The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 36

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


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OHINSTON, STEPHEN, Lawyer, was born, Sep- tember 29th, 1812, at Piqua, Ohio. Ilis an- cestors were from the north of Ireland. His father, Stephen Johnston, was government store- keeper at Fort Wayne, in the war of 1812, and in August of that year was killed by the Indians. Stephen, the elder, and his brother, Colonel John Johnston, were among the early pioneers of Ohio, to which they emi- grated in 1805. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Mary Caldwell, born at Bryan Station, Kentucky, and one of the remarkable women of her day. She was inti- mately acquainted with Daniel Boone, Little Turtle and ASSON, JOIIN II., was born in Preble county, Ohio, April 18th, 1827. His father, a native of Tennessee, was a farmer by occupation. His mother was a native of Ohio. The subject of this sketch attended school until he was nineteen years of age, working on a farm during the summer months. From the time he left school until he reached manhood he continued to follow farming chiefly, also working in a mill and teaching school. At the age of twenty-one he moved to Wayne county, Indiana, where he leased a saw-mill and engaged in the lumber business for three years. Hle then went into the grain trade with S. Thomas & Co., remaining with that firm until the panic of 1857. From 1858 to 1871 he was in the general commis- sion and salt business, being agent for the Ohio River Sah Company. In 1871 Mr. Wasson moved to Columbus and organized the Central Ohio Salt Company, of Muskingum and Hocking valley. Ile was appointed general agent of this company, in which position he has since continued. Ile has been eminently successful as a business man, the result of his own energy and perseverance. In whatever Tecumseh. The position which she occupied in pioneer life was alike creditable to herself and of great service to the white population of her section. She died in September of 1861, at the ripe age of seventy-three years. She was married to Stephen Johnston, Sr., in 1810, in Miami county, Ohio. At the age of thirteen the subject of this sketch, having attended the country schools, was apprenticed to a saddler, working at the bench fourteen years. Ile was then elected Sheriff of Miami County, serving four years. During this time he began to read law. In 1845 he was elected to the Legislature from Miami county. At the ex- piration of the session he engaged in farming and lumber- ing, and was thus employed for the following five years. In 1850 he was admitted to the bar, and opened a law office in Piqua, where he has since remained in the practice of his profession. In 1861 he entered the army as a Cap- tain in the 11th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until he resigned his commission, in September of that year. Mr. Johnston was early identified with the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana Railroad Company, now the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad Company. Ile | position he has been placed he has made the best of his


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opportunities, maintaining through life a strict integrity. [ turn home in 1862, in consequence of sickness. In 1864 lle is an active and influential member of the Odd Fellows. In December, 1857, he married Rexabel E. Braffett, of New Paris, Ohio,


UNI.AVY, HON. FRANCIS, was born in Vir- ginia in 1761. When he had reached the age of ten years his parents removed to western Pennsylvania, where he grew to manhood. At the age of fourteen he engaged in the Indian wars, continuing therein until the close of the Revolution. He assisted in the building of Fort McIntosh, in 1777, and was present at the defeat of Crawford. By great perseverance he acquired a good education, without the aid of instructors, and for many years followed school- teaching and land-surveying. In 1797 he removed to what afterwards became Warren county, Ohio. He was a mem. ber of the convention which framed the constitution of the new State, and also of the first Legislature. On the organi- zation of the State judiciary he was made Judge of the First Circuit, in which position he continued for fourteen years. Ile never missed a sitting of the court during his whole term of service, and he frequently swam the Miamis on horseback when other ferriage failed him. After leaving the bench he practised law for fifteen years, and then re- tired from active life, dying a few years later, in 1839. His public career was pure and honorable, his private char- acter without a stain, and his whole life one of usefulness.


