USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 3
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MY DEAR MADAM : Permit me to present to you the table upon which were signed the terms of surrender of the army of Northern Virginia, under General Robert E. Lee ; and, in conclusion, let me add, that I know of no person more instrumental in bringing about this most desirable event than your own most gallant husband.
For his distinguished services in these closing scenes of the war he was promoted to a Major-Generalship of Volun- teers, After the grand review he went with Sheridan to the Military Division of the Gulf, where he was assigned to an important command in Texas. In February, 1866, he was
HURMAN, IION. ALLEN G., Lawyer, Judge, and United States Senator, was born in Lynch- burg, Virginia, on November 13th, 1813. 11is father was Rev. P. Thurman; his mother the only daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Allen, of North Carolina, nephew and adopted son of Joseph lewes, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence. In 1819 his parents removed to Chillicothe, Ohio, and he resided there until 1853, when he removed to Columbus, his present residence. He was educated at the Chillicothe Academy, and by the private instruction of his mother. Ile studied law with his uncle, William Allen, then United States Senator, and later Governor of Ohio, and with Noah II. Swayne, now a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was admitted to the bar in 1835, and practised his profession until he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1851. He was Chief- Justice of that court from 1854 to 1856, when his term of service expired. Previous to his election as Judge he had served in the House of Representatives for the Twenty-ninth Congress, having been elected a member in 1844. In 1867 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio, and was benten less than 3000 votes, although the Republican ma- jority the year before was 43,000. In January, 1868, he
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was elected a Senator of the United States, and took his | ceeded in carrying the legislature, which secured his re elec- seat March 4th, 1869. In Jaun try, 1871, he was re-elected. tion to the Senate, though the State the year before had given General Grant nesuly 40,000 majority for President. Ex-Senator Allen, his uncle, was elected Governor, though the balance of the Republican ticket succeeded by a majority of less than 1000 votes. This result, indicating the com- mencement of a revolution in politics, and mainly brought about in Ohio by Senator Thurman's abiding faith in the Democratic organization, and skill and tenacity in holding his party in line after the disorganizing results of the Greeley campaign, has caused his name to be mentioned in connec- tion with the Presidency. It is not improbable that he may be the candidate of his party in 1876. Ile has, however, never allowed his head to be turned by the bauble of the Presidency, and never was known to allude to it, even amongst his most intimate friends. The talk about any public man for President long in advance is apt to kill him off; but those who know Senator Thurman best do not be- lieve he would, in his political course, swerve a hair's- breadth from his convictions of right even to be President. lle would rather stand before the country as the bold and upright Senator, in this age of corruption and truckling politicians. Ile was married in November, 1841, to Mary, daughter of the late Waller Dun, of Fayette county, Kentucky. Aller retiring from the Supreme Bench he resumed the practice of his profession at Columbus, and was engaged a> counsel in the Supreme Court in many of the leading cases from all over the State. " The Ohio Reports," containing his deci- sions during the five years he was judge, had given him great reputation as a sound lawyer and jurist, and his opinion ou important legal questions was much sought after and relied upon by attorney's practising in the Supreme Court, and hence he was retained as co-counsel in most of the important cases, Ile has always been a very laborious student, and indefatigable in the thorough preparation of his eases, and a forcible and direct speaker, who wastes no time on imma- terial points. Ile has always been a Democrat of the straitest seet, and not inclined to run after temporary expe- dients in politics. He firmly believes that the safety of the country in a great measure depends upon the preservation of the organization of the Democratic party. At the same time he is liberal and courteous in his treatment of political opponents. While serving in the Twenty-ninth Congress, with many other Northern Democrats he voted for the " Wilmot Proviso," extending the anti-slavery provision of the ordinance of 1787 to our newly acquired