The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2, Part 44

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


USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 44


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


66


-


522


BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.


daughter of Colonel Peter Rudolph Neff and granddaughter of Peter Neff, whose biography appears elsewhere in this work.


-


TIEBEL, HENRY G., was born, March 12th, 1825, in Homberg, on the Ohm, by Gessen, Ger- many. Ile attended the connnon schools of his native city, and subsequently studied surveying at the University of Giessen, with a view to fol- low it as a profession. At the age of seventeen years, however, he entered a mercantile house in West- halpen, where he remained for two years and a half, at the end of which time he concluded to try his fortune in America. Accordingly, in the early spring of 1845, he set ont to take ship at Bremen. Arriving at that city he found the port blockaded by ice, vessels were unable to go out, and he was compelled to pass six months in Bremen. During his sojourn here the blockade was broken, the entire city was inundated, and the young emigrant lost all of his personal effects, including his clothing, barely escap- ing with his life. The blockade having been removed, he set sail for America, arriving in due time at New York. A stranger in a strange land, without friends or money, and unacquainted with the language of the country, he felt him- self alone, with no arm but his own to lean upon. With a stout heart and a determined spirit, he set out to look for something by which he could earn a dollar. Chance threw in his way a young man whom he had known seven years before in Europe. From him young Stiebel obtained a loan of one dollar and a half. This he invested in half a dozen pairs of suspenders, selling them at good profit, re-investing in the same article, and again disposing of his stock with profit. IIe continued thus for about four months, realizing a song sum, with which he purchased notions, and started out to peddle his wares through the country. This did not suit him, and he resolved to conduct business on a different scale. Ile purchased a stock of fine dry goods and shipped them to New Town, Georgia, where he opened a store, and did a good business for one year and a half. At the end of this time he disposed of his business, and accepted an invitation to join his brother-in-law in Pennsylvania, the latter having come to this country and settled in that State. Mr. Stiebel purchased a stock of groceries and joined his brother-in-law in that business. He remained here onc year, when he removed to Cooper's Furnace, near Philips- burg, New Jersey, where he conducted a successful busi- ness in a general country store, for nearly three years. Ile then purchased the patent right for a street sweeper. With this he went to Cincinnati and obtained a contract to keep the streets of the city clean. Ile had a similar contract with the city of Louisville, Kentucky, which he abandoned, in order to devote the whole of his attention to business in Cincinnati. Unfortunately for Mr. Stiebel, about the time that success seemed certain, the Know-Nothing excitement


broke out, and, the city government being in the hands of that party, the result operated against Mr. Stiebel, because of his foreign birth. Being already weakened by losses in Louisville, and the failure of the parties with whom he was connected in Philadelphia, Mr. Stiebel was compelled to give up his contract in Cincinnati. This involved the loss of the greater part of his investment. By this time, how- ever, he had made many friends, who came to his assistance and enabled him to meet all his engagements, including large amounts contracted by the company in Philadelphia. Mr. Stiebel's next contract in Cincinnati was for sprinkling the streets, commencing with a one-horse cart and a box- tank, which business increased from year to year until 1872, when, after experimenting for five or six years, he patented a sprinkling apparatus, now in successful operation in Cin- cinnati and St. Louis. This sprinkler consists of a horizon- tal tank, larger in the rear in order to keep up the pressure as the water recedes. The driver's seat is placed on top to guard against approaching danger. On the top and in the centre of the tank is a turret to prevent the water from running over when the wagon is in motion. On the side, about eighteen inches from the bottom, is a check valve, by which the tank is filled, obviating the necessity of the driver climbing on top. The running gear is so constructed that the wagon will turn on the ground upon which it stands. From the small beginning which we have related, Mr. Stiebel has established a business which, in magnitude, is second to none of its kind in the country. At this time he has in operation, in Cincinnati alone, no less than eighteen of his large wagons, requiring nearly forty head of horses to run. Besides these, he has just concluded a contract with the city of St. Louis, which, when in full working order, will require about fifty wagons, with one hundred horses. In addition to his sprinkling business, Mr. Stiebel runs a line of drays requiring as many horses as he has employed in his other interests. December 25th, 1849, Mr. Stiebel married Jennett Schuler. To this union have been born six children, four sons and two daughters, all living.


