The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 31

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, pub
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Cincinnati, Galaxy publishing company
Number of Pages: 760


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town, Brown county, under the supervision of Grafton B. White and Hamon 1 .. Peun, prominent attorneys of that place. He pursued his studies with great industry and application, and having passed the requisite examination, was admitted to the bar April ist, 1846. During his first year his receipts were actually less than one dollar; but his practice began to increase, and he has continued to reside in Georgetown until the present time, and has been con- stantly occupied with professional duties, except when in the service of his country as a sokhier in the field. In June, 1847, he joined the 4th Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and accompanied that command to Mexico. Ile was an active participant in numerous skirmishes and minor engage- ments in that country. Shortly after his enlistment he was promoted to a Second Lieutenancy in Company G. Ilis term of service was about thirteen months, until the close of the war. In 1862 he was commissioned Colonel of the 89th Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with his command about three months in Kentucky, when he resigned, and returning to Georgetown, resumed the duties of his profession. He was Prosecuting Attorney of Brown county for two years, and a member of the lower branch of the Legislature for a like period. Ile has, in general, neither sought nor accepted public offices of a political or partisan nature. Ile was a Whig until the disintegration of that party, and has since co-operated with the Demo- crats. He was enthusiastic in his admiration of, and in his friendship for, the late Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Re- ligiously his views are not circumscribed hy the doctrines of any particular church. Ile is agreeable, affable, and courteous in manner, and of unimpeachable honesty and integrity. Ile was married in 1849 to Ann B., sister of Ilon. Chalton White, of Cincinnati. She died in 1863. During the following year he was united in marriage to Amanda Jenkins, a native of Brown county, Ohio.


ERRIE, WILLIAM, Physician, was born, March 15th, 1817, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Ile is the youngest of six children of John Ferrie and Catherine (Friel) Ferrie. His father was a native of France and a civil engineer by profes- sion, who settled in Lancaster county and lived there until his death, about 1820. His mother, Catherine Friel, was a native of Ireland, and died in 1835. William's carly education was liberal, being received in the common schools and at the Moravian Academy in his native county. In the meantime he labored industriously to support him- self and his widowed mother, as well as to accumulate something for his start in life. At the age of twenty-five he had secured a liberal general education, and was ready to begin a professional course. In 1843 he commenced to read medicine under Dr. P. W. Melone, of Cornwall,


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Lebanon county, l'ennsylvania. He read with Dr. Melone ! for three yesus, in the meantime attending lectures at the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia. Having re- ceived his diploma as Doctor of Medicine, he located at Farmerwille, Montgomery county, Ohio, where he prac. tived for about five months. In the fall of 1846 Dr. Ferric remaved to Mount Pleasant, Iumnilton county, where he has since remained. By the same industry and energy as enabled him to acquire his profession, he has worked him- self into an extensive and profitable practice. After thirty years of active professional labor Dr. Ferrie is blessed with the full enjoyment of his physical and mental faculties. His first wife was Mary Ginley, of Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania, who died in the spring of 1847. Ile married, in 1850, for his second wife, Mary Martin, of Hamilton county, daughter of Samuel Martin, a pioneer and for several years Treasurer of Ilumilton county.


OOPER, SPENCER, M. D., Physician and Con- tractor, was born, October 8th, 1816, in Mill- creek township, Hamilton county, Ohio, and is the third of ten children, whose parents were Thomas and Hannah (Steward) Cooper. Ilis father was a native of Greenbrier county, Vir- ginia, who was a farmer by occupation. He removed to Ohio as early as 1792, locating first at Fort Washington --- now Cincinnati-and subsequently removing to Millereck township, where he settled temporarily on a faim, and finally purchased a plantation near Reading, where he re- sided until his death, which took place on June 5th, 1851. During his long life he was identified with the public inter- ests in various capacities, and served as County Commis- sioner of Honnilton county for sixteen years. Ile was also a Captain in the army during the war of 1812. Dr. Cooper's early education was obtained in the common schools; but he has, however, been through life a close reader and a keen observer. He was carly taught to labor, and at the age of twenty years began life on his own resources as a farmer. He had already entered upon a course of reading in order to qualify himself for the profession of medicine, but subsequently had renounced the idea of prosecuting his studies, at least for a time. From 1836 to 1840 he was assiduously engaged in farming, and was also a contractor on various public works. He next resumed his medical studies, and in isqs graduated from the Ohio Eclectic Medical College with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He commenced the practice of his profession in the State of Missouri, and thence removed to New Orleans, Having his health much impaired, he abandoned medicine and re- turned home, having been absent about five years. He recommenced his old occupation of farmer and contractor near Reading, Hamilton county, where he has ever since resided. Ile is now principally engaged as a contractor on


