USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 51
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General Wallace's Division, composed of the 20th, 56th, 76th, and 78th regiments. This brigade and its commander received special and honorable mention in the official reports of that battle. After the battle of Shiloh he sent in his resignation, which his failing health and the critical condition of his wife required. General Grant indorsed his application for resignation with these words : " We cannot afford to lose so good an officer.". Very soon after leaving the army he made further explorations in the Lake Superior and upper Mississippi basins. To his efforts were due the organization and success of the Western Reserve Ilistorical Society, of which he was President, and whose collections of historie relics, geological specimens, and works relating to the early history of the State are extensive and valuable. He is quoted extensively as an authority in most of the standard geological and anthropological works of America and Europe, especially as to the Mound Builders of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. His published works are "Geological Reports of Ohio," 1838-39; "United States Geological Surveys of the Upper Mississippi," D. D. Owen, 1847, 1849; " United States Geological Surveys of Upper Peninsula of Michigan," Foster & Whitney, 1850, 1851; " Life of John Fitch, Spark's American Biograpby," new series, volmine vi., 1845; " Fugitive Essays," mainly histor- ical, published at Hudson, Ohio, 8vo., pp. 357, 1854; and in the " Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge-Ancient Works of Ohio," 1852; " Fluctuation of Lake Levels," 1860; "Ancient Mining on Lake Superior," 1863; " Fresh Water Glacial Drift," 1866; "An Essay on the Mineral Resources of the Rocky Mountains," 1863; "The Early Ilistory of Cleveland," in 1866; and forty or fifty essays, reports, and pamplilets, also numerous and valuable articles in newspapers and scientific journals. On whatever subject he has written he has succeeded in enlisting the attention of the reader and in giving him much valuable matter for reflection. He is still President of the Western Reserve Historical Society.
ONNER, PHINEAS SANBORN, M. D., Pro- fessor of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery in the Medical College of Ohio, was born at West Ches- ter, Pennsylvania, August 23d, 1839. Ilis parents having moved to Cincinnati, he entered Central lligh School in 1850. In 1855 he graduated at Ilughes. In August of the same year he entered Dart- mouth College. Ile remained in Dartmouth four years, and graduated in 1859. In 1858 he attended lectures at the Medical College of Ohio, and in the winter of 1860 at Jefferson Medical College, l'hiladelphia. In March, 1861, he graduated at the latter institution. On November 25th of the same year he was appointed Acting Assistant Sur- geon in the United States anny. April 16th, 1862, he was appointed Assistant Surgeon. In March, 1866, he was
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brevetted Captain and Major, and in August of this year resigned his position in the army, and located in Cincinnati. Ile was appointed Professor of Surgery in the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery for the sessions of 1866 and 1867. This position he resigned in 1867, to take that of Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College of Ohio. In 1869 he was transferred to the Chair of Surgical Anatomy in the same institution, which he held until the regular session of 1875-76, when he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery. Dr. Conner is one of the surgeons to the Good Samaritan and the Cincinnati Hospi- tals, and member of the American Medical Association, the Ohio State Medical Society, Cincinnati Academy of Medicine, Cincinnati Society of Natural History, Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, corresponding member of the Meigs and Mason County Medical Society and of the Gynacological Society, of Boston, Massachusetts.
HOMPSON, JAMES HENRY, was born near Harrodsburg, Mercer county, Kentucky, Septem- ber 27th, 1812. Ile was the third child in a family of ten children, whose parents were John B. Thompson and Nancy P. (Robards) Thomp- son. His parents were both Virginians by birth, and in the latter part of the last century immigrated to Ken- tucky with their parents, John Thompson and George Robbards, who settled at the head-waters of Shawnee Springs, on contiguous farms, and both of whom were cap- tains in the revolutionary army. The father of the subject of this sketch followed through life the profession of law, and achieved an enviable reputation as a legal practitioner and as a local statesman in Kentucky ; he died at an early age in 1832, leaving surviving. him his wife, Nancy P. Thompson, who died in February, 1870. James Il. Thompson, on the father's side, was of English and Scotch blood, and on the mother's side, of Welsh and Huguenot blood. Ile is the brother of the late Ilon. John B. Thomp- son, United States Senator from Kentucky, and Philip B. Thompson, one of the leading spirits of the Harrodsburg, Kentucky, bar. In his seventeenth year, being then well advanced in the classics and mathematics, he assumed the role of educator, and engaged in teaching school in Jessa- mine county, Kentucky, which occupation engrossed his attention for the ensuing three years ; and through these years his leisure hours were devoted to the reading of law and general literature; and during the time of his teaching he educated O. Singleton, member of Congress from Missis- sippi, and Samuel II. Woodson, late member of Congress from Missouri. On the 7th of April, 1831, after passing suc- cessfully through the ordeal of an examination, he was ad- mitted to the bar, and in the same year he became Sheriff of Jessamine county, Kentucky, by the purchase of the office from the High Sheriff, according to the laws of the lof his county and town, and has contributed liberally to
