The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 32

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


USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 32


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manded his regiment. lle was mustered out in 1865, and [ Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio designated him returned to his home in Waverly. fle has achieved an enviable reputation as a lawyer and literateur. He takes great interest in popular education, and has been more or less identified with the schools of Pike county. Whether as a lawyer, writer, or soldier, Colonel Higgins has dis- played a character remarkable for industry and integrity. Frank and affable of manner, he has gained the respect of all who know him. In politics he is a Democrat. In re- ligious feeling he is bound by no particular church limita- tions, lle is one of Pike county's most prominent citizens.


UBBARD, WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, Lawyer, Bink President, Railroad President and States. man, was born at Utica, New York, August 26th, 1795, and after receiving an academical educa- tion studied law with Silas Storr, a maternal unele; and, having completed his studies accord- ing to the then custom prevalent in the profession, removed to St. Clairsville, Ohio, and commenced the practice of his profession in 1816. Ilis location and rapidly increasing business soon brought him into contact and competition with some of the best minds of his profession then west of the Allegheny mountains. It was not long until, by his talents, industry and energy, he placed himself abreast with and became the rival and compeer of such distin- guished lawyers as Charles Hammond, of St. Clairsville, Benjamin Tappan, John C. Wright and John M. Gooden- ongh, of Steubenville, and Philip Dodridge, of Wheeling, Virginia. Ilis ability and success at the bar were so marked as to commend him to popular favor, and he was repeatedly chosen to represent the people of his county and district in the House of Representatives and Senate of the State, and was one time chosen to preside over the House of Representatives, in which position his readiness, in- dustry, skill and impartiality in the discharge of his duties secured for him the unmimous approval of that distin. guished body of representative men. In 1817 he married the beautiful and interesting daughter of Sterling Johnston, Esq., of St. Clairsville, who proved to be a judicious and faithful companion, and by whom he had eight children, five of whom survived at the time of his decease. Mr. Hubbard was an ardent and enthusiastic Free Mason ; he was Master of a lodge at St. Clairsville and at Columbus, representing each at various times in the Grand Lodge of the State, in which he was elevated to the Oriental chair, and served with distinction for many years. Previons to his election as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge its affairs had fallen into a state of demoralization and disorder, but during his administration it was resuscitated, and order, activity and prosperity assumed the places of confusion, lethargy and embarrassment. . His eminent success as


as a suitable person for the highest office in Templar Masonry in the United States. Ile was elected Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of the United States in 1847, in which capacity he served with great distinction for twelve years. When he was elected to preside over the Grand Encampment it was weak in numbers and its influ- ence insignificant. By his talent, knowledge and industry he soon raised it to the highest state of organization, pros- perity and influence. lle was eminently qualified for financial pursuits, to which he gave much attention and in which he met with great success. lle was President of a local bank in St. Clairsville ; President of the Exchange Bank of Columbus, under what was known as Kelly's banking law; President of the First National Bank of Columbus (the fast national bank organized in the capital of Ohio), and ched in the occupancy of that position. The Ilon. S. P. Chase, while Governor of Ohio, and afterwards a> Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, consulted Mr. Hubbard upon financial questions, and held his opin- ions in high estimation. In science, literature, philosophy and the arts he was as well versed as any man of his time. Hle was a close student, and there were few subjects of in- terest that he did not make himself thoroughly master of. Ilis memory was remarkable and retained everything he rend ; his fund of information was, therefore, large, varied and ready at command ; his conversational powers were of a superior order, and in his hours of relaxation from study and business he was a most genial and interesting com- panion. He was a Trustee of the Ohio University, from which he received the degree of I.L. D .; was President of the Columbus & Xenia Railroad Company ; founder and first President of Green Lawn Cemetery; and was appointed on the committee that visited Washington City in the in- terests of Columbus, to procure the location of the United States Arsenal at the capital of Ohio. Of large public spirit, he was comected with and fostered all the railroads entering at Columbus and all the local improvements of his day. lle died January 5th, 1866.


