independent spirit, and induced bis father to emi- grate to Ohio, where they arrived in 1811. He first passed through Lancaster on the 3d of May, 1811, more than sixty years ago, and after seeing his father and mother located on a beautiful farm near Tarlton, Pickaway county, Ohio, he returned to Lancaster to commence his long and active career. Full of the enterprise and energy so well suited to pioneer life, he soon made himself known and felt as a valuable accession to the new and growing town. He did not limit himself to one pursuit, but engaged in many. Me- chanical and mercantile ventures were his earliest endeavors -at one time pushing his business at home, again going to the frontier among the army with merchandise, or away down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers with flatboat loads of produce and wares, he seemed endowed with the energy of many. At home he was always ready to take a leading part with his fellow-citizens in the necessary improvements to be made on schools, market-places, ete., or join in cele- brating an anniversary or the beginning of any public work. Thus his early manhood passed. In 1819 he commenced hotel-keeping in Lancaster. This business in later years took him to Columbus, thence to Cincinnati, and gave him at one time the largest acquaintance in the State. In March, 1832, he first came to Columbus to take charge of the old
National Hotel, the forerunner of the present Neil Ilouse. This house he kept until 1839, at a time when all the Rast- ern and Western travel passed through Columbus in stage- coaches along the National road. Thousands who became settlers of Ohio and other Western States thus made the per- sonal acquaintance of Colonel Noble, and remember him with pleasure, In 1840 he removed to Cincinnati and took charge of the Dennison House, remaining there until 1845. Ile then returned to Columbus, and represented Franklin county in the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1847 he took the Pearl Street House in Cincinnati, keeping it until 1850, when he returned to Columbus for his permanent home. In the hotel business he became widely known in southern Ohio, where he had a large body of friends ever ready to greet him warmly when he visited there, as he did a few months before his death. This brief outline will give an idea of the private pursuits in which he was engaged, but will convey only a partial impression of his busy life. While in Columbus he served for many years as a member of the City Council, part of the time as President, He was the first person who undertook to improve Broad street, which fron Fourth to Fifth was an almost impassable swamp. Ile also was one of the committee to plant the trees that make it so beautiful now. Ile rejoiced in any advance of city, State or nation, and without any inclination to be a politician, he was a large-hearted, spirited, patriotic citizen, ready to par-
YMMES, HON. JOIIN CLEVES, was born at Riverhead, on Long Island, July 21st, 1742. Re- ceiving a good but not classic education, he be- came a school-teacher and surveyor. In the war of the Revolution he espoused the cause of the colonists, though in what capacity he served is not known. Hle was in the battle of Saratoga. After the war he removed to New Jersey, where he became Chief Justice of the State, and at one time represented it in Congress. As early as 1787 he began to negotiate for the purchase of lands in the Northwest Territory. The coveted land, about one million acres, lay between the two Miamis. Finally a con- tract for this number of acres was signed by himself and others, at sixty six cents per acre, payable in instalments. But the troubled state of the country, caused by hostility of the Indians to the proposed settlement, led to their failure in fulfilling the terms of the contract. But in the spring of 17944 he and others effected the purchase of 248,000 acres. In the meantime he had taken up his residence at North
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Bend, which town he had founded, and which in the pio- neer days was the rival of Cincinnati. Ile took up his resi- dence there in the spring of 1789. Ile was among the most energetic and influential of the early pioneers, and had a method of dealing with the Indians which made them more friendly toward him than to the great majority of his white brethren. Indeed he was more than once assured by these children of the forest that his life had been thus far spared because of his kindness to them. IIe . died at Cincinnati, February 26th, 1814, having passed the allotted threescore and ten. Ile was buried at North Bend, where a quarter of a century later were laid the remains of President Har- rison. A part of the inscription on his tomb reads that he " made the first settlement between the Miami rivers."