RKEL, HENRY, Lawyer, was born, October 19th, 1825, in Wiesbaden, Germany. He is the oldest of three children of Rheinhart Erkel and Maria E. Hochn. His father, a farmer through life, lied, December 16th, 1834, in Germany. Ilis mother subsequently was married to Conrad Mentz, with whom she came to America, and settled in Cincinnati, July 5th, 1$54. Henry received a liberal edu- cation in his native country, and was taught to labor for his living. Having served his apprenticeship as a painter, he sailed for America in 1846, in company with some relatives, landing at New York. This was nine years before his mother and her family came to this country. Remaining in New York city a few days only, Henry went to Buffalo, worked at his trade for a few months, left there and reached Cincinnati September 17th, 1846. Since then he has made Cincinnati his home. He worked as a jour- neyman painter until 1850, when he started in business on his own account as a master painter, carrying on a large business until 1861. The rebellion having begun, he ac- companied General Sigel, in a responsible position, in Fremont's campaign in Missomi. He was obliged to re- Isive real estate and manufacturing interests in Bellaire, is


he enlisted in Company E, 183d Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Ile accompanied his regiment to the field, and in two weeks was promoted to a Second Lieutenancy. After the battle of Nashville he was made a First Lieutenant, and was finally given a Captain's commission. Ile was in the heavy fighting in Tennessee, and accompanied his regiment through the North Carolina campaign. July 29th, 1865, he was honorably discharged by reason of expiration of his term of service. In 1865 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Hamilton County, holding this office until he was elected Magistrate, in the fall of the following year. In this po- sition he remained until May, 1871, when he was appointed Lieutenant of Police, and served in that capacity until May of 1873. Since that time Captain Erkel has been practising law with satisfactory success and discharging the duties of Notary Public. He is a man of good habits, thrifty and industrious. In politics he is a Republican; in religion a Protestant. March 10th, 1850, he married Margaret Ochs.


UNKINS, MILTON W., Physician, was born in Cadiz, Harrison county, Ohio, February 25th, 1834. Ilis parents were natives of Ohio. Ilis father was a cabinetmaker. The subject of this sketch attended the common and high schools of his native place until he was seventeen years of age, when he took a clerkship in a drug store at Bridge- port, Ohio. While thus employed he read medicine with Dr. McConnaughty and attended a course of lectures at the Miami Medical College, Cincinnati. In February of 1855 he received his diploma, and in the following August began to practise in Bellaire. He has remained there ever since, and is now the oldest physician in the city. In 1861 Dr. Junkins was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 6Ist Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served in that capacity for about one year, at the end of which time a severe attack of asthma obliged him to resign. Ilaving re- covered somewhat from his malady he again entered the army as Major of the 170th Regiment Ohio Volunteer In- fantry. At the expiration of his term of service he returned to Bellaire and resumed practice. Dr. Junkins is widely known and is the most prominent politician in Bellaire. He began to take an active interest in politics during Mr. Lincoln's first campaign. He is an ardent Republican, and was the first to vote for a colored man in his city. He was President of the Hayes Club of Bellaire during the last State contest. While the water-works of Bellaire were in process of construction Dr. Junkins acted as Treasurer of the city. He has been President of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Eastern Ohio since its organization. He has been associated with the press of Bellaire from the earliest publication of a newspaper in that locality. He has exten-


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part owner of a line of steamers plying between Wheeling and St. Louis, and is interested in a mercantile house of Badgeport. Dr. Junkins has done much to advance the prosperity of Bellaire, and still takes a leading part in what- ever promises to benefit his city. In private life he is an all'dole, unassuming gentleman, sociable and hospitable. February ist, 1865, he married Jennie Todd, only daughter of Dr. M. L., Todd, of Bellaire, from whom death separated him on the 'zd of October, 1873.


LEASON, ALFRED W., Lawyer, was born, Octo- ber 15th, 1834, at Mohegan, New London county, Connecticut. Ile is the son of Rev. Anson Gleason, for many years pastor of the Mohegan Indians, Ilis early education was received at the Mohegan district school, among the Indians, Graduating from the academy at St. Johnsville, Vermont, he began life as a merchant in the town of Hartley, Connecti- cnt. Here he passed several years in successful business, when he moved to Buffalo, New York, engaging in the same business. Buffalo was not to his hiking, and he lo- cated himself at Toledo, Ohio, where by close attention and perseverance he met with good success. Retiring from mercantile life he connected himself with the law firm of Bissell & Co., forming the firm of Bissell, Gleason & Co. Ile still retains this connection, and is, besides, a member of Bissell & Gerill, real estate agents. The possession of the only set of abstract books in Lucas county has afforded this firm superior facilities for dealing with cases of disputed title, and enabled them to build up a large business. Mr. Gleason is also a member of the United States Law Associa- tion and Collection Union. He is a staunch Republican, but has steadily declined political office. He has been President of the Young Men's Christian Association of Toledo, and of the Toledo Library Association. July 7th, 1857, he married a daughter of the Hon. Edward Bissell, one of the founders of the city of Toledo, and at one time an owner of a great deal of real estate within its limits.