the Southern Railroad, running from Cincinnati to Knox- ville and Chattanooga. Ile adheres to the measures of the Republican party, although he is no politician, nor has he ever held any office whatever. He is a Baptist in religious faith. Socially he is pleasant and courteous, has a firm demeanor, and is a man whose life has been one of rugged and varied experience.


EACHI, IION. ALLEN J., representative from Knox county in the Sixty first General Assembly of Ohio, was born, September 23d, 1830, in Livingston county, New York, and is a son of Allen and Amanda ( Root) Beach. Ile received his education in the common schools of Knox county, Ohio, and was early trained in habits of industry. When twenty years of age he began business on his own account as a butcher and victualler, and carried it on very successfully for twenty years. He has taken a great inter- est in political matters, and has ever been an unwavering and consistent Democrat, serving as a member of the County Democratic Committee for a number of years, and has repeatedly been a delegate to various conventions of that party. In 1862 he was elected Sheriff on the Demo- cratic ticket, and was renominated in 1864, but failed of an clection. In 1868 he was again nominated, and received a majority of the votes cast, and was re-elected in 1870, thus serving in that office for a period of six years in all. In 1873 he was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature, and during the sessions of that body served on the Commit- tee on Federal Relations, and also on that of the Peniten- tiary, being Chairman of the latter. His earnest manner and sterling honesty have gained him many friends, and he has a decided influence in the house of which he is a mem- ber. lle was married, Jannary ist, 1850, to Matilda Buckland, of Knox county, by whom he has had five chil- dren, all of whom have died.


INPLEY, WILLIAM S., M. D., Physician and Superintendent of the Cincinnati Sanitarium, located at College Ilill, was born, October 18th, 1810, at Lexington, Kentucky. Ile is the third of seven children, whose parents were Rev. Stephen and Amelia (Stout) Chipley. His father was a native of Maryland, who was but seven years old when he removed to Kentucky, and where he resided until his death, in 1852. Ile was a zealous Methodist clergy- man. Dr. Chipley's mother was a native of Lexington, Kentucky, where she was born in 1788, and is yet living with her son at the Sanitarium. He received a liberal edu- cation at the Transylvania University, and in 1829 com- meneed the study of medicine under the supervision of that eminent surgeon, Dr. B. W. Dudley, of Lexington. He


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graduated in 1832 from the medical department of the [ Dr. Allen for the privilege of working in his office and Transylvania University, and in the same year located at Columbus, Georgia, where he practised his profession until IS.144, when he returned to Lexington, and was there engaged in the general practice of medicine until 1855, and Irom 1853 to 1855 was Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the university. In the latter year he was elected Superintendent of the Kentucky Eastern Lunatic Asylum, at Lexington, which he accepted, and these duties engaged his attention for fifteen years. Ile resigned this position in 1870, and founded a private institution for the cure of mental and nervous disorders, which was situated near Lexington. Ile continued there two years, when the building was de- stroyed by fire. Ile then opened a similar establishment within the city limits, which he operated for another period of two years. In July, 1875, he accepted the position of Superintendent of the Sanitarium, at College Hill, near Cin- cinnati. This institution is the only one of its kind in the West, and its character is dwelt upon sufficiently in the biographical sketches of Dr. S. R. Beckwith and Professor Peck in another part of this volume. Dr. Chipley has the exclusive management of the Sanitarium, both in its entire medical and moral methods of treatment.


