The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 34

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

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Forbes to resign, much to the regret of his superior officers. While in the army he performed among others a diffi- cult operation on Corporal Henry Gibbs, of Company K, 67th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Dr. Forbes re- moved the whole lower jaw so skilfully that the patient entirely recovered in four weeks without external deformity. Dr. George A. Otis, Assistant Surgeon-General of the United States Army, considered this an extraordinary operation, reflecting great credit upon Dr. Forbes, and establishing his reputation as a surgeon of high order. (See " Medical and Surgical Ilistory of War of the Rebellion," part ist, pages 370 and 379.) Dr. Forbes is the author of " A new Ampu- tation through the Foot," a description of which was read before the- Ohio Medical Association and accorded high praise by Dr. Mussey, of Cincinnati, and other prominent surgeons. After leaving the army Dr. Forbes was elected llealth Officer for Toledo in 1866. Ilis efficient service in this position secured for him the thanks of the City Council and the commendation of his fellow-citizens generally. llis annual report was made the basis of the present excellent health law of Ohio. In 1871 he resigned the office of City and County Physician, to which he had been a second time appointed in 1865, and accepted the position of Surgeon to the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company, which he now holds. Dr. Forbes has made a special study of surgery, in which branch of the profession he has built up a large practice. In 1855 he married Mary De Forest, eldest daughter of the late llon. N. Il. De Forest, of Kings- ton, Ulster county, New York, of which union two children, a girl and a boy, still living, were born.

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oldest and most reliable of the coal merchants of Cincinnati. Probably no other dealer carries such a large amount of stock or assumes such great risks in the uncertain coal trade of the Ohio river. He has passed unscathed through all the great fluctuations of this trade, and is now doing a busi- ness of between two and three million bushels yearly. Of the sixty-two million bushels of coal and coke shipped by river from Pittsburgh during the year 1875, at least one- third was left in the hands of the Cincinnati merchants. Ile is not connected with any fraternal organizations, nor is he any politician; nevertheless during the civil war he gave unwavering support to the cause of the Union, and although unable to go to the field himself was represented there by one whom he selected and equipped for service, During his long residence in the city, he has been domiciled for the greater part of the time in the old Third ward. Ile was married in 1847, at Cincinnati, to Susan Bean, and is the father of nine children.

WINE, JOIIN, Constable of the Second Ward of Cincinnati, was born, May 21,1, 1829, in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, and is the third of six children whose parents were Conrad and Anna M. ( Renner) Swine, both formerly of that . country. His father came to the United States in 1835 and settled in Cincinnati, where he followed his trade, thu of a master mechanic, his specialty being blacksmithing, until his death. John received his education in the common schools of the city, and at fourteen years of age began life on a steamboat on the Ohio river. He continued in this calling for about four years, and then was engaged in Nash- ville, Tennessee, in mercantile pursuits, for a period of two years. Ile thence went to New Orleans, but only remained a few days, returning to Cincinnati, where he found employ- ment for a while and then embarked in the ment and pro- vision business, which he carried on for some four years. Ile next went to Louisville, Kentucky, where he tarried for two years, chiefly engaged in mechanical pursuits; returning again to Cincinnati, he effected an engagement with .A. D. Bullock & Co., where he remained two years. In 1858 he went to Baltimore, where he worked for William Wilkins & Co. of that city for about a year. Ia 1859 he purchased a hotel on Fifth street, Cincinnati, which he carried on for six months, but as the enterprise did not succeed very well, he disposed of the same and then opened and operated a meat and provision store for a year. In 1861 he went to New York city, where he was employed by Amasa Leonard & Co. for about two years. In 1863 he returned once more to Cincinnati and embarked in the hair and bristle business, in which he was engaged for about a year, when he aban- doned it and became a general trader and speculator. In 1867 he was elected Constable of what was then the Twen- tieth Ward of Cincinnati, and was seven times re-elected ;

he now acts as Constable of the Second Ward. Ile is eminently adapted for the responsible duties of that position, which as an elective office is one of the most honorable in the gift of the people. His political faith is that of the Re- publican party. Ile is a man of temperate habits and of much general reading and observation. Ile is faithful in the discharge of the duties of his office, and is pleasant and affable, and of firm and determined manners. He was married, October Ist, 1851, to Ellen E. Hyndman, a native of Ireland.