Mexican territory. He was opposed to the repeal of the " Missouri Compromise," because he believed it was a fair settlement of controverted questio is, the reopening of which would cause the sectional struggle which has since deluged the 5 country with blood. On all the exciting questions of that era he always took a decided and manly stand, speaking out his opinions unhesitatingly, and doing his best to secure their settlement in the interests of the national welfare. Ile has always been opposed to the doctrine of nullification and secession, as the platforms of his party iff Ohio, drawn in many cases by him, have re- pentedly declared. The gubernatorial contest in 1867, wherein the negro suffrage question was an issue, brought him prominently before the people as a rising national man. In that canvass he spent over four months on, the stump and carried the Legislature in both branches for his party, and defeated negro sulfrage by over 50,000 votes in one of the strongest Republican States in the Union. On the meeting of the Legislature, after a very exciting contest, he was nomi- nated by the Democratic caucus for United States Senator over Vallandigham, by a vote of two to one. Since his election to the Senate, no man has risen more rapidly in public estimation. Though in a minority of scarcely one- fifth in the Senate, he has exercised great influence, and ob- tained among the thinking of all parties the character of a pure and honest politician, who would expose fraud and corruption, no matter whom the exposure might hit. Every year he has taken an active part in stumping the State, and in planning the campaigns of his party. In 1873 he suc-
ORYELL, HON. JAMES L., Lawyer, Judge of the Probate Court of Adams county, Ohio, was born near West Union, Adams county, Ohio, February 22d, 1830. He was the oldest child in a family of three children, whose parents were Salathiel Coryell and Nancy (Holmes) Coryell. Ilis father, a native of Mason county, Kentucky, followed through life principally agricultural pursuits. In 1801 he settled in Adams county, near West Union, where he re- sided until his demise in 1838. Ile was a member of the old Coryell family, which in days long gone by lived at Coryell Ferry, on the Delaware river, New Jersey. His mother, a native of Adams county, Ohio, was a daughter of James Ilolmes, an early pioncer and one of the original settlers of this county. She died in June, 1874. Until he was twenty years of age, his days were spent alternately in working on a farm during the summer months, and in attending a country school in the winter season. Ile then assumed the role of e.lucator in a school in Adams county, Ohio, where, with the exception of a period of six months passed in Sciota county, he was assiduously engaged in pursuing the vocation of teacher. During these years he applied himself wisely and perseveringly to the task-to him an agreeable one-of accumulating knowledge, and, by a well-directed course of study and reading, greatly enlarged the boundaries of his literary attainments. For two years he acted as School Ex- aminer of Adams county. In the fall of 1859 he was elected County Auditor, was re-elected to the same position in 1861, and held the office for four years. In 1864 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and, with the duties of that
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office and the practice of surveying, was afterward constantly | prietors, accordingly, must be awarded the title of the engaged for about six years. In 1869 he was elected Pro- bitte Judge of Ad.uns county ; was re-elected in 1872 and in 1875, and is still employed in the performance of the function, attached to this position. Having in preceding years directed his attention to the study of law, and thus qualified him elf for its practice, he was admitted to the bar in 1875. Politically, his principles link him with the Demo- cratic party, while his religions views are expressed in the creed of the Presbyterian Church. Ile was married in 1854 to Mary MeGranagan, a native of Virginia, who died in 1866. Ile was again married in 1869 to Hannah ( Briggs) MeFerren,
