USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 4
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politics, and he has done this. llis political faith finds ex- pression in the Republican creed, and he has served the party, or rather ht served with the party, actively and effectively. In 1860 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of Ohio, and served there through the term with ability and, what is far better, with integrity. In 1872 he left the office of the Toledo Blade to enter upon the chuies of Appraiser of Mer- chandise, to which position he had been appointed, and which he still holds. He was married on August Ist, 1848, to Caroline B. Smith.
6 RANGER, VOLENTINE WIIITMAN, Woollen Draper and Merchant Tailor, and Dealer in Gents' Furnishing Goods, was born in Coventry, Portage county, Ohio, February 25th, 1826. Ilis education was received in the common schools located at Middlebury, near Akron, Ohio. He remained with his parents until he was about twelve years of age, then commenced to learn the trade of tailor, under the control of his brother, with whom he was connected for about five years. In 1845 he went to New York, for the purpose of perfecting his knowledge of the vari- ous branches of his calling. His purpose accomplished, he removed to Akron, Ohio, where, in company with bi, brother, and under the firm-name of Granger & Brother, he established himself in business, which was assisted with moneys advanced by his friends. In the spring of 1849, immediately after his marriage, which took place May 7th, 1849, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and engaged in business in conjunction with his brother, under the firm style, of Granger & Brother. In 1862, at the dissolution of partner- ship relations, he purchased the entire interest of his brother, and continued business operations for himself, by his own unassisted resources. At the present time he stands at the head of his business in Ohio, and is recognized by the general community as a useful citizen and an enterprising and reliable merchant. Ile took an active part in military preparations during the war, and was always earnest and energetic in his endeavors to promote the interests and welfare of the national government. As his ancestors had done before him in the perilous days of revolutionary strife, so did he during the dark times of the rebellion, and was tireless in his efforts to assist in securing the final victory to the Union. Ile was a member of the Whig party, and since its dissolution has been an earnest Republican. Ile was married at Akron, Ohio, in 1849, to Emeline F. Dodge, daughter of Nathan Brown Dodge; the fruits of this marriage have been two daughters and one son. Aside from his success as a merchant, Mr. Granger has contributed to Toledo's prosperity, by judicious investments in real estate, which are an ornament to the city. In his social relations no one in Toledo ranks higher, and he enjoys the confidence and esteem of its best and ablest citizens
OFFMAN, BENJAMIN F., Lawyer and ex-Judge, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, ou January 25th, 1812. His father, Joseph Hoffman, and his mother, were of German descent. He was educated in his native county at the common schools and at select schools in West Chester, Strodesville, and Marshallton, although until the age of nineteen he had to do more or less work upon his father's farm. Ile moved with his parents to Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1833; studied law with Hon. David Tod, subse- quently Governor of the State; graduated from the Cincin- nati Law School in 1836, and was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati. Thereupon he formed a partnership with his former preceptor at Warren, Ohio, and has practised law ever since. Attending studiously to his profession, and practising industriously in the county courts, he gradually acquired an excellent connection. From 1838 to June,. 1841, he served the public faithfully as Postmaster at Warren ; and from February 9th, 1857, to February 9th, 1862, as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. During Governor Tod's administration he acted as that official's Private Secretary. Born a Pennsylvania Democrat, in 1836-37 he espoused the anti-slavery cause; moved successively with the Liberty, the Free-Soil, and the Republican parties until slavery was abolished and the country free. He is still a Republican. So far as his resources would permit he has co operated in all enterprises calculated to develop the resources of his sec- tion; as, for instance, the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal, the Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad, and, more recently, the Second National Bank of Youngstown. He has been twice married. His first wife and family are all deceased. Ifis second wife is still living, and with her he has one child. For some years he "has resided in Youngstown, where he is highly respected for his abilities and personal worth.