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ANNEY, JOHN JAY, was born near Goose Creek Meeting House, Loudon county, Virginia, on April 25th, 1812. llis parents were members of the religious Society of Friends. The founder of the family emigrated to this country with William Penn, in 1683, and his descendants have constituted a large and influential portion of the Society of Friends since that time. It is believed that the immediate line of descent of the subject of this sketch has been an unbroken one of farmers from its beginning in this country. llis father dying when he was but one month old, both mother and child returned to her father's


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house, in whose family he lived until his twentieth year. offices, village, township, city and corporation, having been a member of the Board of Health, Board of Education, Board of Police Commissioners, Director of the Ohio Peni- tentiary, member of the City Council and Secretary of the Republican State Committee. He has held some public trust, he has occupied some publie position, involving some degree of trust, during forty years of his life, and has always fulfilled his duty with fidelity. Ile was raised a Whig, inheriting anti-slavery sentiments, and therefore needed no conversion to become a Republican. Ile has been, since his boyhood, a warm advocate of the temper- ance cause, having spoken and written freely on the sub- ject. Ile wrote and distributed ten thousand copies of a tract against the license to retail intoxicating drinks, at the time that question was last submitted to the people of Ohio, in 1874. Mr. Janney was married in 1835 to Rebecca Anne Smith, then a citizen of Pennsylvania, but a native of the same county as himself. Ile commenced attending the Friends' school at Goose Creek Meeting House when about six years ofd, and con. tinned in said school until his fifteenth year, and during the winter until his nineteenth, working on the farm dming the summers of the last four years. In his twentieth year he attended a day school in Alexandria six months, de- voting his time to " Euclid's Elements," beyond which and algebraic equations of the third degree his school studies never went. In his twentieth year, becoming dissatisfied with slavery and its influences, he left his native State and removed to Warren county, Ohio, where he spent fifteen years, from 1833 to 1848, being engaged in teaching a country and village school and land surveying, with a short experiment at merchandising. During the winters of 1844-45-46-47 he served as Assistant Clerk in the House of Representatives of Ohio, during his service becoming acquainted with and gaining the friendship of many of the leading men of the State, and he has been often heard to express great gratification at never having had anything to interfere with the friendships so formed. In the fall of 1847 the lon. Samuel Galloway, then Secretary of State, LACKBURN, JOSEPH MARTIN, Architect and Builder, was born, November 25th, 1820, at Cudworth, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. Ile was educated at the national schools of his native place. At the age of fourteen years he left school and home to learn the trade of archi- tect, carpenter and builder. Ile entered himself for in- struction with William & Thomas Topam, at Ackworth, near Pontifract, Yorkshire. Here he served an apprentice- ship of seven years, thoroughly mastering the practical details of his trade and devoting his leisure hours to study- ing the theory of architecture At the close of his appren- ticeship Mr. Blackburn spent about four years at Ackworth, being employed as architect and superintendent in the con- struction of the most prominent buildings there at that time. Impressed with the belief that the new world offered a broader and better field than the old for ability and industry, he resolved to come to America and try his fortune. Ile landed at New York, July 4th, 1850. On the 15th of the same month he went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he has since resided. Mr. Blackburn has been the architect and builder of many of the finest private and public structures in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. Ile planned and built the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, at Columbus, Ohio, one of the largest and finest public buildings in the country. lle was also the architect of the Central Ohio Insane Asylum. Mr. Blackburn has made it the rule of his life to give his strict and personal attention to the execution of every commission intrusted to him. His works stand as so many monuments of faithful, conscientious discharge of duty. By pursuing an upright, straightforward course he has earned an enviable reputation as a correct business offered Mr. Jumey the position of chief clerk in his office, which was accepted and hell during. Mr. Galloway's term, at the expiration of which his successor, Hon. Henry W. King, wished him to continue in the position he held, but he had been elected, without his own knowledge, Secretary of the Board of Control of the State Bank of Ohio, which position he accepted May Ist, 1851, and held until the ex- piration of the charter, in 1865. Hle then served as Chief Clerk in the Columbus Post office one year, when he was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the Columbus & Hock- ing Valley Railroad Company, which position he now holds. In his youth he was noted among his playmates and acquaintances for his fondness for study. Hle read everything he could get hold of, and has been heard to regret that he was not born twenty-five years later, so that he could have read the Atlantic or Scribner in his boyhood. Ilis mind at an early age was deeply interested in science, and without ever having devoted himself to any particular branch, so as to become in any sense a scholar, he has acquired a superficial acquaintance with nearly all branches of natural science. He has always been an active and earnest friend of public schools. Ile wrote and published, soon after removing to Ohio, an address in favor of free public schools, and of requiring every child of suitable age and organization to spend a portion of its time in them. Ile aided in establishing a circulating library in Spring- borough, where he first resided after his removal to Ohio, which is still in successful existence, and, upon his removal to Columbus, aided in establishing the Atheneum Library and Reading-room, and drafted and had passed through the City Council the ordinance establishing the now flour- ishing Free Public Library and Reading-room of that city. Ile has been repeatedly elected and appointed to municipal | man and a citizen of high standing. January Ist, 1848, hie