ARSONS, GENERAL SAMUEL HOLDEN, was born at Lyme, county of New London, Connecti- cut, May 14th, 1737. Ile was the third son of Rev. Jonathan Parsons, a distinguished clergyman of New England. llis mother was a sister of Governor Matthew Griswold. Among his early friends was John Adams, afterwards President. Ile gradu- ated at Harvard, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. In 1761 he married the daughter of Richard Mather, of Lyme. He took an active interest in politics, and at the outbreak of the revolutionary war at once became conspicu- ous as a patriot. Throughout the war he was one of the boldest of the American generals, and was one of the board of officers which tried General Andre of the British army, charged with being a spy. In 1785 he was appointed by Congress one of a board of commissioners to treat with the Indians for the cession of a large tract of territory, a portion of which afterwards became the site of Cincinnati. In 1787 he was appointed Judge in and over the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, and in 1789 Chief Judge of the same, wah Ilon. John Cleves Symmes and General James Varnum as associates. In November, 1789, while returning to Marietta, on his way back from negotiating a treaty with the Indians, he was drowned in the rapids of the Big Beaver river.

INKER, CAPTAIN HENRY II., Soldier, was born, April 15th, 1836, in New York city, and is the fourth of five children, whose parents, were Jeremiah and Mary (Clark) Tinker. Ilis father was a merchant ; he died in New London, Con- necticut, in 1841. Ilis mother survived her hus- band eight years ; she died in 1849, in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard. Henry received a liberal education in Connect- icut, and in 1851 entered a mercantile house in New I.on- don. In the following year he went to Cincinnati, where he found employment in a dry-goods house, and so remained until the civil war broke out. Ile had been a member for some time of the old Guthrie Grays of Cincinnati, and he immediately enlisted in the 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and as Captain of Company II, accompanied this regiment

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for three years. The command participated in the heaviest | citizen. He has found time from his professional labors to and hottest battles of the war. At Stone River Captain read the best current literature and cultivate the refming in- fluences of life. In 18.43 he married And Amelia Harris, of Berks county, Pennsylvania, by whom he is the father of seven children. Tinker was shot through the head, and at Chickamauga was wounded in the right kuce and incapacitated for future service. He was confined to his bed for one year before he could walk with crutches; and these latter have been his aids and companions ever since. In 1870 he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for one year, and in the autumn of that year was elected for.the full term of three years. Notwithstanding his severe experience as a soldier, and the active duties of his life, he enjoys uninter- rupted good health, and bids fair to reach the limit of three- score years and ten.

GRIFFITHI, JOHN S., Lawyer, was born, July 2d, 1513, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He was the first of eleven children of James Griffith and Mary (Simpson) Griffith. James Griffith, a native of Bucks county, and a blacksmith by trade, 10 moved to Ohio in 1817, in Bethel, Clermont county, where he farmed during the latter years of his life, and died in 1864. The mother of the subject of this notice was also a native of Bucks county, and a daughter of John Simpson, who settled in Clermont county in 1818, where he was a leading agriculturist until his death, in 1837. Han- nah, daughter of John Simpson, was married to Jesse R. Grant, father of General Ulysses S. Grant. The ancestors of John Simpson were identified with the Revolution and the war of 1812. Ilis preliminary education was limited and received at the common schools. In carly life he worked on his father's farm and in the blacksmith shop, alternating with speculating on the river, until he was about twenty- five years old. In 1839 he began reading law under Thomas J. Buchanan, a prominent attorney of Batavia, being admitted to the bar in 1841. Ile immediately en- tered upon the practice of his profession in Bethel, Clermont county, laboring industriously there until 1852, when he moved his office and residence to Batavia. Mr. Griffith has since remained in Batavia, having built up a huge and pay. ing practice. In 1857 he was elected Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of the Fifth Judicial District of Ohio, serving for thuice years, at the end of which time he was renominated and defeated by the Know Nothing party. In 1857 he was again elected Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. He was the first in his district to be elected Clerk under the new Constitution, the office having been pre- viously filled by appointment. With the exception of this one public office, Mr. Griffith has always refused to accept political preferment, notwithstanding frequent solicitation. Ile cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson, and has acted with the Democratic party since then. He is a man of strict integrity, and enjoys the respect and confidence of all who know him. In the course of a long professional career he has established a reputation as an able lawyer and a useful