IIEELER, BENJAMIN D., D. D. S., Surgeon- Dentist, was born, July, IS15, in the town of Orange, Massachusetts. Ilis parents were of English descent ; his mother was a member of the Dexter family. ITis education was only that afforded by the winter schools of those days. Ile left home when but fourteen years old, and engaged in such pursuits as snited his boyish fancy, and were followed in various localities from Massachusetts to Missouri. Previous to 1839 he returned home, and early in that year his uncle, Jonathan Wheeler, shipped a cargo of wooden buckets to Cincinnati via the Atlantic ocean to New Orleans, and de- spatched him across the country to take charge of the stock when it should reach its destination. On this trip he trav- elled by railway to Philadelphia and Columbia, Pennsyl- vania, thence by canal to Pittsburgh, and by the river to Cincinnati. The Ohio river being very low, the buckets were delayed, and being out of employment, he began to look for something wherewith to occupy his time. Strolling about one day he chanced to enter a book anction store, somewhere on Fourth street, and there discovered a copy of " Bell on the Teeth." The thought immediately arose as to the feasibility of his becoming a dentist ; whereupon he left the book and the store at once and started to put the thought into effect. At that time there were but five dental offices in Cincinnati. In his tour of investigation he called on Dr. John Allen, and soon made a contract whereby the latter was to teach him the mysteries of the lancet, key and forceps for the sum of two hundred dollars, that amount to be paid


learning what the doctor could teach him in two years. He passed that period with his preceptor, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship opened an office at Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Ile did a very successful business while he so- journed there, and formed many acquaintances, but he soon returned to Cincinnati and joined Dr. Allen. He established offices, at various times, at Xenia, Springfield and other towns ; for dentists in those days were in the habit of trav- elling from town to town, a custom which yet obtains in some parts of the Union. In 1848 he permanently located in his own office in Cincinnati, where he still continues in the practice of his profession. However, he has visited other towns, among them Urbana, where he made no inconsider- able practice. Ile was present when the Mississippi Valley Association originated. This is the oldest dental organiza- tion west of the mountains, if not in the world. It was first designed purely as a " social " for Cincinnati dentists, but was really the germ of the valley organization into which it soon developed. In this not very social group also the Ohio College of Dental Surgery was conceived, of which he has been for many years a member of its Board of Trustecs. Several years after its establishment he received a diploma from the college, which had conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Ile keeps pace with all the advances in his profession, and has made a specialty of the beautiful continuous gum-work, first introduced and perfected by his old preceptor, Dr. Allen, now of New York. Although no politician, he has served a three-years' term as a Republican member of the School Board. He is a prom- inent Mason, having been a member of one lodge for over thirty years, and is also a Sir Knight of the Templars. So- cially he is courteous and affable, and in his office contracts many friendships; liberal and generous everywhere, he en- joys the esteem of all who know him. He was married, March, 1843, to Eliza Allen, a sister of Dr. John Allen, his old preceptor.


ALLACE, HON. WILLIAM PITT, Merchant and Senator from the First District, Hamilton county, was born, September 25th, 1831, in the county of Down, Ireland, and is a son of Hugh and Matilda (Gibson) Wallace, formerly inn- keepers in said county. The family is of Scotch origin. Ile was educated in the public schools of Belfast, and accompanied his parents in their emigration to the United States in 1846. The family at first located in Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, where he finished his education at a night-school. In 1850 the family removed to Cincinnati, and his father engaged in the wholesale grocery business, but only carried it on for a year, when he abandoned it and connenced the wholesale hat and cap trade. William him- self embarked in the same trade on his own account in 1858, and in which he has ever since continued, the present firm


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being Wallace & Kingel. He has been a most successful | or projector of several other inventions of importance, but merchant, which is due to his business taet, untiring energy on which he has neglected to secure patents. Prominent among these are the universal feed for boring-mills and drill- presses, also an engine for cutting and automatic-counting the teeth of wheels. The drill feed has come into general use, and would have been the source of a handsome revenue if he had not neglected to secure a patent. From the above recital of the principal events of his career, it is seareely needless to observe that he is emphatically a self-made man. The success of his life affords a very encouraging example to the young mechanic who is desirous and ambitious of rising above the sphere and position of a mere journeyman. Although he is a man of established business and large means, the unblemished integrity of his character will be the best portion of his children's inheritance. Ile was married, April 6th, 1853, to Sarah Ann, daughter of Henry Reddick, of Preble connty, Ohio; they have two sons living, two daughters and one son having died in infancy. and industry. Ile has ever taken a great interest in the cause of public education, and has served as a member of the School Board in the village of Avondale, where he re- sides. Ilis political creed is that of the Democratic party, but he is no politician and never sought a public office. Ile accepted, however, the nomination by the Democratic party in 1873 as Senator from the Hamilton District, which was tendered him without solicitation for that honor on his part, and was elected.in the autumn of that year. On taking his seat in that body he was named to and has served on several of its most important committees, including Manufactures and Commerce, of which he was made Chairman; on Municipal Corporations, Railroads and Turnpikes, Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, Insurance and on Sanitary Laws. He was married, June, 1859, to Mary Emma Mor. gan, of Philadelphia, with whom he has had ten children, eight of whom survive.