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married Elizabeth Ann Walls, at Pontifract, Yorkshire, } school teaching, to enter, before he was of age, the England, by whom he has had nine children, five now living.


e IDDLE, WILLIAM P., Lawyer, was born, April 3d, 1837, in Hamilton county, Ohio. Ile is the son of William P. Biddle and Mary C. Parker, and the grandson of Rev. William H1. Biddle, who settled in Hamilton county in 1822, where William P.'s parents now reside. The subject of this sketch attended school in winter and worked on a farm in summer until the fall of 1854, when he entered the Farmer's College of Ohio, then at its best. Ile remained at the Farmer's College until the fall of 1857, when he taught in the schools of his native county. In 1858 he entered Gundry's Commercial. College, then the leading in- stitution of its kind in the Western States. Graduating from here in October of the same year he immediately be- came an instructor in that institution. In the meantime he read law, and, October Ist, 1859, entered the law office of Ilon. Bellamy Storer, at the same time beginning a course at the Cincinnati Law School. He graduated from the law school in April, 1860, and was admitted to the bar in the same month. Ile opened a law office in Cincinnati and continued studying at the law school. He has since practised his profession in Cincinnati, receiving business of an important character and establishing a reputation as a safe and capable attorney. In April, 1875, he was elected, as a Democrat, to the Board of Aldermen from the Twenty. second Ward, which had been largely Republican. He is Chairman of the Committee of Investigation on the Water- works and a member of several of the most important standing committees of the Board of Aldermen. March 4th, 1861, he married Abba E., daughter of Hiram and Cordelia Rogers, of Cincinnati, who died September 4th, 1864, leaving a son and daughter. July 13th, 1871, he married Lavinia, daughter of Christopher Wardal, of Ilam- ilton county, Ohio.


ANNEY, RUFUS P., L.L. D., Lawyer and Jurist, was born at Blandford, Hampden county, Mas- sachusetts, October 13th, 1813, and is the son of Rufus Ranney, a farmer of Scotch descent, and of Dottie D. Blair, of revolutionary stock. The family moved to Freedom, Portage county, Ohio, in 1824, and were among the pioneers of the " New Connecticut," then a western frontier covered with an almost unbroken forest. Ilis early life was thus spent in the log cabin, and he assisted in felling the primitive forest trees of the wilderness of the new home. His early oppor- tunities for acquiring an education were very limited. Yet he managed, by great perseverance, manual labor and