State at that time, and thus virtually becoming Sheriff, he discharged the duties of that office for a period of two years. In 1833 he entered upon the active practice of his profes- sion at Nicholasville, Jessamine county, Kentucky, and was thus professionally engaged until 1835, when he was induced to remove to Versailles, Woodford county, Ken- tucky, on account of the devastation of the bar at the latter place by the cholera. In Versailles, and in partnership with the Ilon. William B. Kinkaid, he practised his profes- sion with great success until September, 1837, when he was married to Eliza J. Trimble, of Hillsborough, Ohio, the only daughter of ex-Governor Allen Trimble, deceased ; and after marriage, having occupied the winter of 1837-38 in studying the Ohio laws and decisions, he was achmitted to practise law in Ohio, at Batavia, Clermont county, Ohio, A- 1.ril 10, 1838, and admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of the United States on the 20th of January, 1854. In the latter part of 1838 he settled in Cincinnati, and opened a law office on Third street, where he remained until 1842, when, on account of his own health and the health of his family, he removed to Hillsborough, Highland county, Ohio, where he has ever since resided, and has con- tinued the practice of his profession. From this point as a centre he has been engaged in a large circuit practice in five surrounding counties, also in the Circuit and District Court of the United States for Ohio, and in the Supreme Court of that State; in the reports of this court his name and arguments appear, as coun .el from 1840 to 1876, as many times, if not more, as are the number of the volumes of the reports. His greatest reputation in his profession has been achieved as a land lawyer in the complex titles of the Virginia Military District, and as a criminal lawyer, in which last capacity he has been engaged chiefly in the de- fence of those accused of crime from treason, including more than twenty-five cases of homicide, through the whole cata- logue of criminal offences. In his time he has appeared before more than thirty judges, of the various courts, now . deceased. Ile is now Register in Bankruptcy in his dis- trict, and has been since 1867, by the unanimous solicitation of the bur of his whole district. Ile is still actively engaged in the practice of his profession. In politics an old-line Whig, in 1840 he ardently supported General Harrison. In 1844 he took an active and prominent part in favor of Mr. Clay, supported General Taylor, and in the last Whig Con- vention at Baltimore, as a Delegate, urged the nomination of General Scott. After the dissolution of the Whig party, he sustained Bell and Everett ; then, after the commence- ment of the war, he threw his influence to the Republican party, and throughout the war took an active part as one of the military conunitteemen of his State, in helping to sustain the Union army. Since the war he has acted with the Re- publican party, and has been and still is a zealons supporter of President Grant. Ile has taken an active and liberal part in all public improvements tending to enhance the interests
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every public edifice in Hillsborough, Mr. Thompson and his family are, in their religious faith, adherents to the doc- trines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which church his son, the late Allen T. Thompson, was a distinguished minister. Mr. Thompson, after an experience of lorty-four years, is now relaxing himself from the pursuit of his pro- fessional duties for a time, and proposes to offer in a year, as a tribute to his profession, a volume to be entitled, " The Circuit Lawyer of the United States in the Nineteenth Cen- tury." The materials for this work are at hand, and are now in rapid combination and preparation for the press.
ILSON, REV. WILLIAM, D. D., L.L. D., Cler- gyman, was born, December 25th, 1803, in Findrum, parish of Raphoe, county of Donegal, Ireland, and was a son of John and Lillie Ann Wilson. The family emigrated to the United States in 1823, taking up their residence in New York city, and became attend ants of the Reformed Presby- terian Church, during the pastorates of Reverend Drs. Alexander and Jolm N. Mel.eod, having already been members of that communion for many previous years. William enjoyed the advantages of some of the best classi- cal schools, and he gained the front rank in scholarship. Ile then entered Union College, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1827. Being early designed for the ministry, he prepared to enter the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and accordingly joined the class of 1827-28, in that institution in Philadel- phia, where he was favored with the instructions of that eminent scholar and divine, the late Rev. Dr. Samuel B. Wylie, who was also distinguished for his varied learning and erudition, and who filled for so many years the Chair of Ancient Languages in the University of Pennsylvania, and ocenpied also the office of Vice-Provost in that ancient institution. On June 16th, 1831, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and being subsequently ordained to the ministry, he travelle 1 for some time as a domestic missionary. la 1833 he accepted a call from the Reformed Presbyterian Church at Milton, Pennsylvania, to which place he removed, and remained there until the summer of 1837. He labored there abun- dantly, and in addition to the duties of his pastorate, taught the Milton Academy with success, and also edited the American Christian Instructor, a monthly periodical, to which he was an extensive contributor. He resigned his charge at Milton, and returned to New York city, for the purpose of establishing a literary institution of high order on Staten Island. In 1838 he received from the Legisla- ture a chuter for and established the Richmond College. By his own exertions a find of $40,025 was subscribed, and a site for the buildings decided upon. The financial calam . ities of those days finally caused the failure of his plans.