lle practised his profession until obliged by failing health to seek another pursuit. In the spring of 1832 he went into business at Madison, Ohio, remaining there antil 1836, when he sold out and went to Painesville. He was the originator of the Ohio Railroad, now known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Raihoad." He helped to or- gauize Erie county, Ohio, by being appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, December 14th, 1838. He was also appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court for Erie county, Ohio, in the year 1839. Ile remained at Sandusky and held these two offices until February, 1855. Close confine- ment and hard work had again impaired his health, and he went to lowa in the hope of regaining his strength, There he became an agent and attorney for entering government land, continuing his residence, however, at Sandusky, Ohio. Ile now has the care of about 55,000 acres of land in Western States, upon which he pays taxes for the owners thereof. During the war of the rebellion he was a member of the Board of Enrolment for a district comprising about six counties. Mr. Harper makes his home in Sandusky, where he has at different times since the year 1845 held the office of City Councilman. Ile now is the Senior Warden of Grace Church, and has been a vestryman in said church for about thirty years. Ile is known as a man of business capacity and solid worth. He is a Republican in his politi- cal attachments. January 5th, 1830, Mr. Harper married Susanna Montgomery, at Unionville, Lake county, Ohio.


UDLOW, JAMES CHAMBERS, was born in 1798, at Ludlow Station, now part of Cincinnati. Ile was descended from a family of Shropshire, England, one of whom became noted as one of the judges who passed sentence of death on Charles 1. This ancestor was Lieutenant General of Ireland under Cromwell, was banished after the Restora- tion, and died in Vevay, Switzerland. Other members of the family came to this country and settled at New Provi- dence, New Jersey. The subject of this notice was the son of Israel Ludlow and Charlotte Chambers, daughter of James Chambers, of Chambersburg, : colonel in the revo- lutionary army. James C. Ludlow passed his youth amid ARPER, RICE, retired from active business, was born, November 28th, 1803, at Unionville, Lake , and savage beasts were more plentiful than agreeable. Ile connty, Ohio. Ile is the son of John A. Harper and Loraine Miner. Ile attended the district schools, but is mainly indebted to his parents for his education. Ile studied Latin with Alexander the wildness and dangers of pioneer life, where Indians grew into manhood with a robust constitution, a graceful, stalwart form, and winning address. He was six feet three inches in licight. Ilis was a superior education for the time and place, and a good beginning he improved R. Chase, a brother of Chief Justice Chase. Ile was for throughout his years. llc inherited a large estate, enabling some time a pupil in the school of James Noyes, at Perry, ' him to devote much time and money to philanthropic work. Lake county, Ohio. At the end of bis school days he be- | He was the beloved elder brother of the family, and the came a clerk in a store at Ashtabula, where he remained stay of his widowed mother. Ile was fortunate in his mar. riage, and with the hearty co-operation of his noble wife one year. lle then read law with Messrs. Wheeler & McClung at Unionville, being admitted to the bar in 1827. ! Josephine, he was the beneficent genius of his neighborhood.


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He was among the carly abolitionists, being president of the first anti slavery society in the West. He gave the best years of his life to the cause of freedom, working with tongue and pen and ready purse for the abolition of slavery. Ile aided in starting the anti-slavery paper, edited first by James G. Birney, and subsequently by Gamaliel Bailey. Ils sister, Sarah Bella, who was devoted to the same cause, was the wife of Judge John McLean, Postmaster-General under the Jackson administration afterwards, and until his death Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Ludlow's eldest daughter, named Sarah Bella for her aunt, was married in 1846 to Sahon P. Chase, late Chief- Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mrs. Chaise's firm religious principles and lovely Christian charac- ter had a lifelong influence upon her husband.