academy at Nelson, Portage county, where he fitted for college. To obtain a suit of clothes of respectable appear- ance to enter college he cut cord wood at twenty five cents per cord. He entered the Western Reserve College, but circumstances prevented him from graduating. When twenty-two years of age, with only his clothing in which he was dressed and one extra shirt, which he carried in the tap of his hat, he walked to Jefferson, Ashtabula county, and commenced reading law in the office of Messrs. Joshua R. Giddings & Benjamin F. Wade. One year later he was admitted to the bar and into partnership with Mr. Wade, Mr. Giddings having been elected to Congress. Wade & Ranney were eminent lawyers until 1845, when Mr. Ran- ney removed to Warren, Trumbull county. Ile was nomi- nated, by the Democrats, to Congress in 1846, and again in 1848, but the Whigs being so largely in the majority he was defeated each time. In 1850 he was elected to repre- sent Trumbull and Geauga counties in the Constitutional Convention, which was held in Columbus and Cincinnati in 1850-51. Ile served with distinction on the Judiciary, Revision, Amendment and several other committees. Al- though but thirty-six years of age, the debates show that his speeches were as powerful as those of the oldest and ablest members. The counties he represented warmly approved of his course in the convention. The Legislature elected him to the bench of the Supreme Court, and when the new constitution went into effect he was re-elected Judge of the same court by a large vote. In 1857 he resigned his place on the bench of the Supreme Court. In 1856 he was a member of the National Convention, in Cincinnati, which nominated James Buchanan for President, and that year removed to Cleveland and became a member of the law firm of Ranney, Backus & Noble, and soon after was ap- pointed by the President to fill the office of United States District Attorney. The office he did not solicit, and, not pleased with its duties, resigned it in a few months. In 1862 the Democratic party nominated him as a candidate for Supreme Judge ; he declined, but the convention posi- tively refused to accept his resignation, and he was elected in spite of his own wishes. llis partner, Franklin T. Backus, was the candidate of the Republicans, and as that party were in the majority he expected Mr. Backus to be elected-indeed he would have been willing to have gone into the canvass for his partner, had he supposed it neces- sary, but none rejoiced at his success more than his op- ponent, Mr. Backus. He resigned the Judgeship in 1864. llis decisions gave him a national reputation, and can be found in XV. "Ohio Reports," running to and including V. "Ohio State," and beginning in the XIV. "Ohio State" and continuing to and including XV. "Ohio State." In 1864 he was a member of the convention which nominated General George B. MeClellan for the Presidency. llis physical and mental strength was re- markably great, and enabled him to master the greatest


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difficulties by long continued efforts. Although his oppor- he was elected to the lower branch of the Ohio Legislature, and was one of those who secured the repeal of what were known as the " Black Laws," and the election of Ilon. S. P. Chase to the United States Senate. In 1850 he was elected to the Constitutional Convention that framed the present Constitution of the State, and soon after was chosen a member of the Thirty-second Congress. Before going to Washington, Dr. Townshend had discontinued the practice of medicine and removed his family from Elyria to the old home in Avon. In 1853 he was elected to the State Senate, but had scarcely taken his seat before he was called home by the illness and death of Mrs. Townshend. During that session he introduced a bill to establish a State institution for the education and care of imbecile and feeble-minded youth. Two years afterwards, when a similar bill was passed, he was appointed a trustee of the institution, a trust he continues to hold by virtue of subsequent appointments. Toward the close of 1854 he was married to Margaret A. Bailey, of Columbus. In 1855-56-57 he was associated with other gentlemen in the endeavor to establish an Agri- cultural College in northern Ohio, an undertaking which tunities to acquire a classical education were meagre, yet in later life he became a fine classical scholar. Nearly all the accessible books on science and art he became almost as familiar with as their anthors. The Codes Justinian and the Code Napoleon he perused in their own languages. Ilis mind was so richly stored he had no trouble in retaining the closest attention of his audiences. Ilis best monuments are his decisions, which are so clear and sound in law that they will ever be referred to with pride by every legal citizen of Ohio. In 1871 he received from the Western Reserve Col- lege the degree of Doctor of Laws. It was unexpected and unsolicited, and at that time was the only instance in which such an honor had been conferred. In politics he has ever been a Democrat in the best sense of that word-never a politician, as it was with the greatest difficulty that he could be persuaded to accept an office. In 1862, by request of Governor Tod, he travelled through a portion of central Ohio to persuade the people to fill the quotas of the Federal troops called for by the President. Ile entered into this work with his whole soul, and with his great eloquence told the people that the American institutions were at stake. No did not prove a permanent success. In 1858 he was chosen man in Ohio has a larger number of acquaintances and a member of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, was three friends, the result of his great kindness, courtesy and benevo- ; times re-elected, and was twice President of the Board. In lence. He is now engaged in all the great railroad, com- mercial and patent cases which involve severe and contested litigation. Ile has been spoken of as a candidate for the Presidency.