ARRERE, BENJAMIN, Vice- President of the Ilillsborough National Bank, was born in New Market, the first county-seat of Highland county, Ohio, February 25th, 1812. Ile was the ninth child in a family of twelve children, whose parents were George W. Barrere and Abigail ( Mills) Bar- rere. Ilis father was a native of the city of Wheeling, Vir- ginia, where he was born March 16th, 1770; through life, at different periods, he was a farmer, surveyor and merchant; he settled in Highland county, Ohio, in 1803, and served as the first deputy surveyor in the military district of which that county was a part ; for a number of years he was Justice of the Peace; was a member of the Ohio Senate for nine years, and for fourteen years presided as one of the Associate Judges; from 1791 to 1795 he was an active participant in the Indian war; was an actor at St. Clair's defeat, and fought under Wayne in the battle of Fallen Timbers; he served as a Captain in the war of 1812, and was present at the surrender of General Hull; for a number of years also he was intimately identified with the public enterprises of Highland county ; he died March 8th, 1338. His mother was a daughter of Thomas Mills, an early pioncer of Mason county, Kentucky, who constructed the Indian fort known as Mills' Station. Until his fifteenth year was attained his days were consumed alternately in attendance at school through the winter season and in working on a farm during the summer months. In 1827 he moved to Hillsborough, where he found employment as clerk in a general store. Ile was engaged at this occupation until 1834, when he entered into business life on his own account at New Market, and there proscented successfully a fair trade as a general storekeeper until 18.45. In that year he removed to Ripley, Ohio, where, in association with D. II. Murphy, in the same kind of business, he remained until 1848, the date of his return to' Hillsborough. In the winter of 1854, the intervening years having been passed in mercantile opera- tions, he associated himself in partnership with John A. Smith and Hon. Nelson Birrere, his brother, and established a private bank, under the firm-style of Barrere & Co. This was the first bank started in Hillsborough, and to its pro-
pioneer bankers of Highland county. In the spring of 1865 the Bank of Bariere & Co. was merged in the Hills. borough National Bank, and now exists, prosperous through the able management of its controllers, with him as its Vice- President ; John A. Smith occupying its Presidential chair. Ile was one of the originators of the Ripley and Hillsbor- ough Turnpike, and until it passed into the hands of the county in 1874 was one of its most influential Directors. Ile was an early advocate and supporter of the Hillsborough & Cincinnati Railroad, and for a number of years was one of its Directors, In all important measures and movements relating to the educational improvement and political de- velopment of his State and county he has uniformly taken a zealous interest, and is widely recognized as a valuable pub- lic colaborer and ally. For several years he presided as magistrate of New Market, but has ever steadily refrained from entering the arena of political contention and partisan warfare. Ile is attached to the Republican party, and cast his first vote for General Harrison. Religiously, his views are hedged about by the creed or doctrines of no particular church, He was married, November 8th, 1836, to Mary Carlyle, of Fairfield county, Ohio, daughter of Judge Thomas J. Carlyle, and by her has had eight children.
ONG, HION, ALEXANDER, was born in Green- ville, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, December 24th, 1816. Ile was educated at Cary's Acad- cmy (afterwards Farmer's College), at College Ilill, Hamilton county, Ohio; taught school in the same county for cight years; adopted the law as a profession, which he has practised successfully in Cin- cinnati since 1852. He was elected to the Ohio Legislature in 1848; re-elected in 1849, and in 1862 was elected a Representative from the Second Congressional District of Ohio to the Thirty-eighth Congress, serving on the Com- mittee of Claims. During the first session of the Thirty- eiglith Congress he made a speech in opposition to the war, which was published throughout the country, and was the subject of general comment by the press both North and South. On the day following its delivery, Schuyler Colfax, who was at the time Speaker of the House of Representa- tives, left the Speaker's chair, came down on the floor and introduced a resolution for his expulsion. A protracted dis- cussion upon the merits of the speech and the freedom of debate thereupon ensued, and which ocem ied the House, to the exclusion of all other business, for five days, when the resolution of expulsion was withdrawn and one of censure substituted therefor, which was finally adopted by a majority of eleven votes. He was a delegate to the Chicago Con- vention in 1864, and made a speech therein against the nomination of General McClellan, He advocated the nomination of the late Chief Justice Chase by the Demo-
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cratic Convention in New York in 1858; opposed the nomi- nation of Horace Greeley in 1872, and has not voted at a Presidential election since 1860. He is identified with and takes an active interest in the public schools of Cincinnati, holding at the present time the positions of member of the Board of Education, President of the Board of Examiners and Trustee of the Public Library.