Ile then removed with his family to Cincinnati, where he passed the remainder of his life. He there became the pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, George street, and subsequently took charge of the Church of the Cove- manters, in which he remamed until his death. In 1853 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Franklin College, Ohio; and subsequently that of Doctor of Laws from another institution. Ile was a member of the Evangelical Alliance from its origin, and went to the city of London to aid in its organization. Ile attended the first meeting held there, and made one of the most able speeches delivered on the floor. He was a naturalized citi- zen of the United States, and when the civil war broke out was a firm supporter of the cause of his adopted country. Ile wrote and spoke for the government under President Lincoln. He was a personal friend of the latter, and often visited him in Washington city during the four years' war. Ile was well informed on political matters. On one occa- sion Mr. Lincoln inquired if he could not give him some office, to which Dr. Wilson replied that he already held the highest office on earth-that of the Christian ministry ; but, on November 17th, 1863, the President made out and signed a commission for him as Chaplain in the army of the re- public. At the close of the war Dr. Wilson remained mostly at home, entirely occupied with his ministerial duties. Hle possessed a mind of unusual power, and stored with learning. He was stern and resolute, and could with diffi- enlty brook opposition to his plans. In the pulpit his ear- nestness and sternness sometimes approached the boisterous. He wrote much, and made many contributions to varions church and literary journals. Among his works may be named the following : " The Blessedness of the Nation whose God is the Lord ; " " Ministerial Heroism ; " "" The Man for the Hour; " " The Cause of the United States; " " The Curse of Meroz ; " "A Nation Nonplussed ; " " The Day of Small Things; " " Democracy versus Doulo- cracy." He was also a contributor to The Presbyterian Witness. During the winter of 1872 he fell and was se- riously injured; from this he never fully recovered. Ile ched December 9th, 1873, as only a Christian can do, being assured that he would be more than a conqueror. He was married in 1853 to Anne Campbell, who survives him with their only child.
ERRY, ARCHIBALD, was born in Strafford county, New Hampshire, his ancestors, Berry and Drake, from England, being among the early settlers of the colony. Ilis early education was obtained in the best schools within reach, and from these he entered Dartmouth College. In conse- quence of ill health he left college in his sophomore year, intending to spend a year West and South, and then to re- turn. But he relinquished the idea of returning to college, and studied dentistry under an able preceptor at Quincy,
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Illinois, after which he engaged in the practice of his pro- fession in finds county, Mississippi. Having attended lectures at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, he was graduated at that institution in 18.10. A short time subase- quent to his graduation, Dr. Beny and Amelia Looker, daughter of the late J. II. Looker, of Cincinnati, were mar- ried. Resolving to make Cincinnati his home, he shortly after purchased the good-will and office of Dr. P. Knowlton, and associated with him the late W. B. Ross, D. D. S., of Newport, Kentucky, and continued in the old office two years. Dr. Berry then yielding to the fascination of the South, returned there, and resumed the practice of his pro- fession in Mississippi, where he was engaged until 1853, when he returned North.' After recruiting his health by a sojourn in the region of Lake Superior, he spent six months in practice in Covington, Kentucky, and then opened an office in Cincinnati. As before, at urgent requests from his friends and patients in Mississippi, he revisited them in the fall of 1854, and remained there in good practice until the war came on, Now came trouble on account of loyalty to the Union, but he was kindly succored, when in immi- uent danger, by the citizens of the town of Raymond, where he resided, the Home Guard of which proffered to him pro- tection, which was afterward promptly given, and kept him from passing to the spiritual world, when apparently on its threshold. But he attributes his survival of the peril mainly to his being a member of a fraternity whose princi- ples inenleate doing right without hope of fee or reward. In 1863 Dr. Berry found his way to Cincinnati, and again bought the office and good-will of Dr. Knowlton, and has remained there in practice to the present time. Ile was one of the founders of the Mississippi Valley Dental Asso- ciation, the oldest dental society on the earth, and has zealously continued in his efforts to advance the interests of his profession, through the instrumentalities of associated influence, the press, and educational institutions.
