USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
-
ARRERE, HION. NELSON, Lawyer, was born, April ist, ISOS, at New Market, then the county- seat of Ilighland county, and is the seventh of twelve children whose parents were George W. and Abigail ( Mills) Barrere. His father was a native of what is now Wheeling, West Virginia; but when he was born-March 16th, 1770-it was known as Red Stone Fort. He followed agricultural pursuits mainly through life, although for some years he devoted particular attention to surveying and trading. He removed to Highland county in 1803, and was the first Deputy Sur- veyor in the military district of which Highland county formed a part. Ile held various public offices during his long residence there, having been a Justice of the Peace for many years, a member of the Ohio Senate for nine years, and was one of the Associate Judges for fourteen years. Ile had been in the Indian wars from 1791 to 1795; he was present at St. Clair's defeat, and was under General Wayne at the battle of Fallen Timber. He also partici- mited in the war of 1812, and witnessed the surrender of Ilull. Ile was prominently identified with the various publie enterprises of Highland county until his death, which occurred October 31st, 1829. Nelson's mother was a native of Fleming county, Kentucky, a daughter of Thomas Mills, an early pioneer of that county, then known as Mason county. Ile built Mills Station, an early Indian fort. Nelson was early taught industrious habits; he worked on a farm until he was eighteen years old, going to school during the winter months. He then passed a year at the MITII, CHARLES, President of the Trumbull National Bank, Warren, Ohio, was born, August 12th, 1803, in Washington county, New York State, and is a son of Justice and Charlotte (Delemater) Smith. He accompanied his parents when they removed to Ohio, in 1811, and settled in the town of Warren, where his father purchased a saw and grist mill property. Charles received his education at the common school of Warren. When he was fourteen High School of Ilillsborough, and in 1827 entered the freshman class of Augusta College, Kentucky, a prominent institution of learning at that time, and whose graduates are numbered among some of the most distinguished gentlemen of Kentucky and Ohio. He graduated from that institution in 1830, having by extra study completed the whole course of four year, in three years and a half. Ile was enabled to effect this by studying through vacation. After a year of leisure he commenced, in 1831, the study of law in Hills- | years old, together with an elder brother, he took the con-
borough under the preceptorship of the late Judge John W. Price. He read assiduously for some two years, and after a most thorough and searching examination was admitted to the bar on December 230, 1833. lle immediately opened an office in Hillsborough, and remained there about nine months in the practice of his profession. As there seemed, however, to be a paucity of clients, he removed to West Union, in Adams county, in October, 1834, and there formed a legal copartnership with Samuel Brush, and en- tered upon his professional duties forthwith. The partner- ship lasted but a single year, yet he continued at West Union, and was very successful, he having a large and lucrative practice during the twelve years he resided there. During this period he was elected a representative to the General Assembly, and served in that body during the session of 1837-38. Owing to climatic influences, by which his health became somewhat impaired, he left West Union in 1846 and returned to Hillsborough, where he has ever since resided, engaged in the control of an extensive legal practice, and is now the leading as well as the senior mem- ber of the bar of Highland county. In 1850 he represented the district composed of Brown, Ilighland, Adams, and Clermont counties, in the Thirty-second Congress. During his term of service in that body he was conspicuous for his opposition to the land swindles at that time being initiated. Ile defended the action of the committee appointed to in- vestigate the slanders aspersing the character of Governor and Senator Thomas Corwin, with reference to the cele- brated "Gardner claims " - an investigation influenced strongly by Nelson Barrere, and which exonerated Governor Corwin from its charges, and, so far as the action of Con- gress was concerned, was decisive and satisfactory. Ile has been intimately identified, more or less, with all the public enterprises affecting the interests of his native county, and has ever been conspicuous for public spirit. In politi- cal belief he is now a Democrat, and his first vote was polled for Henry Clay. His religious faith is that taught by the Methodist Church. Ile is most agreeable and courteous in manners, and his private character is unim- peachable. He has ever been an energetic and industrious worker, a safe and reliable counsellor, and a persevering and successful advocate. Ile has never been married.