INNEY, COLONEL, P., President of the Kinney National Bank of Portsmouth, Ohio, was born in Scioto county in the same State, December 16th, 1805, and is now the oldest native resident in that county. Ilis father moved from Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to Scioto county, in October, 1805, settling on a farm near Portsmouth. Ifis opportunities for receiving an education were limited, being such as were afforded in the early frontier schools; and limited as they were, they were often interrupted by the demands on his labor and skill in the work of cultivating his father's farm. In 1820 his father loaded a flat-boat with farm produce, and sent it to New Orleans, his son being in charge as super- cargo. The long voyage of two thousand miles was safely though slowly made, and was followed by others in suc- cecding years. In 1829 he started in a mercantile career, in the copartnership of Gates & Kinney, and in 1832 com- menced private banking. For a number of years he was
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successfully engaged in this business, his banking house being known as that of Kinney & Co. In IS51, associated with some other enterprising citizens, he conceived and carried out the idea of constructing the Scioto & Hocking Valley Railroad, having its southern terminus at Ports- mouth. He was made the Treasurer of the company, ne- gotiated its bonds, purchased the iron for the road-bed, and saw the great undertaking, materially advanced by his energy, brought to completion and resulting in the rapid development of the country which it traversed. It is still the only railroad in the county. In 1855, having purchased the controlling stock in the Bank of Portsmouth, which was a branch of the State Bank of Ohio, he was made its Cashier, and conducted its affairs with great ability up to 1861. Early in the fall of that year he was authorized to raise a three-years' regiment, and rapidly accomplished that labor. It was mustered in as the 56th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and, with Mr. Kinney as its Colonel, took the field in season to participate in the important campaign which began with the capture of Forts llenry and Donelson, and included in its successes Pittsburgh Landing, the siege of Corinth and the fall of Memphis. He then took his com- mand to Helena, Arkansas, where the regiment rendered brilliant services and greatly added to its high reputation by its conduct in the Vicksburg campaign and its partici- pation in the operations and engagements in the Teche and Red river countries. Here, after two years of exposure in the field, Colonel Kinney was compelled to resign, a cancer having formed on his face and spreading rapidly. He was, upon his return home, successfully treated, and upon his recovery went back to his old position of Cashier in the Bank of Portsmouth, which in 1863 was merged into the Portsmouth National Bank, of which he was chosen Presi- dent. In 1867 he sold his stock interest in the institution and became one of the excursionists in the " Quaker City" to the Holy Land. While absent he visited all the leading European and Eastern countries, in addition to Palestine. Upon his return he organized the Bank of Portsmouth, under a charter of the State, and became its President. Ile continued in his connection with this institution until 1872, when, under the authority of the National Banking act, he organized the Kinney National Bank, and was chosen its President, his son, J. W. Kinney, being installed as Cashier. They still retain their respective positions. Colonel Kin- ney has been for many years a prominent member of the Episcopal Church in good standing, and has aided practi- cally, to a considerable extent, the missionary and charitable purposes which it controls. In 1856 he erected Christ Church, in Portsmouth, at a cost of eight thousand dollars. For twenty-one years he was a member of the City Council, and for a major portion of this extended period its Presi- dent. In this position he gave evidence of progressive public spirit, and advocated and helped carry out many public improvements and projects to enhance the material as well as the moral well-being of his fellow-citizens.
Than this he has held no other civil office. Ile is widely known as an able and sagacious financier, and as a man of liberal views and noble impulses. He has amassed a very large fortune, and resides in a handsome suburban mansion situated within a short distance of where he was born. Ile is still in the possession of strong mental and physical vigor, and attends with close attention to the discharge of the important trusts confided to him.