NDREWS, HON. SHERLOCK J., Lawyer and Statesman, was born in Wallingford, New Haven county, Connecticut, November 17th, 1801. His father, Dr. John Andrews, was a prominent physi- cian of Wallingford, and in later years a resident of Cleveland. The son prepared for college in the Episcopal Academy of Cheshire, Connecticut. He then entered Union College, where he graduated in 1821. Hle studied law and attended the Law School in New Ilaven, at the same time discharging the duties of Assistant Pro- fessor of Chemistry under the celebrated Benjamin Silliman, who in his diary has paid a glowing tribute of praise to his young associate for his ability and superior qualities of mind and heart. Ile thus continued in his studies of law and sciences until he was admitted to the bar. He removed to Cleveland in 1825, and began the practice of law in con- nection with Judge Samuel Cowles. In 1828 he married Ursula Allen, of Litchfield, Connecticut, daughter of John Allen, a member of Congress of that State, and sister of Ilon. John W. Allen, of Cleveland. When Judge Cowles retired from the profession, he formed a partnership with John A. Foot and James M. Hoyt, the firm being Andrews, Foot & Hoyt, for many years one of the most prominent among the general practitioners in northern Ohio. In 1840 lie was elected to represent the Cleveland District in Con- gress. Ile served through the Twenty-seventh Congress, when poor health compelled him to retire from such active public life and from the more active part of the lahors of his profession. In 1848 he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of Cleveland, a court of exclusively commercial and civil jurisdiction. Ile was in 1849 chosen a member of the Convention to form the New Constitution of Ohio, and did distinguished service as a member of the Committees on Judiciary, Revision and Temperance, The new Constitu- tion having revised the judiciary system and dispensed with the Superior Court, he was from that time engaged as counsel and advocate in leading cases in the Federal and State courts till the year 1873, when he was again chosen as one of the members of the Convention to revise the Constitution of the State. Ilere again his long experience, ripe wisdom and great abilities were sought in aid of the solution of the great problem of an improvement of the judiciary system, and he was made Chairman of the committee having this subject in charge. As an advocate he has stood for forty years in the front rank of the bar of Ohio. Ile is rarely, if
ever, surpassed in the skilful use of all the weapons known to effective debate. As a technical pleader, though he stood high there were others in the circuit equally gifted. But in a cause where his convictions of justice and of legal rights were fixed, there was not sumong his contemporaries in the courts of the State an advocate whose efforts were so nearly irresistible before a jury. As- a Judge, he commanded the respect of all by his learning and fairness, and won the re- gard of the younger members of the profession by his en- couragement and kindness. Although the contested cases during his occupation of the bench must have numbered thousands, there is but a single record of a reversal of his decision by the higher court, and that through a clerical error. In politics he has acted with the Whig and Repub- lican parties; he has not, however, always approved the extreme measures of his party. This was appreciated by his fellow citizens in 1873, when both the Republican and Democratic parties nominated and elected him to the State Constitutional Convention. Measuring him by the highest standard of true eminence and success, his sterling integrity, purity of example, his pride in the high character to be main- tained by the legal fraternity, and his long career, untarnished by a stain, must, after all, be regarded as having given bright lustre to his abilities and enduring hrilliancy to a long series of public services in judicial and legislative spheres. Though more than threescore and ten, he is occupying his place among the leading members of the Ohio bar, youthful in appearance, elastic in spirits, and vigorous and strong in the exercise of those qualities which have distinguished him through life.
ECK, HON. ERASMUS D., M. D., Physician, Merchant and Manufacturer, was born, Septemher 16th, ISO8, in Stafford, Connecticut. Ile received his elementary education in the common schools of his section, which was supplemented by an academical course. Ile commenced the study of medicine in 1824, and attended the medical lectures de- livered at Yale College during 1826, and subsequently at the Berkshire Medical College, from which latter school he graduated in 1827. Hle removed to Portage county, Ohio, in 182S, and practised medicine from three to five years at Franklin in that county. He went to Perrysburg, Wood county, January Ist, 1834, and has been engaged in the practice of his profession in and around that locality for over forty years; and has likewise been actively interested in the business and growth of that town, having been engaged in not only the drug and medicine trade, but also in selling dry goods, millinery, ete., besides operating a farm. Ile is now carrying on the pine and hardwood lumber business; is the owner and operator of a planing-mill, where all de- scriptions of huilding material is manufactured, besides doing a general hardware trade. In political faith he is a Republican, but never a politician. Ile served in the Ohio
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Legislature from 1855 to 1859 inclusive. Ile was ap- pointed Examining Surgeon for the army and pensions before and during the late war. Ile was elected to the Forty- first Congress, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of IIon. T. II. Hoag, in 1870, and was re-elected to the Forty-second Congress, by a majority of 1060 votes over Lockwood, Democrat. IIe received from his townsmen all but 53 votes in a total vote of 900. IIe was married to Mary Thorndike, daughter of Dr. Luke Lincoln, of Brimfield, Portage county, Ohio, who died at Washington, District of Columbia, January 20th, 1873; married again to Mrs. E. T. Robertson, of Waterloo, Iowa, September 24th, 1874.