OWNSHEND, HION. NORTON S., M. D., was born, December 25th, 1815,at Clay Coaton, North- ampton hire, England. At an early age he was placed in a boarding school at Bitteswell, near Sut- . of Science. The Ohio Legislature in 1870 having deter- terworth, where he made good progress in element- mined to establish an Agricultural and Mechanical College, ary English studies. In the spring of 1830 his in accordance with the law of Congress donating lands to the


father and mother, Joel and Rebecca ( Norton) Townshend, emigrated to the United States, and bought a farm in Avon, Lorain county, Ohio. Here he remained at work on the fum, with the exception of a winter term spent in teach- ing the district school, until he attained his majority. In IS37 he commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. R. L. Howard, of Elyria, subsequently professor of surgery in Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio. The winter of 1837 was spent in attendance on medical lectures at Cincinnati Medical College ; the winter of 1839 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, where he took his degree at the close of the term in 1840. From New York he went to London, Paris, Edinburgh and Dublin, spending in medical studies in those cities some- thing more than a year. Returning to Ohio he commenced the practice of medicine and surgery in Elyria in 1843, and in the same year was married to Harriet N., daughter of James B. Wood, Esq., of Avon, Ohio. Politically, Dr. Townshend was identified with the Liberty party. In 1848


1859 he was a Delegate to the Convention at Chicago, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency. Early in 1863 he received the appointment of Medical Inspector United States Army, with the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel, and discharged the duties of that office to the end of the war. In 1867 he accepted a Professorship in the Iowa State Agricultural College, but resigned the place at the end of the succeeding year. About this time he became a member of the American Association for the Advancement


States for that purpose, Dr. Townshend was one of the trus- tees chosen to carry the measure into effect. When the college was opened at Columbus in 1873, he was appointed to the Professorship of Agricnlune, to which department botamy and veterinary medicine were temporarily attached. The acceptance of this appointment necessitated his removal to Columbus, of which city he is now a resident.


PPLEGATE, JOIIN WALL, Attorney-at-Law, was born in Princeton, New Jersey, February 23d, ISIS. Ilis father, engaged through life in agri- cultural pursuits, was an active participant in the war of 1812. Ile received a liberal general edu- cation at Genesee Falls, New York. Ile subse- quently followed the trade of carriage-making in his native State until he had attained his twenty- third year. Ile then pursued for about three years a course of literary study in


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Genesee Falls College, and upon graduating from that insti- tution was appointed as one of its tutors, and was engaged in teaching during several succeeding years. In 1841 he removed to Ohio, and after applying himself for a time to the study of law under the instructions of Judge Timothy Walker, of Cincinnati-always his warm and intimate friend -began the practice of his profession in this city in 1844. From that time until 1874, the date of his demise, he was constantly and successfully engaged in professional labors. Ile always manifested a persistent aversion to office- holding, his practice being too extensive, moreover, to allow him leisure for political operations, Through life he was noted for his zealoas interest in the cause of educational reform, and for many years was prominently identified with the ac- tions of the local School Board. A love of family associa- tions and domestic life characterized him socially; and at an early age he became an earnest and devout member of the Methodist Church. For many years he was an esteemed member of the Wesley Chapel, of Cincinnati. Politically he was an uncompromising " Jackson Democrat," but during the war of the rebellion distinguished himself as an active opponent of that branch of the Democratic party, known as " the Peace Party." He was a man of quick and generous sensibilities, fond of intellectual conversation, and possessed a well-balanced mind, stored with varied and valuable learning. Ile was married in 1848 to Mary Williams, of Cincinnati. Six children were born of this marriage, and at the time of his decease the four youngest were living.




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