UNGREN, SAMUEL SMITH, Physician and Surgeon, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, August 22d, IS27. He is of Swedish origin, his grandfather, a native of Sweden, having settled in America in ante- Revolutionary times, and es- tablished the first paper mill upon Chester creck, at a point below the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ilis early life was spent in the vicinity of and within the Quaker City, where he obtained his elementary education in the common schools. While he was in the neighbor- hood of his sixteenth year he entered the drug house . of French & Richards, in Philadelphia, on the corner of Tenth and Market streets, and remained there until he had al- most attained his majority. While thus employed he had charge of the retail department of the establishment, and in his leisure hours devoted his attention to the study of medi- cine, and also the acquiring of Latin and French in the niglit schools of the city. In October, 1848, he became a student at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia; at- tended a course of lectures at this institution, and graduated there in March, 1850. Lcaving Pennsylvania he then moved to Ilagerstown, Maryland, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession during the ensuing two years. He subsequently became, after mature study and reflection, a convert to the system of Hahnemann, and at- tended lectures at the Homeopathic Medical College of Philadelphia, whence he graduated in March, 1852. Ile afterward continued to practise in accordance with the tenets of the new system in Hagerstown, Maryland, until November, ISGo, when, desiring to enter into a more ex- tended field of action, he removed to Toledo, Ohio, where he now resides, constantly and assiduously engaged in pro- fessional labors, and in possession of the respect and con- fidence of a community who recognize in him a skilful and able practitioner. He is confessedly one of the leading physicians and surgeons in the city and State of his adop- tion, and has performed various surgical operations which have been cited as the most remarkable cases of the kind in Ohio and the Northwest. He devotes himself more par- ticularly to uterine surgery, and in this branch of medical science has, often under circumstances of peculiar and perilous delicacy, encountered notable success. Ilis re- markably successful " case of Cesarean section " was crowned with the happiest results, " both mother and child
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being saved." The result in that operation was due in a [ pointed Lecturer on Clinical Medicine, and still hoks this great measure to his use (probably the first on record) of position in that institution. He has been editor of the Clinic since its first issue, in 1871. This serial is the first weekly medical journal established west of the Alleghenies. Dr. Whittaker is a member of the various State and local medical societies. silver wire sutures in closing the uterine wound ; the oper- ation was performed May 8th, 1875. Within five weeks after the operation the mother was able to perform her cus. tomary domestic duties, including washing, and both are now (February 10th, 1876) living and in good health. He has been President of the State Homoeopathic Medical Society, and is a contributor to several medical journals, while, in all matters pertaining to the advancement of medical sci- ence, he is a zealous and efficient co-laborer. Ile was married, June Ist, 1848, to Mary C. Swartzuelder, of Hagerstown, Maryland; and again, June 10th, 1875, to Mrs. Minnie Farrar West, of Hudson, Ohio.
IIITE, REV. LEVI, Clergyman, was born, May 2Ist, 1798, in Hamilton county, Ohio, being one of a family of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. In 1815 young Levi and some of his brothers joined the Methodist Church, of which his mother and one sister had already be- come members; and not long after his father and all the other children united with the same faith and fold, and their house became a preaching-place in the old Miami Circuit. Levi, warm in his first love, received a clear con- viction that it was his duty to preach the gospel; and the church recognized his gifts as well as his grace, and en- couraged him to exercise those gifts in exhortation. Ile was accordingly licensed as an exhorter by Alexander Cummings, one of the early pioneer ministers. For several years he was an efficient and successful exhorter, and then received authority to preach. Having consecrated himself to God's service, he determined to devote his time and talents wholly to the work of the ministry. In the autumn of IS22 he was recommended by his district conference to the Ohio Conference as a suitable person to be admitted into the travelling ministry of the church. Ile was cordially received and appointed to Oxford Circuit, and during the period of forty-four years received the same number of annual appointments from the authorities of the church, cheerfully accepting them all and applying himself with un- tiring zeal, energy and industry to promote the cause of his Divine Master. These appointments were confined to twenty-two different circuits; in some of them he labored
WHITTAKER, JAMES T., M. D., Physician and Professor of Physiology in the Medical College of Ohio, was born, March 3d, 1843, in the city of Cincinnati, but during his earlier years resided in the neighboring city of Covington, Kentucky. Hle received a liberal education, which he com- pleted at the Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1863, taking the first honor in the natural sciences. After leaving college he entered the army as a private in a three months' volunteer regiment from Covington, in which he remained during its service. In the autumn of the last-named year he attended the course of lectures delivered at the Medical College of Ohio. When these were completed he again entered the service and became a surgeon's steward, being attached to the United States steamer " Reindeer," of the Mississippi river flotilla. During his term of service, which continued for two years, he was twice promoted, and finally made Acting Assistant-Surgeon, in charge of a hospital-boat stationed at the mouth of the Cumberland river. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged from the only for a single year, while to others two, three, and in service, with an invitation from the Bureau of Medicine and one instance five years were passed in preaching the gospel, though in a majority of instances the changes were made with every successive year. He thus sustained an effective relation to the conference throughout his whole career, never suspending his itinerant labors for a single year. Ile was always acceptable to the people among whom he labored, and, judging from his abundant fruit, he was a good preacher. He had many excellent and attractive qualities of heart, mind and character. The children of the several congregations loved him, and received him into their Sunday-schools and home circles with a hearty wel- come. Ilis sermons were plain, practical and useful, and often delivered with great power. HIe excelled as an ex- horter, and his efforts in this respect were usually pathetic, eloquent and powerful. During his long ministry he re- ceived very many into the communion of the church, but no reeord has been made of the number. To all these he Surgery at Washington to enter the regular navy. He de- cided, however, to resume his medical studies, which he pursued at the University of Pennsylvania, from which ancient seat of learning he graduated in 1866. Ile then returned home and attended another course of lectures in the Medical College of Ohio, and received, in 1867, a diploma from that institution. Shortly after this he entered the Cincinnati Hospital, as Chief Resident Physician, where he continued for a year, and then sailed for Europe. Dur- ing his absence abroad he passed two years among the most celebrated clinics of the continent. On his return home to Cincinnati he was appointed Professor of Physi- ology in the Medical College of Ohio, which position he still occupies ; at the same time he received the appoint- ment of Pathologist to the Good Samaritan Hospital. After serving for four years in the latter capacity he was ap-
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was a good pastor to build them up in the faith and hope of the gospel. In the administration of discipline the ten- dencies of his nature ever inclined him to be lenient; and if he erred at all, it was sure to be on the side of mercy and according to the judgment of charity. He loved his family with the most intense affection, and next to his home circle he loved the society of Methodist preachers. Ilis death was unexpected to himself and friends until it was near at hand. Only ten days prior to its occurrence he filled his appointments on the Lord's day, preaching twice. Ile was confined to his bed for three days only, and died August 21st, 1866.
OWYER, WILLIAM ANSON, Minister of the Gospel, was born in Farmington, Trumbull county, Ohio, February 20, 1835. Ilis father's people emigrated from the eastern part of Penn- sylvania, and his mother's from the State of Massachusetts, at an early date, and were among the first settlers of Trumbull county. Ile was raised on a farm, and received the rudiments of his education in the common schools of the neighborhood where he was brought up, and afterwards developed it by his own efforts and energies. In the fall of 1854 he left home and went to Minnesota, where he spent his time working at whatever came to his hand in that pioneer country, until the fall of 1856, when he returned to Ohio. On November 17th, 1854, a few weeks after his arrival in Minnesota, he formed a matrimonial alliance with Julia A. Smith, who also went from Ohio. She died of typhoid fever, December 10th, 1856, soon after their return to Ohio. On June 24th, 1858, he was again married to Louisa J. Cushman. In the month of August, 1857, be was licensed to preach, and was em- ployed by the presiding eller, as an assistant, to preach on Thompson Circuit, in the Erie Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In February, 1860, he left his native country again and went to the State of California, where he remained until the fall of 1861, spending the larger portion of his time in the ministry, laboring in the employ of the presiding elder in the California Conference. While en- engaged in this work his health again failed, and he re- turned to the place of his nativity, in Ohio, and was unable to follow any kind of employment for a period of three years. In the spring of 1863, his health having returned, he united with the Allegheny Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, where he labored successfully until the spring of 1866, when he dissolved his connection with that body and united with the Erie Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he labored faithfully and successfully during a term of five years, performing an amount of labor that greatly overtaxed his physical powers, so that in the winter of 1871 his health again failed, and he was obliged to retire from the regular ministry. Ilis wife at the same time was an invalid, having suffered for more
than six years with pulmonary consumption, and having been given up by her friends and physicians as a hopeless case. Ilis anxiety for her recovery induced him to give his attention to the study of medicine, which led to the dis- covery of a remedy the use of which, to the astonishment of all her acquaintances, caused her to recover rapidly until she was restored to remarkably good health (which she still retains after the lapse of nearly four years). Ile then began to manufacture the medicine for the use of others afflicted in like manner, who used it with the most satis- factory results; and it was soon found that his discovery possessed the most wonderful virtues, and be saw a grand field open in which he could perform a large amount of good by making the manufacture of his remedy a business, which he is now doing in Cleveland, Ohio. Ilis discovery for the cure of consumption consists of two special rem- edies, which are called Life Balsam for the Lungs and Tonic Compound for the Blood, and both together are named Bowyer's Specific Remedy for Consumption and General Debility. Ilis study and extensive research into the science of medicine has also resulted in the discovery of a very superior remedy for pain, which is known as Bowyer's King of Pain. Mr. Bowyer now sustains the relation to the conference of a supernumerary member, and exercises his gifts in the ministry as he has occasion, labor- ing to the best of his ability to do good both to the souls and bodies of the human family.