VANS, EDWARD P., Lawyer, was born, May 31st, 1816, near Russelville, Brown county, Ohio. He was the oldest of ten children born to William Evans and Mary (Patton) Evans. His father, who was of Welsh descent, was a native of Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Ken- tucky at an early date, subsequently settling in Brown county, Ohio, about iSos, where he resided as a farmer until his death, in 1873, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. William Evans was an active participant in the war of 1812, passing through the scenes of that struggle in the Northwest. Ile was an upright man and a zealous Chris- tian. Ile was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. The mother of the subject of this sketch was of Scotch descent, a native of Rockbridge county, Virginia, and a daughter of John Patton, a prominent Virginia fariner, and a character honorably mentioned in the history of that State. Edward P. passed the first eighteen years of his life working on a farm at eight dollars a month during the summer, and at- tending the country school in winter. At the age of twenty he had, by industry and economy, saved a little money. With this he went to Ripley and took a course of study under a private tutor. After about four months so spent, he went to Decatur, Ohio, and studied under the super- vision of Professor Wright for about five months. By this time he had acquired an tumsnal education for his day and locality, and Mr. Evans began teaching school and reading law in Brown county. He taught schoof at intervals for the next five years. In 1844 he was admitted to the bar, after which he taught school for one term in order to pro- cure the funds necessary to start him in his profession. When he was admitted to the bar he had been living at Sardinia, on the line of Highland and Brown counties, having been practising in the minor courts for two years. Ile now moved to West Union, seat of justice of Adams county, where he has since resided in the control of an ex- tensive practice. Mr. Evans has always taken a deep interest in public affairs, but has never sought or accepted office. In 1856, during the Fremont campaign, he stumped the southern counties of Ohio, in company with Caleb R. Smith, R. W. Clarke, and R. M. Corwine. He took an active interest in Mr. Lincoln's election, and stumped sev- oral counties in his behalf. During the rebellion he was Chairman of the Military Committee of Adams county. Mr. Evans was an intimate friend of Salmon P. Chase, and like him was an early opponent of slavery. Since 1862 he has been a partner in the banking house of G. B. Grimes & Co., of West Union. In religion Mr. Evans is a Calvinist.

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Ile is a man of forcible character and affable manner, cour- teons in his social relations and respected by the community. In May, 1839, Mr. Evans married Amanda J. King, a na- tive of Brown county, by whom he is the father of thice children.

IEFERT, HON. JOSEPHI, was born, December IIth, 1810, in the town of Waldburg, Ettenheim, Germany. His father was a gunsmith in the Dukedom of Baden, and died when Joseph was seven years of age. The subject of this sketch attended the common schools until he was four- teen years of age, when he began a three years' apprentice- ship as a stone-cutter and mason. Having finished his apprenticeship, he worked for three years as a journeyman, when, in the military draft, he drew number five and was booked for six years. After serving three years in the army, from 1831 to 1833, he found a way to leave the ser- vice. Ilis mother advanced him a little money, which he added to his scanty savings, hired a substitute for the equiv- alent of a hundred American dollars, and left home, April 10th, 1834, en route for America. Ile took ship at Havre, and after being forty-eight days out, landed at Baltimore. Soon after landing he started with three others for Cincin- nati, making the journey on foot, via Wheeling and Ports- mouth. When Mr. Siefert reached Cincinnati his cash account showed just five five-franc pieces-about five dollars-in hand. Within half an hour after arriving in Cincinnati he was at work, with hammer and trowel, laying stone for Mr. Hickock, to whom he had engaged himself at one dollar and seventy-five cents a day. At the end of six months Mr. Siefert obtained a contract on his own account from Mr. William Doman, building agent of the United States Bank. From this small beginning he went on build- ing up a rapidly increasing business, Cincinnati was growing as a trading and manufacturing centre, and there was no lack of work for builders. Mr. Siefert secured a large share of this business, and' within a few years em- ployed 150 meu. In 18.47 he built a bridge over Congress street. Ile contracted for the construction of sewers, public buildings, and public work generally. Ile built the Little Miami Depot, the first large tank for the gas com- pny, Langworth's nine cellars, and a number of brewers' vanks. For ten years he was a member of the Sokliers' Relief Union for the Tenth Ward, and for eight years represented that ward in the City Council. For seven years he was Chairman of the Sewage Committee, and headed the Committee on the City Infirmary for four years. He was a Director of the Longview Asylum for nine years. During the war Mr. Siefert, with the aid of two others, raised $11,000 within two hours, and thus relieved the Tenth Ward of his city from the draft. He was Captain of a company during the Kirby Smith raid. Since coming to this country Mr. Siefert has made two trips to Europe.