ALONE, EDWARD, Architect and Builder, was born, February Ist, 1825, in Kings county, Irc- land. Ile labored on his parent's farm until he attained his majority, and then became interested in sheep dealing, and also followed the trade of a carpenter, until 1850, when he emigrated to the United States. Ilc worked in Philadelphia for about a year, and then removed to Toledo. When he reached that city he was without any capital whatever, nor was he ac- quainted with a single individual; but being possessed of industry, energy, and a practical knowledge of his business as a carpenter, builder, and architect, he at once made manifest his capabilities in designing and erecting some of the finest business blocks and private residences in the city,


!


523


BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.


among which may be named the Boody House, Oliver House, High School, etc. While at work on the Oliver House he formed the acquaintance of the late Hon. J. C. Hall, which led to results that showed the wisdom of the latter, as well as the practical work of the former. This acquaintance lasted through Mr. Hall's hfe, and, it may be added, that the trust reposed in Edward Malone by his patron received the indorsement of the leadmg citizens of Toledo. Ilis talents as an architect, his skill as a builder, and his workmanship, are all meeting with the success that every superior mechanie deserves. Ile was elected a Police Commissioner for the term ending April, 1869; in the following May he was chosen a member of the Board of Education, and was made Chairman of the same, and was also a member of its Building Committee ; his term ex- pired in April, 1872. In the following month of June, he was nominated as an independent candidate, in connection with J. R. Freeman and Carl Schon, for the Board of Water Works, and was elected for two years; and upon the expiration of that term was renominated by both parties and elected for the term of three years. He was married, No- vember 23d, 1853, to Eliza Maden, of Banhew, Kings county, Ireland, and is the father of fifteen children, of whom nine are now living.


RMSTRONG, ELLIOTT BRUCE, Chairman of the Trustees of City Water Works, Columbus, Ohio, was born in Troy, Miami county, Ohio, May 5th, 1822. His father, Richard Armstrong, was an old and influential citizen, and published the first newspaper in that place. The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools, and in IS40, when in his eighteenth year, he located in the city of Columbus, Ohio, and engaged, with Chauncy and Leon- ard Humphreys, then doing business under the firm-name of I .. Humphreys & Co., to learn the tinning and stove busi- ness, He continued in the employ of this house for tel years, serving them in the capacities of apprentice, journey- man, and foreman. In 1850 he purchased of 1. Ilum- phreys & Co. their stock and tools, and embarked in business for himself, a vocation which he has successfully followed to the present time, having had several partners, Ile is now conducting a leading business in the stove, tinware, and house furnishing goods, under the firm-name of E. B. Armstrong & Co. In politics he is of the old-school Democracy, and although not a politician nor office seeker, yet he has held many positions of honor and trust. Ile was a member of the City Council of Columbus, Ohio, for six years, as a representative of the Eighth ward, and dur- ing that time served on many of its most important com- mittees, among them the committee on water supply, of which he was made Chairman, and was retained in that position until, through the efficiency of that committee, the


city of Columbus obtained its present effective water-works. This having been accomplished he retired from the City Council, but was soon called upon by the votes of the elec- tors of the city to fill the position of Trustee of Water Works, which place he now holds, having the honor of being the President of the Board. Ile is a member in good standing of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has the dis- tinction of being the oldest member of Excelsior Lodge, No. 145. Deacon Armstrong, as he is familiarly known and called, is a gentleman of integrity in all his transactions, genial and affable to his companions. Hle manifests a marked love and veneration for the trite and terse sayings of Shakespeare and Burns.


OSTER, WILLIAM H., Publisher and Paper. Manufacturer, was born, February 4th, 1828, in Warren county, Ohio, and is a son of Charles Foster, a native of Cape May, New Jersey, who removed to Ohio in 1823, and settled near Lebanon, in Warren county. Hle was a lawyer by profession, but devoted the greater portion of his life to educational interests. William was liberally educated, first in the common schools, and subsequently attended the Oxford University. In 1846 he commenced the study of medicine in the office of his brother, Doctor II. C. Foster, then located at Springfield, Ohio, and after pursuing the usual course of study in that profession, practised for two years. On the expiration of that period, he formed an en- gagement with two older brothers, Charles and James Fos- ter, and located in Cincinnati, where they carried on the printing press and type business, in which he continued until 1858, when he purchased and published the Brook- ville American, a journal of that city; and under his management that paper became an ardent supporter of Abraham Lincoln for President, in 1860. In 1862 he located at Columbus, Ohio, and became identified with the interests and publication of the Ohio State Journal, which position he retained until December, 1865. During the time of his connection with the latter paper, he established, October Ist, 1863, upon his own account, the Columbus Daily Express, an evening paper, which advocated with great carnestness the suppression of the rebellion, which was then in progress. It was a journal conducted with ability, having for one of its editors the venerable William B. Thrall, since deceased. In 1863 he was appointed by Governor Brough Superintendent of Public Printing for the State, which position he held for a period of abont three years. In 1866 he associated himself with N. D. Perry, Iliram G. Andrews, and James Andrews, of Delaware, Ohio, under the firm-name of Andrews, Perry & Co., and engaged in the manufacture and sale of paper at the last named place, with a paper warehouse at Columbus, now known as the Columbus Paper Company, and which is