EMPLE, JOHN, Inventor and Manufacturer, was born, February 34, 1821, in Aberdeenshire, Scot. land, and is a son of Robert and Christina ( Allen) Temple, people in moderate circumstances who followed the quiet occupation of farming. Ilis father was a captain in the militia, and his mother was the daughter of Captain Robert Allen, of the royal navy. John enjoyed the educational advantages of the paro. chial schools of his native county until he was seventeen years old, when he was apprenticed to learn the trade of machinist and mechanical engineer at the town of Cuba- dona. Ile served five years at his trade, and after attaining his majority was employed for one year as a journeyman in Scotland. In April, 1843, he left home to seek his fortune in America, and having a natural proclivity for general mechanics he soon became familiar with the details of mill- building, which he carried on in Canada until the year 1848, when he entered the States, first at Buffalo, and afterwards resided at Sandusky. In July, 1851, he arrived at Dayton, where he followed mill building along the valley of the Miami, and in 1854 became associated with two partners, under the firm-name of Stout, Mills & Temple, in the mann- facture of mill-machinery, which firm has long been widely known as among the most extensive and enterprising manu- facturers of mill-machinery in the West. In 1859 he ob- tained a patent for the American turbine wheel, an invention whose importance may be inferred from the fact that although it was followed by a great number of imitations as close as the law would permit, continued for more than a decade to | of the Board in April, 1875. Ile has been a member of almost monopolize the market, and of which over three thousand have been manufactured at the shops of the firm. The case as well as the wheel is his invention and the sub- ject of a patent. In 1873 both these patents were renewed by the government for seven years. Ile is also the author


NEIL, WILLIAM J., Merchant and President of the Board of Education of Cincinnati, was born, October 23d, 1841, in Milford, Clermont county, Ohio. Ile is of Irish descent, his parents having left the old country in 1832 and located originally at Cincinnati. Ile was educated at St. Francis Xavier College in that city, whither his parents removed from Milford in 1845, and where he has ever since resided. Ile entered Applegate & Co.'s book store in 1855, and re- mained with them until the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, when he enlisted in the militia, and was for three months engaged in guarding bridges on the line of the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, at the expiration of which time he enlisted in the roth Ohio Regiment for three years' service. Ile was connected with that command in various capacities until September, 1863, when he was honorably discharged and returned to Cincinnati. Hle engaged in the stationery trade with James Yates, with whom he remained until that gentleman retired from business, when he effected an en- gagement with Stone & Stewart, and finally in 1867 became a clerk in the store of J. R. Mills, continuing in that capacity until January, 1872, when he was admitted to a partnership, under the firm-name of J. R. Mills & Co. Ilis political ereed is that of the Democratic party. In 1868 he was elected a member of the Board of Education from the First Ward, in which he has served with distinction, having been from time to time re-elected, and now represents the Fourth Ward in that body ; he was elected to the office of President


the Board of Managers of the Public Library since 1873, and President since July, 1874. Hle has been a member of the Democratic State Central Committee from the First District since 1871. Hle is no office-seeker, and has three times de- clined nominations to office tendered him by the citizens of


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his ward. Ile is a public-spirited citizen and an earnest and vigorous promoter of building societies and other insti- tutions for the advancement of workinguten. He has been President of the St. Francis Xavier Society for a number of years, and is prominent in all the benevolent work of the Roman Catholic Church, of which he is a devoted and faithful member.