The first he made in 1853, to bring home with him the six sons of his brother, who had died in the fortifications of Rastadt, where he had been coufined for taking part in the revolution. In 1872 Mr. Siefert, accompanied by his wife and youngest son, made the grand tour of Europe. The City Council saw him off with a band of music, and on his return he was welcomed by that body and the German Pioneer Association, of which he was one of the projectors. In addition to the public buildings which Mr. Siefert has erected, he has built a number for himself, which he still holds. Though his life has been a busy one, he has all of his faculties well preserved, with a good prospect of more years of usefulness. December 28th, 1837, he married Elizabeth Brosmer.

AGGONER, MARSHALL O., Lawyer, was born, October 8th, 1826, in Huron county, Ohio. His father, Cyrus Waggoner, was a son of George Waggoner, who served for more than seven years in the revolutionary army, under the direct com- mand of General George Washington, and who died at the advanced age of eighty years. The paternal side of the family is of German origin. The maternal grandfather, Joseph Ozier, a worthy representative of an old Vermont family, was a great sufferer during the war of IS12, on account of aid given to American soldiers on Can- adian soil, where he then resided. Marshall O. attended school in Huron county until his sixteenth year, which comprised all the advantages then afforded him. Ile went to work at an early age, first at wagon and carriage manu- facturing, then at the undertaking business, and was subse- quently engaged for a number of years in the sale of groceries, provisions, and drugs at Norwalk, This business had assumed large proportions when the panic of 1857 came upon the country ; but so well had he managed his affairs, so carefully had he husbanded his resources, that, notwithstanding the many who suffered in his section, his name was among the few untarnished ones who did not fail in business. Soon after this event he abandoned mer- cantile pursuits and read law. Upon admission to the bar he commenced practice, connecting therewith fire and life insurance, in which he was successful beyond expectation. Ilis talents and industrious habits attracted the attention of insurance men, and in January of 1869 he was appointed Superintendent of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana for the Guardian Mutual Life Insurance Company, at Toledo, Ohio. To this position he brought an already established reputation as a competent insurance man and a judicious manager. To this he added materially by successful opera- tions in his new fieldl. July Ist, 1871, two years and a half from the date of his appointment, Mr. Waggoner sold out the business, which his own energy had built up, for the handsome sum of $30,000. The next year Mr. Waggoner

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spent on the European continent. Returning to this coun- try, he spent most of the year 1872 in Independence, Montgomery county, Kansas, in the practice of law, in) partnership with 1. W. Hmmmpley and A. M. York. The latter played a prominent pant in the Legislature of Kansas, during the session of 1573, by damaging exposures impli- cating Senator S. C. Pomeroy, then a candidate for re- election, and whom he charged with bribery and corruption. In 1874 Mr. Waggoner returned to Ohio and entered into partnership with Ira E. Lee, an old member of the Toledo bar engaged in the practice of his profession. The firm of Lee & Waggoner still lives, thrives, and is regarded as one of the ablest in the city of Toledo. Mr. Waggoner is a leading member of the Masonic fraternity, and one of its most active workers. He was travelling manager for the World's Masonic Register, and chiefly instrumental in making it so popular during the years 1857-55-59-60, when the Register was published by Leon Hineman, at Philadelphia. By virtue of being one of the pioneers of the Western Reserve, Mr. Waggoner is a member of the Firelands Pioneer Society. Successful in business, he is exact in the discharge of his obligations as citizen, and held in high respect in his social relations. July 4th, 1871, Mr. Waggoner married his present wife, Harrie A. Boutelle, of Onondaga county, New York.