RENCHI, JAMES JACKSON, Lawyer and ex- Judge of Common Pleas, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in September, 1820, his parents being of American birth, but of English and Irish descent. His elementary education was received at a boarding-school, and subsequently he was prepared by preceptors and private tutors for Harvard Col- lege. In due time he entered that institution, passed with honor through its course of study, and graduated in 1842. Immediately after leaving college he commenced the study of law, in Dane Law School, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ile left the school eventually, and completed his legal studies with HIon. Richard Fletcher, afterwards Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. IIe was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1845, commenced the practice of his profession in his native city, and for nine years continued to practise there with success. During his professional career in that city he was engaged in a very important case, and submitted his argument to the court in writing, and such were the learning, skill, and legal ability manifested in the effort, that he not only received the cor- cial and friendly congratulations of his professional brethren, but compliments of the Chief-Justice of Massachusetts, ex- pressed in terms of the warmest approbation, were conveyed to him through Judge Bigelow, himself subsequently Chief- Justice of the Supreme Court. After nine years of Boston practice he removed to Toledo, Ohio, bearing with him a high and well-earned reputation, and the warm regards of all with whom he had been associated in his native city. Ile at once entered upon a successful practice in Toledo, and immediately took rank as a leading lawyer at the bar of that city. In 1874 he was appointed by Governor Allen Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Lucas county. Ilis performance of the duties devolving upon him in this posi- tion demonstrated that he not only possessed the attributes of a brilliant advocate and sound counsellor, but also judi- cial abilities of the highest order, and gave him rank as one of the ablest jurists of his adopted State. ITis decisions were always characterized by judicial fairness, and evi- denced careful thought, deep study, practical ability, and
unflinching integrity. Ile was nominated for a return to the same position in 1875, but owing to party considerations which not even his eminent fitness could overweigh, he was defeated, in common with the entire Democratic ticket, and he retired from the bench. He was strongly urged by the leading members of the bar in the Northwest for ap pointment on the Judicial Commission for the State of Ohio. It is not only as a lawyer and a judge that he has won the high esteem of the public. His integrity and rare personal qualities have gained for him universal respect ; his scholarly attainments, legal learning and ability, and fine literary acquirements challenge admiration, and his genial manners, unvarying courtesy, and generous, hearty, social bearing, gain the still warmer regards of those fortunate enough to be thrown into more intimate relations with him. In per- son he is tall and slender, of graceful bearing, and of pre- possessing appearance. In early life his religious views were modelled upon those of Theodore Parker, who was at that time so potent a moral and intellectual power. But in 1863 he became a member of the Roman Catholic Church, in which faith he now continues, upright and conscientious. He is a bachelor.
CCUNE, ROBERT, Clergyman and Journalist, was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on December 17th, 1825. IIe remained there until he had reached manhood, acquiring his education in the public schools of the city, and in select schools which he attended from time to time. One very important educational experience was the training and dis- cipline which he received during a period of three years passed in a printing office. From early youth he had held the purpose of becoming a pulpit teacher, and accordingly, when he was twenty-one years of age, he entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist denomination. IIc labored in this capacity until he had reached his thirty- fourth year, when he united with the Congregational Church. In the meantime he had removed to Mansfield, Ohio, and was putting to practical account his early jour- nalistic training. In 1853 he connected himself with the Christian Statesman at Mansfield. Ile retained his con- nection with this paper until 1856. Then he removed to North Fairfield, IIuron county, Ohio, and became associated with the Gazette of that place. This connection continued until 1858. From North Fairfield he removed to Toledo, where he at present resides, and from there entered the army, in 1862, bearing President Lincoln's commission as army chaplain. Ile remained in the service in that capacity until the end of the war, in 1865, when he returned to Toledo. In 1868 he became managing editor of the Toledo Blade, a position which he continued to occupy, and to occupy most satisfactorily, until 1872. A man of such varied and continued activity would almost as a mat- ter of course bring a portion of his energy into the field of
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