524


BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.


doing, at the present time, an extensive and successful busi- ness. Ile has always been a man of strictly temperate habits, and a warm advocate of temperance. In 1873 he was, against his own solicitation, made a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, on the Prohibition ticket, and Ind the honor of receiving nearly eleven thousand votes, a greater number than was given to any other candidate on that ticket. He is a gentleman of firm integrity in all transactions with his fellow-men, active, and devoted to business-a man whose kind words and genial affability endear him to his numerous friends and acquaintances.


EITMANN, JOHN HENRY, Lawyer and Mayor of Columbus, Ohio, was born at Heiligenfelde, in the province of Hanover, Prussia, on September 11th, 1842. Ile was edueated in the common schools of the country, and also attended a nor- mal school held at Hanover, to prepare himself as a teicher. This being accomplished, he devoted two years of his life to private teaching (a system of education common in that country), and three years more in the capacity of a public teacher. In his carly youth he formed the determination to select either England or the United States of America as his future and adopied home, and in order to be successful in this undertaking, he applied a good portion of his time diligently to the study and mastery of the English language. This having been accomplished, in 1866 he came to this country and located in the city of ('incinnati, Ohio, where he was engaged as teacher in the Ninth School District for the period of two years. At the end of this time he located in Colmubus, Ohio, where he devoted the first three years of his residence to teaching and acting in the e pacity of Principal of the German schools of that city. In the meantime, having selected the profes- sion of law as his future vocation, he had applied himself with diligence and energy to its study, so much so, that in the spring of 1871 he was admitted to the bar, and per- mitted to practise the profession of his choice. In politics he is a Democrat, and in 1873 he, with the Hon. George 1 .. Converse, was elected to represent Franklin county in the Sixty-first General Assembly of Ohio, which position he filled with credit to himself and honor to his constituents. In the spring of 1875 he was elected Mayor of the city of Columbus, Ohio, a position that he fills with ability and in- tegrity, dispensing justice with promptness and impartiality, protecting virtue, alleviating misery, and punishing vice. Ile is also an active and zealous Mason ; he was initiated, passed, and raised to the degree of Master Mason, in Magnolia Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, No. 20. On the organization of a German lodge in Columbus, Ohio, (Humboldt Lodge, No. 456,) he was one of the charter members, and was appointed, by the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, the first Senior ! the Hon. J. W. Fitzgerald organized the Irish Grant &


Warden of that lodge, but owing to his superior knowledge of the German language, it was imposed upon him to pre- side over the work of the lodge from the beginning; he has now served the lodge for two years as Worshipful Master, and devoted much time to the perfect translation of the English ritual into the German.