AGE, WILLIAM IL., Shirt Manufacturer, was born, July 29th, 1830, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father was a native of New Jersey, while his mother was born in Pennsyl- vania. Ile received but a limited education in the public schools of his native city, and then learned the trade of brush-making, continuing in that avoca- tion for seven years. He subsequently removed to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he embarked in the hat, cap, fur and furnishing goods business. Ile eventually relinquished this enterprise and proceeded to Cleveland, Ohio, which he reached in January, 1860, and became interested in a shirt manufactory which he established, and which is now the oklest of its kind in that city, its business having progressed most favorably. Ilis political faith is that of the Republican, but he has neither sought nor held any public office. Ile was married, October, 1857, to Lizzie B., daughter of R. T. McCarter, flour inspector, of Philadelphia,


ARROUN, CHESTER HANNUM, D. D. S., was born at Corfu, Genesee county, New York, July 17th, 1829, of Scotch-Irish and Italian extraction. lle received his preliminary education at an academic school in Sylvania, Lucas county, Ohio. In youth he evinced a decided taste for the study of medicine, which profession he determined to adopt. Ile began to read with Dr. F. E: Bailey, Sylvania, Ohio, io 18.19 (now in Santa Cruz, California), but failing health soon obliged him to choose another vocation. He applied himself to dentistry, and began to practise in Sylvania in 1851. After remaining here for two years he moved to Toledo, forming a partnership with Dr. John Estele, now deceased. At the end of a year he dissolved his connection with Dr. Estele, and has since practised in Toledo, with the exception of two years, when he travelled in the West, locating in Elkhart, Indiana, one year. Upon his return to Toledo he pursued his profession alone until 1857, when he was joined by Mr. R. L. Evans. This partnership continued until September of 1864, conducting business by himself until March, 1875, when he was joined by Dr. J. M. Porter, forming the present firm of Harroun & Porter. Dr. Harronn has been eminently successful through all these years, and bears the reputation of being one of the first dentists in


Toledo. He is a member of several dental associations, and a charter-member of the Ohio State Dental Society. Orig- inally a Whig, Dr. farroun's affliation is now with the Republican party. He was married, September 20th, 1854, to Emily J. Cadwell, of Sylvania, Lucas county, Ohio,


IGGINS, THOMAS W., Lawyer, was born, June 18th, 1825. He is the second son of four children, the issue of John Higgins and Parnelle Ashley. Ilis father was a native of Vermont, an agricul- turist and lawyer, who settled in Knox county, Ohio, in IS10. Here he accumulated consider- able property, was prominently identified with public enter- prises, and died March Ist, 1874. The mother of our sub- ject was born in New Hampshire, and died in 1831, while Thomas was but six years of age. Deprived so early in life of a mother's tender care, it would not have been surprising if he had grown up with a less vigorous moral constitution. Happily the wise guidance of his father gave bent and force to his good inclinations and fitted him for a useful part in life. Until his seventeenth year he alternated between the farm in the summer and the district school in the winter. Ile did not confine himself to the restricted curriculum of the country school, but extended his course of reading to works of a higher order. In 1845 he entered Oberlin Col- lege, where for several years he applied himself industriously to the classics and general hiterature. During his collegiate course he taught school for one term. In 1850 he went to the law school at Balston Spa, New York, and was subse- quently admitted to the bar at Albany, New Voik. Ile next located at Buffalo, pursuing bis profession for about one year, when he went to New York city, remaining there for three years. In 1855 Mr. Higgins went abroad and spent one year in travelling through Great Britain, ` In Dublin he met Miss Isabella Wade, danghter of Mr. Samuel Wade, a prom- inent wool merchant of that city. Shortly before leaving for home in 1856 he was united in marriage with Miss Wade. Retmining to this country, he wrote and published " The Crooked Elin, or Life by the Wayside," a book which was well received and met with a large sale. In 1858 Mr. Higgins took up his residence at Toledo, Ohio, where he practised law until 1860, when he removed to Waverly, Pike county, his present home. In 1861 he recruited Com- pany B, 734 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and went to the front with a captain's commission. Ile bore a creditable part in the memorable battles of Cross Keys, Chancellor ville, Gettysburg, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Raccoon Ridge, Missionary Ridge, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, and marched with Sherman to the sea. At Resaca he was wounded in the left side by a Minie ball, and in the head in the last battle in North Carolina. His gallantry on the field secured him first a Major's and then a Lientenant- Colonel's commission. During part of his service he com-




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