NRIGHT, MICHAEL J., Clerk of Courts in Lucas county, Ohio, was born on March 5th, 1845, in 1 Cincinnati, Ohio, of Irish parentage. The family removed to Toledo in May, 1853, and that place continued to be his home for several years. ITis early education he received entirely at home at the hands of his parents, both of whom were very highly educated people, his father having been professor of lan- guages in an English college, and his mother being a writer of considerable note. In 1859 his mother died, and soon after that event he was sent to Notre Dame University, in Indiana, where he remained until 1862. Then he took the war fever, which prevailed so universally among the youth of the whole country, and study and school were unsuited to his mood. He returned to Toledo, and without his father's knowledge he enlisted as a private in the 111th Regiment Ohio Infantry. He was a young soldier, being only seventeen years old at the time of his enlistment, but he proved to be a good one. He went with his regiment to the Army of the Ohio, under General Buell, and participated in the cam- paigns of that army. He took part in the pursuit and cap- ture of John Morgan, the bold raider ; in the East Tennessee campaign of General Burnside; in the Atlanta campaign, and in the Franklin and Nashville campaigns under General Thomas. After the battle of Nashville his regiment was transferred to North Carolina, and he took part in the cap- ture of Fort Anderson and Wilmington. He was slightly wounded at Dallas, and was captured by Wheeler's cavalry at Kingston, Georgia, but made his escape while crossing the Etowah river. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy for meritorious behavior, and was mustered out of the service with his regiment in 1865. On leaving the army he returned to Toledo, and obtained employment there as entry clerk in a wholesale dry-goods store. He continued in this position until 1867. In the fall of that year he went to 'New York, and was employed there first as bookkeeper and then as manager of a wholesale rectifying house. In the summer of 1868 he went into business on his own account at Mount
Vernon, New York, but did not meet with success ; so after a brief experience he sold out and returned to Toledo, where he obtained employment with Chase, Isherwood & Co., one of the largest tobacco manufacturing houses in the West. In the year 1870 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Lucas county, and in 1872 he was elected Clerk of Courts in that county on the Republican ticket, receiving 563 majority. In 1875 he was re-elected to the position, receiving this time a majority of 1716, leading his ticket and scoring the largest majority ever received by a Republican candidate in that county. Ilis father, who died shortly after the son's return from the army, had always been a pronounced Democrat, but Michael's earliest political sympathies were with the Republican party, and he has always been a staunch ad- herent of that organization; and his love of republican principles and institutions is not weakened by the recollec- tion that his mother, Anna Theresa Mahon, was a niece of the late Sir Peter Mahon, an officer of high rank in the British army in India. Michael Enright was married in 1872 to Amelia A. Purdy, of Toledo, Ohio.
OREY, REV. ALEXANDER B., was born, No- vember 13th, 1837, in Mechanicsville, Saratoga county, New York, and is of Scotch and Irish descent. In 1853 he completed his academic course at Cambridge, Washington county, New York, and three years later his collegiate course by graduating from Union College, Schenectady, New York. Ile then spent one year teaching and travelling in Missis- sippi. The Albany Presbytery licensed him to preach in 1859, and in 1860 he graduated at the Theological School at Princeton, New Jersey. IIe then spent six months as a missionary in southern Illinois, and at the expiration of that time was settled as the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Franklin, Indiana, where he remained eleven years. On the first Sunday of May, 1871, he became the pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, where he is still retained and dearly beloved by all of his people. Mr. Morey is remarkable for his clear and logical reasoning in the pulpit ; for the very radical position he has always main- tained, taking advanced grounds in religion, advocating the rights of women, especially to preach in the pulpit. In 1874, in opposition to nearly all of the Presbyterian clergymen of Cincinnati, he introduced in his pulpit Miss Sarah Smiley, who preached a most eloquent sermon. The church was crowded long before it was time for the services to begin, and hundreds were unable to gain admittance. IIe has also advocated lay preaching, although in this he has had many powerful ministers of his denomination to oppose him. He has always been a most reliable friend and advocate of the temperance reform. When the Sons of Temperance can find no other orator they are sure of Mr. Morey's eloquent ser. vices. In the Sabbath school he is perhaps the most ener-
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getic and successful worker of any pastor in the city. Hej and, after beautifying them, transferring the property to the his great influence with the young people of luis church and congregation, by whom he is very highly esteemed. Ile is by no means ministerial in appearance, but is one of the most sociable, genial and lovable men in the city. Ile was married, April 19th, 1861, to Josephine Harman, of Schenectady, New York.
ERKINS, JACOB, Capitalist, was born in Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, September Ist, IS22, and was the second son of Simon Perkins. Ile was of studious disposition from boyhood, and after a thorough preparation in Burton Academy, Ohio, and at Middletown, Connecticut, he entered Vale College, in 1837. Hle was noted among his classmates for his literary and oratorical abilities, delivering the philosophic oration at his junior exhibition, and being chosen second editor of the Yale Literary Magazine, a position he filled to the satisfaction and pride of his classmates. ITis strength was not sufficient to enable him to continue his studies and other additional literary labor, and before the close of his junior year he was obliged to relinquish his studies, and go home without graduating with his own class. The next year, his health having greatly improved, he returned and graduated with the class of 1842. From college, he re- turned to his home and remained in his father's office until his father's death, and then, with his brothers, was engaged some time in settling the large estate. Ile was frequently called to address the people on public occasions, and always most eloquently. Early he became interested in politics, and made many effective speeches, advocating the principles of the anti-slavery side, which at that time was not in popular favor. In IS48 he made a very bold speech, de- elaring that every human being had a right to own himself; it attracted much attention, because of its clearness and unanswerable arguments. In 1851 he was chosen by the people of his district to represent them in the Constitutional Convention, which funmed the State Constitution which was adopted that year. His political principles placed him with the minority in that body, but his influence and position were equalled by very few of those in the majority. Ile never held but one other political position, that of Senatorial Presidential Elector for Ohio, in 1856, on the Fremont ticket. Being an earnest friend to all educational enter- prises, it was his suggestion and persistence which induced the authorities of Western Reserve College to adopt the conditions of a permanent fund rather than to solicit un- conditional contributions; and he and his brothers made the first contribution to that fund. This permanent fund saved the college in subsequent years, when the institution became crippled and embarrassed by dissensions. Another noble and generous act was in nniting with two others in purchasing the grounds for Woodland Cemetery, in Warren,
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