EGHAN, HION. JOHN J., was born in Ireland, May 9th, 1845. Ile came to this country in 1854 with his father and mother, who settled in Cincinnati. John began his education in the common schools of Cincinnati, but was obliged to leave at the age of thirteen to do his share toward the support of the family. He first went to work in a tobacco factory, learning a business which he has sinee followed. Though he had to leave school, young Geghan did not relinquish the idea of obtaining a good education. Ile improved his leisure hours by study, and gradually fitted himself for the position he has since been called to fill. Hle benefited himself greatly by attending a commer- cial college when time allowed. Ile worked at the tobacco business until he had reached his nineteenth year. Ile then organized the Tobacconists' Association of Cineinnati, of which he was chosen President. This action displeased the employers, and they gave young Geghan to understand that he was not in favor with them. The effect of this dis- crimination was to move Mr. Geghan to go into business on his own account. Accordingly, in March of 1865, he asso- ciated himself with two others, and formed the firm of Geghan, Porter & Mellugh, for the manufacture of tohaceo. In the latter part of the same year, he bought the interests of his partners, and connected himself with Joseph Bras- hears, under the firm-name of Geghan & Brashears. Ilis partner dying in May of 1866, Mr. Geghan disposed of his entire interest in the concern, and temporarily turned his attention to pursuits of a different nature. He organized a company of volunteers for the Fenian raid on Canada. Ile was elected captain of the company, and took part in the fights at Ridgway and Fort Erie. He returned to Cincin- nati at the close of the demonstration, having lost all his means, and heeame foreman in a leading tobaceo factory. He continued to be employed in various branches of the tobacco business until 1870, when he formed a partnership with James W. Murphy, and established the Red Cloud Tobacco Works. The firm of Geghan & Murphy has been successful. It was not long after the beginning before more roomy quarters were found to be necessary, and Messrs. Geghan & Murphy moved to No. 54 East Third street, where they now conduct a large and growing busi- ness. From early manhood Mr. Geghan has been active in politics. His first connection was with the Repub- lican party. During the Grant campaign in 1868, he and


.


525


BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.


Colfax Club, of Cincinnati. He was among the originators of the Liberal movement in Cincinnati, and helped to organize one of the first Greeley clubs. Mr. Geghan was President of the Greeley and Brown Club of the Sixth Ward. In 1873 he was nominated and elected to the Ohio House of Representatives by the Democratic party, since which time he has taken a prominent and leading part in the work of the Legislature, and has kept himself constantly before the public. Among the many measures introduced by Mr. Geghan are the amendment to the Adair liquor law, the padrone bill, the new militia law, and the now cele- brated Religious Liberty Bill, known as Geghan's bill. Ile is a public-spirited man, active in the promotion of every cause which commends itself to his good judgment.


WIFT, ISAAC, Physician, was born in Cornwall, Litchfield county, Connecticut, January 30th, 1790. Ile was the youngest son and fourth of five children of Dr. Isaac Swift, who served as a surgeon in the revolutionary army, and died in 1S02. The mother of the subject of this sketch -a woman of most estimable qualities-died about six years after her husband, and when Isaac was in his eigh- teenth year. The son resolved to adopt his father's profes- sion. Ile entered upon a course of medical reading, and attended lectures in New York city. Ilaving finished his course he was admitted to practise in New Jersey. As far back as Dr. Swift's early manhood the East was thought to be overstocked with laborers in every field, and the fast- opening West invited young ambition. Dr. Swift deter- mined to follow the tide of emigration rolling westward. Little time was consumed in preparation. Ilis interests in New Jersey were not large. IIc had only to saddle his horse, strap on his personal effects, mount, and march. Ile set out in the spring of 1815. Passing through Palmyra, Rochester, Niagara Falls, and Buffalo, he reached Cleve- land City, which may have had 'as many as two hundred inhabitants. After a short rest in Cleveland he moved on, bringing up in the village of Ravenna in June, 1815. Ilis object in calling here was to consult one Dr. Carter, whom he had known in Connecticut, with reference to locating permanently in New Albany, Indiana. Upon inquiry hc| found that Dr. Carter had returned to Connecticut. Though weary and travel- worn after his thousand miles' ride on horseback, he would still have pushed on had not his means of transportation been deranged. In swimming the Grand river, at Painesville, Dr. Swift's horse had taken cold, and by the time he reached Ravenna the animal stood in pressing nced of rest and good treatment. So it came about that young Dr. Swift was obliged to stop over night in Ravenna. At that time Salmon Carter was building a tavern on the corner of Main and Chestnut streets, where the Empire Building now stands. Dr. Swift became the Chestnut street, was completed, and since then has been the