LEMONS, PHINEAS HARRISON, M. D., Phy- sician and Surgeon, was born, February 16th, 1832, in Sandusky, Ohio, of American parents, and of French and English ancestry. He was at Oberlin for five years, and removed thence to Antioch, where he received his degree of A. B., being in the first class that graduated at that college under Professor Mann, and took the second degree, A. M., under Dr. Thomas Hill, who is now President of Yale College. On leaving Antioch he studied medicine, completing the same in the medical department of the University of Michi- gan at Ann Arbor, and attended an additional course of lectures in Cincinnati. Hle commenced the practice of his profession at Detroit in 1859, where he remained only for a short time. His health becoming impaired, he broke up his establishment there, and removed to Ohio, locating in Van Wert county, where he practised, and in the adjoining counties, for about two years and a half. In 1862, upon a call being made for surgeons from Ohio, he went to Colum- bus, where he was examined and approved, and was there- upon assigned to the goth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer In- Fintry. He accompanied that command to Kentucky, and served as Field Surgeon throughout the campaign in that State. While in command of a sick brigade he was taken sick on the road to Louisville ; he left his regiment at Jeffer- sonville, having been ordered by his physician to go North as soon as he was able to travel. Ile did so, and while convalescing got married, and returned to his regiment im- mediately afterwards, rejoining the command at Silver Springs, and remained with them until the advance on Mur- freeshoro', being the only field surgeon with the regiment. While on duty, the surgeon in charge of the 3d Division Hospital sent him a written report stating that the wounded who had previously been under his ( Dr. Clemons') charge were the best dressed wounded sent from the battle field. He was subsequently left in charge of the sick of the division, while his regiment marched on Chattanooga with the rest of the army.


| Ile was next assigned to the charge of the Division Hospital at MeMinuville, and while engaged in his duties there was captured by General Wheeler's cavalry, his wife being with him at the time. Ile was, however, a prisoner only a few days, as the Union cavahy were soon on hand, and drove the rebels away. Ile remained there between four and five months, and was then promoted to Surgeon of Volunteers. Ile was then ordered to Murfreesboro', where he examined some six thousand recruits and assigned them to various branches of the service. After the organization of the colored troops, he was assigned as Surgeon to the 17th United States Colored Regiment. Leaving thesc in 1865 he was made Post Medical Director of Nashville, and while in that position was present at the execution of the notorious Champ Ferguson, the rebel guerilla. During the engage -. inent at Nashville, he was made Division Surgeon under General Morgan, marching with this command in pursuit of Hood while retreating from Nashville. He was mustered out of the service in April, 1866. He has been engaged in practice altogether about sixteen years. Upon the removal of Dr. Agard from Sandusky, Dr. Clemons succeeded him in his business, and since his residence in that city, owing to his skill as a physician and his past excellent military record as a surgeon, has become one of the leading medical practitioners of Sandusky.


OUNG, SAMUEL M., Lawyer and Banker, was born, December 29th, 1806, in Grafton, Lebanon county, New Hampshire. His parents were na- tive America .. s. of English and Irish descent. I lis father was an architect, builder and civil en- gineer. Samuel M. received the first of his schooling in the district school at Plainfield, New Hamp- shire. Ile next took a full course in the high school at Sharon, Vermont, and subsequently passed with credit through the academy at Burlington, Vermont. Leaving this institution he read law with the Hon. J. M. Pomeroy. In 1835 he moved to Maumee City, Lucas county, Ohio. In the same year he was elected Auditor of Lucas county, being the first to hold that office. In 1838 Mr. Young took into his office, as a student at law, Morrison R. Waite, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. At the end of one year Mr. Young associated himself in practice with Mr. Waite, the two practising together in Manmee City until 1850, when Mr. Waite went to Toledo and started a branch office. The firm did a successful business until its dissolution in 1854. In 1856 Mr. Young was elected President of the Branch of the Commercial Bank of Ohio, holding this position until that institu- tion consolidated with the Bank of Toledo, which merged into the National Bank of Toledo in 1865. Mr. Young has never aspired to political office. Originally a Whig, he has acted with the Republican party since its birth. In 1842 he was Adjutant of the Ohio militia. IIe was