483
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
tract to carry the United States mail between Warren and Pittsburgh. In this occupation he continued four years, traversing on horseback, in all kinds of weather, the rough road, of that region, which pesed through long stretches of the primeved forest. At the age of nineteen he engaged in mercantile pur suits in Warren, in which he continued until 1860, having a long and successful career of commercial enterprise. He was one of the principal projectors of the Trumbull National Bank, founded in 1866, and has been its President from its organization until the present time. The institution over which he presides has always been conducted on those conservative principles which a long acquaintance with commercial enterprises has convinced him to be the true policy of bankers, whose highest aim is to afford unquestionable security for their trusts.
6 ANNIN, EDWARD, Pastor of the St. Patrick's Congregation in Toledo, was born on December 22d, 1825, in Billymole, Sliga county, Ireland. Ile is the son of Barclay and Margaret ( Tighe) Ilannin, his father being a farmer near Ballymole. Ile received an education fitting him for a civil engineer and mercantile business. At first he engaged in civil engineering until he became twenty years of age, being at that age employed by the government as Superintendent of Public Works. Ile moved to Liverpool in' 1847, cm- barling in mercantile life, but returned home in 1849, dur- ing the depression of the affairs of the country. Subse- quently he sailed for the United States, and soon after landing was persuaded by clergymen with whom he became acquainted to study for the ministry. He made his preparatory studies of Latin and Greek in Geneva, New York. Entered St. Mary's Theological Seminary, Cleve- land, in 1853, and was ordained, June Ist, 1856, and placed at the Cathedral in Cleveland. Becoming interested in the temperance cause, he at once organized societies which have since become famous, also organizing sister societies in Cleveland and adjoining towns. In 1862 he moved to Toledo, Ohio, taking charge of a congregation in the south. ern part of the city, having up to this date formed a part of the only Catholic congregation in the city. In 1862 he built St. Patrick's Church. The following year he erected a large hall in the rear of the church, for the accommoda- tion of the temperance societies, using it also for a school room for the children of his parish. In 1864 he erected St. Patrick's Academy, and in the following year a wing to the buikling which is used for his residence. In 1866 he purchased grounds in the Fifth ward, and built a church there. Four years later, upon the resignation of Bishop Rappe, of Cleveland, he was appointed Administrator of the diocese, and moving to the above-named city remained there until the consecration of Bishop Gilmore. In 1872 he returned to Toledo and assumed charge of St. Patrick's
Parish. The following year he purchased grounds and erected St. Patrick's Institute, immediately opposite the church ; the institute being dedicated the 17th day of March, 1874, in the presence of Governor Allen and staff, and many of the leading men of the State. The institute is furnished with billiard tables, bowling-alley, a gymnasium, library, and reading.room, for the entertainment of young men. There is also an audience hall capable of seating one thousand people. In the academy are some five hun- dred children, and eight first-class teachers paid by the congregation. There are three temperance organizations connected with the parish. Father Ilannin, since his resi-' dence in Toledo, Ohio, has always been foremost in pro- moting the interests and welfare of his parishioners, and has ever taken an active part in everything tending towards the welfare of Toledo, Ohio.