EATRICK, JOIIN F., Attorney and Insurance Agent, was born in the old Arcade building, Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, November 26th, 1829. In the fall of 1834 he moved with his parents, also natives of Pennsyl- vania, to Fredericksburg, Wayne county, Ohio, where he attended school until his eighteenth year was attained. Ile then removed to St. Paul, Minnesota, there remaining until 1851, when he returned to Fredericksburg, . Ohio, where he resided until March, 1853. Ile afterward visited Defiance, Ohio, purposing to establish a woollen factory in this place; but, after remaining there through a summer, he concluded to relinquish his design, prospects appearing not sufficiently favorable. He then taught school during one winter, and subsequently, for two years, was engaged in agricultural pursuits. Ile then moved into the city and entered the law office of David Taylor, his wife's brother, and, after completing a course of legal studies, was admitted to practise about the year 1856. In 1858 he connected himself with the insurance business, primarily as Special Agent for the Phoenix Insurance Company, of Hartford, which position he retained for ten years. At the present time he still controls an extensive agency business for the leading fire insurance companies of the country, and is widely and favorably known as an energetic and able
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man of business. Owing undoubtedly to the fact that he has always been a consistent and an active ally of the Re- publican puty in a county which is controlled strongly by Democratic views, he has never held any public office. Ifc has been a candidate, however, of the Republican party for the position of Probate Judge, and also of Representative, an office for which he is admirably qualified by his all- embracing knowledge of the many interests, great and small, centring in his section of the State. . On the organi- zation of the Defiance Insurance Company he was chosen one of the Directors, and by the body of Directors was elected Manager and Secretary of the enterprise; in this insurance company he is a heavy stockholder and possesses much influence. Ile is a stockholder and Director also in the Defiance National Bank, and is Deputy United States Marshal of the Northern District of Ohio, a position held by him since 1862. Ile was married, December 28th, 1853, in Findley, Ohio, by Rev. J. F. Kellam, to Nan Taylor, daugh- ter of Hon. John Taylor, ex-member of the Ohio Senate.
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EGRUE, ENOCH G., Chief of the Fire Depart- ment of Cincinnati, was born in that city June 20th, 1820, and is the second of three children, whose parents were Joseph and Mary (Gest) Megrue, natives of Clermont county, Ohio. llis ancestry on both sides of the family were of Revo- lutionary stock, and were also active participants in the last war with Great Britain, and were also among the earliest settlers in the State of Ohio. Ilis father was a merchant at Millford, Clermont county, Ohio, where he died in the year IS22 at the carly age of twenty-two, from excessive phle- botomy, it being the common practice among the physicians of those days to resort to blood-letting as a cure for every disease; his mother died in Cincinnati in the year 1864. The early education of Enoch was a liberal one, and ob- tained in the schools of his native city. When but cleven years of age he entered the black smith shop of Isaac Treat, where he continued for about three years; and to this occu- pation, at so youthful an age, united with good habits, may be attributed much of his past and present physical strength and power of endurance. lle next entered the machine shop of Jabez Reynolds, and there familiarized himself with that business, especially in the " finishing " department. After remaining there nearly four years, in the latter part of June, 1836, he learned the cabinet-making and furniture business with P. Rust & Son, and this occupation confined his attention for about seven years; subsequently he carried on the business of an undertaker. Ile had been a promi- nent and active member of the Volunteer Fire Department up to the date of the organization of the " Cincinnati Fire Department " on February 9th, 1853, with one steam fire- engine, the " Uncle Joe Ross; " and four weeks thereafter, March 9th, 1853, the whole " paid department " was put in
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