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one of a company formed to build a bridge over the ; Franklin, New York, where he remained for three years. Maumee river. Among the other hindrances with which Ile spent six months of study in the Lawrence Scientific School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in 1856 was called to the Professorship of Natural Sciences in the State Normal School, Albany, New York. This he resigned in 1859 to become Principal of Chester Academy, Orange county, New York. Ile remained here until 1865, when he took charge of the preparatory department of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he was made Professor of Natural Sciences in 1866. In 1869 he was appointed by Governor Hayes, Assistant Geologist on the Ohio Geological Survey. In 1872 he was elected President of Antioch College, and the company met was the washing away of the work as it progressed. This occurred three several times, to the great discouragement of most of the gentlemen interested. Mr. Young had firm faith in the success of the project, and by his persistence and wise counsels had the bridge completed in 1$49. He is now one of the principal owners of the bridge. From 1861 to 1863 he was one of a company which leased the canals of the State, embracing about 850 miles of canal property, including within the lease the Ohio and the Wabash and Erie canals. In 1862 Mr. Young asso- ciated himself with Mr. Abner L. Backus and built some , in 1873 he became President of the Ohio Agricultural and of the extensive elevators at Toledo, which business proved Mechanical College at Columbus, which position he has since filled with great credit. Mr. Orton was originally a Whig, next a Free-Soiler, and has for many years been a Republican. In 1855 he married Mary M. Jennings, at Franklin, New York, who died at Yellow Springs in 1873. Ile married Anna D. Torrey, of Millbury, Massachusetts, in 1875. successful beyond expectation. For eight years Mr. Young was President of the Toledo Coke and Gaslight Company. In 1858 he was elected a Director of the Cleveland & To- ledo Railroad Company, holding the position for ten years, until the Cleveland & Toledo was consolidated with the Michigan Southern Railroad Company. Mr. Young is one of the Directors of the narrow gauge railroad now being constructed from Toledo to Columbus. Ile is also one of the principal stockholders in the Boody House, Toledo, and President of the company. Many obstacles were encoun- tered in the construction of the Boody House, but Mr. Young's energy swept them all away, and he had the satis- faction of seeing finished one of the finest hotels in the country. June 9th, 1841, Mr. Young married Angeline L. Upton, at Maumee City. Mrs. Young's parents were natives of New York. Her father dying when she was but a child, her mother moved to Ohio and married Dr. Horatio Conart, one of the founders of Maumee City.


MITII, BENJAMIN, was born, October 5th, 1787, in the county of West Chester, New York State, in a little town then called East Chester. IIe was the youngest of two children whose parents were Jacob and Sarah Smith. Ilis father was an early settler of the section where he resided, was an active participant in the war of the Revolution, and died from wounds received in one of the last battles of that struggle. His mother was a native of New York State, and her family were likewise intimately identified with the patriot canse of '76. At the age of twenty Benjamin began life on his own resources as a shoemaker. Up to this time his education had been very limited, and he had been early taught to labor. Ile began his occupation in Westchester county, and remained there about five years constantly engaged in the pursuit of his avocation. In IS12 he re- moved to Cincinnati and embarked in the grocery business, which he carried on for three years. Meanwhile war with Great Britain was declared by the United States, and he


RTON, EDWARD, President of the Ohio Agri- cultural and Mechanical College, was born, March 9th, 1829, at Deposit, Delaware county, New York. Ile is the son of Rev. Samuel G. Orton, D. D., who graduated from Hamilton College, New York, in 1822. Ilis mother was Clara Gregory, of Albany, New York. Edward attended the became a volunteer, and was in New Orleans when the academy at Fredonia, but i, chiefly indebted to home infly ;- great victory was gained by General Jackson over the British forces under General Pakenham. On quitting the grocery business he became a pilot on the Ohio and Missis- sippi rivers for some three years. Ile next returned to Cincinnati and resumed his original trade of a shoemaker, which he pursued until 1832, when he was made Constable of the Fourth Ward, and performed its duties about four years. On vacating that office he returned to his bench, and carried on the shoemaking business until the autumn of 1849, when he was appointed a policeman, and performed the duties of that station more or less for about twenty years, when he retired from the force. Since that time, with the ences for the carefully laid groundwork which fitted him to enter college and assume a creditable standing at the outset. In 1848 he graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, twenty-six years after his father had taken a diploma from the same institution. On leaving college he was for one year engaged as assistant teacher in the academy, Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1849 he joined Lane Seminary, Cincin- nati, Ohio, but withdrew at the end of one year on account of failing eyesight. The following year he devoted to trav- elling through Pennsylvania and New York, making most of the journey on foot. In 1850 he accepted a position as assistant teacher in the Delaware Literary Institute, at | exception of some seven months passed at the Hot Springs,




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