AVIS, HENRY II., was born, May 9th, 1822, in Canada East. Ile is the fifth of eleven children of Edmond Davis and Elizabeth (Smith) Davis, both natives of New Hampshire. Ilis father was a farmer all his life, ending his days on his farm in Canada East. Henry's early education was very limited, but he has been a constant reader and close observer of men and things, adding constantly to a valuable store of practical knowledge. He remained on the home farm, assisting his aged parents, until he was about twenty two years old, when he went to New Hamp- shire, spending a year in Manchester as a hard-working teamster. Going to Boston, he engaged in the same busi- ness in partnership with J. C. Batchelder, retaining this connection for two years. Ile then went into a shoe and leather store, where he was employed for about six months. lle then turned his attention to the hotel business, to which he has since devoted his attention. Ile was interested in the Albany Hotel, of Boston ; Linfield Hotel, near Salem; and the Essex House, of Salem, Massachusetts. He moved to Cincinnati in 1853, and from that time until 1856 the Broadway Hotel was under his superintendence. From 1856 to 1859 Captain Davis was proprietor of the Taylor Hlouse, at Cairo, Illinois. This hotel was nearly destroyed by the great inundation of the Mississippi river, and com- pletely destroyed by fire while Captain Davis was conduct- ing it. During the inundation he was obliged to take his

wife and children out of the second-story window, and row them in a boat to a place of safety. In the fire he nearly lost his life in his efforts to save his guests. He was finally left in the second story, with no means of escape save by jumping from the window. This he did with no more serious result than a severe shock. In 1860 Captain Davis joined William Marsh in the management of the Walnut Street House, Cincinnati, where he remained until the fall of 1864. Ile then bought the Palmer House, at Indianapo- lis, Indiana, selling it at the end of six months. Ilis next venture was the purchase of the Broadway Hotel, Cincin- nati, which he sold in 1867, buying the Walnut Street llouse and disposing of that in 1873. In 1874 he took charge of the Avenue Hotel, on Spring Grove avenue, near Cincinnati-a fine building and a popular house. Here he conducts a first class hotel, complete in all of its appoint- ments. No host in Hamilton county is more popular than Captain Davis, In Cincinnati, IS54, he married Laura Goldsmith, of Salem, Massachusetts, by whom he is the father of seven children.

laborer.

ARTIIUR, GENERAL DUNCAN, Pioneer and Governor of Ohio, was born of Scotch parentage, in Dutchess county, New York, in 1772. In 178o his father, a man in poor circumstances, re- moved to thic frontiers of Pennsylvania. When of sufficient age Duncan hired out as a farm At the age of eightcen he was a volunteer in Harmer's Indian campaign, and on one occasion acted with so much gallantry as to ever afterwards secure the confi- dence of the frontiersmen. After the war he labored in the salt works ncar Maysville, Kentucky, and in the years fol- lowing accompanied General Massie on his surveying expe- ditions. Ile also was engaged as a spy against the Indians, and in this capacity had more than one hairbreadth escape. He studied surveying, became an assistant to General Massie, and helped to lay out the town of Chillicothe. In ISos he was a member of the Legislature from Ross county, and in 1806 he was Colonel, and in 1SOS Major-General of the State militia. In the war of 1812 he was a Colonel of Ohio volunteers, and at Detroit he and his regiment were included in llull's surrender. Ile was second in command on this unfortunate expedition. After his return on parole the Democratic party elected him to Congress by an over- whelming majority. After his exchange he was made a Brigadier-General, and resigned his seat in Congress. Ile served with distinguished gallantry throughout the war, and at its close was in command of the American forces in the Northwest. In IS15 he was again elected to the Legisla- ture. During the next three years he was commissioned to negotiate several treaties with the Indians. In IS17 he was elected Speaker of the Legislature. Several times a member of this body, he was again clected to Congress in

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1822. After serving two sessions he declined a re-election, and devoted himself to his land business. In 1830 he was elected Governar of Ohio, and on the expiration of his lenn was again a candidate for Congress. Losing the elec tion, he quit politics. In June, 183o, he was badly injured by an accident, and never recovered. Ilis physical and mental powers declined, though he lingered several years. lle died about the year 1838. He was a hospitable man, but close in business transactions. ITis. life was an exam- ple of what an iron will can accomplish. From the ob- scurity of a backwoodsman he rose to the highest office in the gift of the people of Ohio. Ilis last residence was known as " Fruit Ilill," near Adena, Ross county. Ile was the father-in-law of Hon. William Allen, ex-Governor of Ohio.

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The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 34

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

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