HOMSON, EDWARD, D.D., L.L.D., Bishop in the Methodist Church, was born at Poitsea, England, in October, 1810. Ilis parents belonged to the wealthier of the middle class of the English popu- lation. The family emigrated to this country in 1819, and settled at Wooster, Ohio. The parents were able to give their children all the educational advan- tages attainable in that section at that time. When still a youth Edward commenced the study of medicine, and in 1829 he received his degree from the University of Penn- sylvania. Ile practised his profession at Wooster for a comparatively short time. At this period he was not a reli- gious man in the strict sense of the term, though he had been raised by a Christian mother, and was a moral and well-behaved young man of good address and polished manners. But there were influences surrounding him tend- ing to drift him into the troubled sea of doubt and skepti- cism. Before these influences had obtained a very strong hold upon him, he attended a camp-meeting service, and listened to a sermon from the lips of Rev. Russel Bigelow. This sermon wrought such a change in him that he at once became a professing Christian, and soon after an aspirant for ministerial labor. In 1833 he was admitted on trial in the Ohio Conference, and appointed to the Norwalk Cir- cuit. Ilis next appointment was at Sandusky City. In 1835 his name appears, with that of J. M. Trimble, at the Fourth Street Church, Cincinnati. In 1836 he was fully admitted to the ministry, and in 1837, through a division of the conference, he was found in the Michigan Conference, and stationed at Detroit. In this city be labored with zeal, and was rewarded with abundant success. In 1838 he was made Principal of the Norwalk Academy, and remained there several years, when, in 1844, the General Conference elected him editor of the Ladies' Repository. To this posi- tion he brought superior abilities, and his sphere of useful- ness was considerably enlarged. When the Ohio Wesleyan
48.4
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA,
University was founded at Delaware, he was chosen its first | ton, and Urbana. In 1807 he travelled the Miami Circuit, President, and entered npon his duties in the spring of 1847. In this new field of labor his ripe scholarship found full play, and hi, faculties were brought into vigorous matinity. In IS60 he was elected to the editorial chair of the chris- tian . Advocate, at New York, and, although the change was not of his choice, he accepted the position and quitted the college regretfully. In 1844 he had been created a Doctor of Divinity, by Augusta College, and in 1855 the degree of Doctor of Laws had been conferred by the Wesleyan Uni- versity. The General Conference of 1864 created him a Bishop, and he soon after made a visit to all the foreign missions of the Methodist Church, and organized the India Mission Conference. Upon his return he made a tour of the Southern States, and organized a conference at New Orleans. Ilis episcopal labors were continuous, and every. where acceptable. He was married in 1837 to Maria Louisa, daughter of Ilon. M. Bartley, afterwards Governor of Ohio. She died in 1863, and in 1865 he was united in marriage to Annie E. Howe, of Delaware, Ohio, who sur- vives him. His last sickness was short, and his loss an .un- expected one to the church. He died, March 220, 1870, at Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was temporarily stopping. He was buried with imposing services at Dela. ware, Ohio, the scene of his most successful labors.
COLLINS, REV. JOHN, Minister of the Pioneer Methodist Episcopal Church in Ohio, was born, November Ist, 1769, in New Jersey. Early in life he became an earnest and devout member of the Methodist Church, and determined to become a preacher, a resolution which he carried into effect with characteristie energy. Ilis earlier efforts in his chosen vocation as preacher gave little promise of his future eminence. So small was the evidence they gave of special qualification, that his wife, solicitous for his reputation and usefulness, advised him to desist, believing that he could never sneeced. lle rephed to her, in all candor, that he thought her predictions quite likely to be correct, but never. theless, although he might never be a successful preacher himself, he purposed to continue trying until he should be instrumental in converting some one who would be a preacher. Ilis subsequent career showed how unfounded were his wife's misgivings, and how wise was his own de- termination, In the year 1801 he visited the Northwestern Territory, now the State of Ohio, and in the following year he removed his family to the West, and settled on a farm in Clermont county, Ohio, on the east fork of the Little Miami river, about twenty five miles east of Cincinnati. In 1804 he preached the first Methodist sermon ever preached in Cincinnati, The meeting was held in an upper room, and the congregation comprised twelve persons. He also preached the first Methodist sermons heard in Kipley, Day-