guest of Salmon Carter. It so happened that the good people of Ravenna and vicinity were suffering much from sickness, and before the doctor had been many hours in town he received a call. He suddenly realized that he had a good practice without going further. He remained in Ravenna until death removed him half a century later. In 1816 Dr. Swift formed a partnership for five years with Seth Day, now deceased. They bought out a store kept by one Hazlipp, and added medicines to the stock. Mr. Day gave his attention to the general store business, and Dr. Swift continued his practice. In 1819 Mr. Day was appointed Clerk of the court and Recorder of the county, and in the following year the partnership was dissolved. The store passed again into Mr. Hazlipp's hands, and Dr. Swift retained the medicines, continuing the drug business for a time in Ilazlipp's store, and afterwards, from 1822 to 1825, in the store of Cyrus Prentiss, upon the site of which now stands the First National Bank. In 1825 he erected a building on the east corner of his Chestnut street lot, and here be established his drug store permanently, as he then thought. But Ravenna grew and business increased, and in 1842 the drug store was moved into the brick building known as Swift's Block, on Main street. Then followed a partnership with the late Curtiss Ilatch, which continued until 1859, when Dr. Swift retired from active business and left the store in the hands of his son, Dr. Charles E. Swift. In 1824 Dr. Swift was elected Treasurer of the county, which office he held until 1832. In 1846 he was appointed by the Legislature to be an Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Portage county. Dr. Swift discharged the duties of this position for five years with intelligence and dignity, retiring from the bench when the associate judiciary was abolished by the adoption of the new Consti- tution. For some time after Dr. Swift settled in Ravenna there was no church, no regular preaching, and but three church members in the place. Religious meetings were, however, instituted and held with tolerable regularity by Daniel Dauley, Dr. Isaac Swift, and Seth Day, all young men and not one a professor of religion. " Deacon " Danley read the prayers; Dr. Swift led the singing and read the sermons. These meetings were continued until the organization of the Congregational Church of Ravenna, in 1824. In 1831 Dr. Swift joined the church, of which Rev. Abram Nash was pastor, and immediately took an active interest in all of its affairs. For more than forty years he was Church Treasurer. January 15th, 1818, Dr. Isaac Swift was joined in marriage to Eliza Thompson, at the house of the bride's father, the ceremony being per- formed by Rev. Caleb Pitkin, then pastor of the Congrega- tional Church of Charlestown. The wedding was largely attended, and was considered a social event of more than ordinary importance. The young couple began housekeep- ing in a dwelling which stood upon the site now ocenpied by the Ttna Block. In 1824 the Swift homestead, on


526


BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.


family residenee. Here, after a life of usefulness and honor, Dr. Isaac Swift passed away on the evening of Tuesday, July 14th, 1874, having reached his eighty-fifth year with unimpaired faculties. He was a pioneer of whom Portage county is justly proud. Dr. Swift is survived by his aged wife and three children, viz. : Dr. Charles E. Swift, of Ashtabula, Ohio; Mrs. E. R. Wait, of Ravenna; and Mrs. Emily Morrison, of New York city. The late Governor llenry A. Swift, of Minnesota, was a son of the subject of this memoir. A native of Ravenna, where he was born, March 23d, 1823, Henry A. graduated at the Western Reserve College, read law, became clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives, was a member of the Min. nesota Legislature, one of the defenders of St. Peter, Minnesota, in the Indian massacre of 1862, and filled the chair of the Chief Exccutive of the commonwealth of Min- nesota. He died February 26th, 1869.


OODWARD, CHARLES, M. D., Physician, was born, 1804, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania. After receiving a thorough classical and academical education, he entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1823, receiving the degree of A. B. Ilaving selected the medical profession for his future career, he became a student in the Philadel- phia Medical Institute, and in 1826 received the degree of M. D. from that institution. Almost immediately after graduation he removed to Cincinnati, and commenced the practice of medicine in that city, which he only relinquished early in 1874, owing to impaired health. It is a very remarkable fact that he never lost a day of active service in his profession, by reason of ill health, until attacked by the disease of which he died. Wonderful bnoyance of feeling, great energy, constant endurance in a very large practice, were doubtless the results of such extraordinary health. Ile was in rather straitened circumstances when he first entered his profession. A speculative venture resulting successfully give him means to equip his office, get married, and abide the time of his success. Prosperity soon followed skilful efforts in his work, and he acquired enviable distine- tion for family practice. He was especially noted for a keenly sympathetic, gentle nature, that made him a most acceptable visitor to the sick-chamber. His patrons became attached to him with something akin to filial or fraternal love. They had comfort in his soothing manner, faith in his skill, and confidence in his ever gentlemanly bearing. A singular fact in his professional career was his steadfastly declining to take a professorship in colleges. He also avoided successfully the quarrels, jealousies, and strange differences into which members of the profession are so prone to fall. While habitually courteous and biendly, he was unvaryingly dignified and polite. Ilis near a half




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.