in connection with B. Larkin, an excellent preacher. In ISos he travelled the Scioto Cirenit, and in iSoo and 1810 the Deer Creek Chenit. He was next assigned to the Union Cheuit, which embraced the towns of Lebanon and Dayton. In the years iSig and 1820 he was Presiding Elder of the Scioto District, In 1821 and 1822 he was stationed in Cincinnati. The following year he was stationed in Chillicothe, and in 1824 he was appointed to the Cincinnati District, and afterwards to the Miami Dis- trict. He continued to travel in this district during the years 1825, 1826, and 1827. Next he was transferred to the Scioto District, where he labored from 1828 to 1831. In 1832 and 1833 he was on the New Richmond Circuit. lle returned to the Cincinnati Station in 1834, and in 1835 the travelled the White Oak Circuit. This was the last,cir- cuit he ever travelled. On the minutes of the Ohio Annual Conference of 1836 he was retinned as superannated, which relation remained unchanged until his death. Ile died at Maysville, Kentucky, at the residence of his son, General Richard Collins, August 21st, 1845. Ilis last words were, " Happy, happy, happy !" On his death the official members of the church at Maysville passed resolu- tions expressive of their grief at his loss, and of the highest appreciation of his labors and eminent qualities as a gospel minister. It may truly be said of him that he was one of the most eminent and eloquent preachers in the early days of Methodism in southern Ohio. He married Sarah Black- man, a woman of great energy and force of character, and whose life was an embodiment of the Christian virtues. She was a sister of Leander Blackman. In the spring of 1797, shortly after her husband assured her of his determina- tion to " keep trying to preach until he had converted some one who would preach successfully," her brother Leander was converted through the preaching of her husband. This was in iSoo, and the new convert at once entered the ministry and worked in it with extraordinary power, earnest- ness, and success until his death, some fourteen years later. No more devoted, zealous, eloquent, or successful preacher labored in the church than he, His eloquence is described as something wonderful. Ilis presence was commanding and attractive, his voice rich, melodious, and greatly ex- pressive, and the fervor of his utterances ahost irresistible. None could listen to him unmoved, and during the time of his ministrations thousands were converted through his agency. As early as 18og he was Presiding Elder in the Cumberland District of the Methodist Episcopal Church, embracing all of West Tennessee, part of Middle Tennessee on the Elk and Duck rivers, Madison county in the Missis- sippi Territory, and all of Kentucky below the mouth of Green river, with the counties of Ohio and Breckinridge above Green river. To this day many an old pioneer re- members the sympathy excited and the profound sorrow felt in Cincinnati and throughout the Methodist Church, when his death occurred in 1815. It was a few days after the
455
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
adjournment of conference in Cincinnati. He and his wife medical practice, and in 1851 he finally renouneed his trade were crossing the Ohio river in an open ferry-boat. The as carpenter, and has ever since devoted his entire time and horses on the boat became frightened, and, running to -! gether, forced several of the passengers overboard into the river. Leander Blackman was among the number. Ile swam for some time, but before help reached him he sank and was drowned in full view of his agonized wife. Ilis energy to the practice of his self-acquired profession. Ile bas practised with untiring industry and with ahuost uni- for success in and around Portsmouth, and has long occupied an acknowledged position in the very front rank of the profession in that community. Politically he is a body was recovered and followed to the grave by a vast ; Republican, but he has never sought or held a political concourse of friends.
office of any description. Ile is a member of the Presby- terian Church, and he is not only a Christian in profession, but in his unblemished integrity of character. Socially he is pleasant and affable, and is liked for his agreeable qualities no less than esteemed for his sterling traits of character. Ile is essentially a self-made man, and through his own efforts has risen to deserved and enduring promi- nence. He was married in 1835 to Isabella Jane Fleming, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and this union has resulted in seven children.
REES, DAVID, Physician, was born, March 15th, ISog, in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and was the third of the thirteen children of Henry and Magdalena (Henney) Crees, His father, a 6 native of Pennsylvania, although of German ex- traction, was a carpenter and cabinetmaker by trade. Ile died in lowa, in 1847. The mother, a native of Fairfield county, Pennsylvania, was also of German ex- traction. The early training of David was of the most wholesome description, and established him securely in those habits of strict integrity, rigid temperance, energy and ULLIVANT, JOSEPH, was born in Ohio, De- eember 3d, 1809. Ile is a son of Lucas Sullivant and Sarah Starling, and brother to Michael Sul- livant, the famous American farmer. William Sullivant, L.1 .. D., an author of celebrity (now deceased), was also his brother. From his early years Joseph was an eager devourer of books. At school his desire to learn and his retentive memory made the ordinary tasks easy of accomplishment. Ile attended the two first classics! schools established in Columbus, and was afterwards sent to the boarding school at Washington, Ohio, then under the management of Kev. Philander Chase, Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. From Washington he went to the Ohio University, and finally to Centre College, Kentucky. An carly taste for the natural sciences, which was'stimulated by his father, a lover and close observer of nature, Joseph entered on a regular course of scientifie study, and with good results. Before he had reached his majority he was appointed, by the Legislature, one of the corporators of the Philosophical and Historical Society of Ohio, of which for several years he was Corresponding Secretary and Curator. lle was the originator of the Columbus Lyceum, a free literary, scientific and library association, of which he was President. Ile was also a member of the Athenaeum, an institution similar to the lyceum. For forty years Mr. Sullivant has taken an active interest in all the scientific and literary enterprises of Columbus. Ile has been a frequent lecturer on seientifie topics before the associations of that city. He has long been devoted to the interests of the public schools, and for twenty years was a member of the Board of Education, being President thereof for part of the time. Upon retiring from the Board he was requested to sit for his bust, which untiring industry which have been his marked character- istics through life. Ile worked, until he was seventeen years of age, upon a farm, attending school as he found opportunity at the district schools in his neighborhood. These opportunities were not frequent, however, and he was obliged to be content with but little schooling. Ile made up in a measure for this deprivation by industrious and intelligent reading in his leisure hours. When he had reached the age of seventeen he went to Pittsburgh, to learn the trade of carpenter. Ile mastered the trade with the thoroughness and worked at it with the industry which characterized whatever he undertook. His trade, however, did not monopolize all his attention and energy, and was regarded by him as merely the stepping-stone to something else. Ilis inclination had early been towards the medical profession, for which he developed a remarkable talent. In 1830 he began reading medicine, pursuing a regular course of study in such leisure hours as he could command. He had aclected the homeopathie school of medicine, and his studies were guided by strong faith in the principles of method he had chosen. Ile continued working at his trade, but eventually, after studying assiduously until he felt himself qualified to apply the principles he had mas- tered, and then from time to time, as occasion offered, he gave advice as a medical practitioner, and from the first with very marked success. He remained at Pittsburgh until March, 1838, when he removed to Ross county, Ohio. There he stayed until 1841, and in February of that year he removed to Portsmouth, Scioto county, Ohio, where he has ever since resided. He continued to work at his trade as carpenter until 1850, keeping up his medical studies meanwhile and practising medicine from time to time. In 1850 he began to give his attention almost exclusively to | has been placed in the High School hall. As another
486
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
mark of esteem, and in recognition of efficient and gratui- ; drew its first charter, in 1849, and was for twenty years tous services, the largest and finest school building in Columbus has been named " Sullivant School." Mr. Sul- livant has long been a member of the American Scientific Association ; Treasurer of the Ohio State Board of Agricul- ture; Trustee and President of the Starling College; and Trustee and Secretary of the Mechanical College of Ohio. Ile has been a frequent contributor to the press. Mr. Sul- livant was originally a Henry Clay Whig,. often serving on the Whig County and State Central Committees. Of recent years he has been a Republican. He has been married three times : first, to Margaret Irvin McDowell, daughter of Colonel Joseph MeDowell, of Danville, Kentucky, who died in giving birth to an only daughter. His second wife was Mary Eliza Brashear, granddaughter of Judge William McDowell and Peggy Madison, sister to James Madison, a President of the United States. The third wife of Mr. Sullivant was Elizabeth Underhill, a descendant of Captain Sir John Underhill, who figures in the annals of New England.
attorney for the road. In 1868 he was elected President of the Piqua Hydrauhe Company, an organization formed to carry out a project which had been in contemplation for more than thirty years. At the time Mr. Johnston accepted the presidency of the company the whole country was suf- fering from financial embarrassment, and the scheme of furnishing Piqua with water was not deemed practicable at that time. Under Mr. Johnston's supervision, and in large measure owing to his tact and energy, the water-works were built, and give promise of being second to none in the State. Originally an old-line Whig, Mr. Johnston was among the first to join the Republican party. In 1864 he was a Presidential Elector for the Fourth District of Ohio, on the Lincoln ticket. Since 1870 he has voted the Dem- ocratic ticket. An episode in the life of Mr. Johnston somewhat resembles the cases of claimants in the Chancery Court. His father having been killed by Indians, as above related, the savages afterwards made what atonement they could by providing, in a treaty with the government, that the children of the murdered man should have a certain piece of land. The government ignored the treaty stipula- tion and resisted the claim. For thirty years Mr. Johnston spent much of his time in Washington, fighting the depart- ments single-handed. Three bills were passed in his favor, but cach failed to become a law. At last, in 1863, after a thirty years' struggle, he accepted a compromise. Mr. Johnston has been a valuable man to his native city, taking a leading part in every enterprise of importance. In 1837 he married Uretta Garnsey, of Piqua.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.