IBOLL, ALONZO COLLINS, Lawyer, was born, December 31, 1822, in Columbia county, Penn- sylvania. Ile is the third of eleven children of Virgil Miller Diboll and Philena Collins. ITis father was a native of Rensselaer county, New York, a physician and surgeon, who moved to Ohio in 1834, locating in Brown county. Dr. Diboll went to Hamilton county, Indiana, in 1843, and returned to Ohio in 1852, settling in Adams county. In 1859 he took up his residence in Wilmington, Clinton county, where he died in 1870. The mother of the subject of this sketch was a na- tive of Connecticut and a daughter of Lewis Collins. She died in Adams county in 1856. Alonzo Collins was favored with a home training, which fitted him for the active respon- sibilities of life. He attended school in winter and busied
himself on the farm in summer. In the meantime he turned his spare hours to profit, reading books of a solid character, and improving las mind with whatever good reading came in his way. At the age of eighteen years he was sufficiently advanced to take charge of a school in Brown county, Ohio. For the next five years he taught and attended school, fitting himself to make a profession of teaching. Ile subsequently determined to adopt the law as his profession. Continuing to teach, he devoted his leisure to reading law. In 1852 he was admitted to the bar, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession at West Union, Adams county, Ohio. Ile remained at West Union until 1854, when he removed to Wilmington, Clinton county, where he has since resided. The energy and perseverance which enabled Mr. Diboll to acquire his profession have made it possible for him to acquire a paying practice. In 1856 he was elected Mayor of Wilmington, being re-elected for the following term. In 1874 he was prevailed upon once more to accept the Mayoralty. For two years he was Prosecuting Attorney for Clinton county. Mr. Diboll is a Republican. For fif- teen years he has been a member of the Christian Church, In 1845 he married Rachel Young, daughter of Thomas Young, a Scotch Presbyterian and native of the north of Ireland, and an early pioneer of Brown county.
UDKINS, JESSE PARKER, M. D., an eminent Surgeon, was born at Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1815. Ile was a half-brother of the late Dr. William Judkins, and was descended from a Quaker family, whose names have been identified with medicine for more than a century. His school and collegiate education was obtained at Can- nonsburg and Steubenville, Ohio, and his medical education in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, from which he graduated in 1838. In the following year he accepted, from that institution, an appointment as Demonstrator of Anatomy, at the same time opening his office in Cincinnati for the practice of his profession. In 1847 he went to Columbus to become Professor of Anatomy in Starling Medical College, which position be filled until 1852, when he accepted the Professorship of Descriptive Surgery in Miami Medical College, and returned to Cincinnati. Ile was afterwards changed to the department of Special Pathology, but his connection with that institution remained intact until his death, over fifteen years. In 1853 he visited Europe for the purpose of giving his attention to the study of surgery among the great lights of the old world, and passed some time in all the famous European hospitals. In 1864 the loss of his elder brother, Robert, preyed so strongly on his mind that his health was seriously affected. From this shock he never seemed to recover, and was consequently never so active in his professional duties. He was eminently suc- cessful, acquired a considerable fortune from an extraordi-
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marily large practice, and stood in the front rank of his | profession. On December 6th, 1867, at the age of fifty- three, he died of softening of the brain.
MITHI, HION. HENRY W., Lawyer, was born on April 6th, 1814, in the town of Whitestown, Oneida county, New York. Ilis ancestors were from Great Britain, and settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the early days of our colonial history. Ile was educated in the common schools principally, although he attended the academy at Champion and the Rensselaer Oswego Academy in New York. When he was three years old his father, who was a farmer, moved to Jefferson county, in the State of New York. Henry was raised on a farm, working summers and going to the com- mon schools in the winters. llis leisure time was spent in study and reading while on the farm. In May, 1838, he emigrated to Ohio, and stopped at Circleville. In June following he commenced the study of law with Il. N. Hedges, Esq., with whom he remained about one year. He completed bis study of law with G. W. Doan, Esq. In June, 1840, he was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court, at Delaware, Ohio. Shortly afterwards he settled in London, in Madison county, Ohio, where he has resided ever since and has been engaged in the practice of his pro- fession, He was elected Prosecuting Attorney in the fall of 18440, in 1842 and in IS44, thus holding the office for six consecutive years, the last term expiring in 1846. In 1858 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the same office, by the court; in the fall of 1860 he was again elected thereto for two years, and yet again in 1864. The duties were per- formed by him during all that time to the satisfaction of the court and the people. His business in his profession bas been extensive and lucrative; he has acquired a compe- tence and has raised a large family. Ile commenced poor, without money or friend,, but he soon acquired both. In his politics Mr. Smith Belonged to the old Whig party as long as it lasted, and in 1856 he became a member of the Republican party, and has always remained a consistent and active member of that party to the present time. In the fall of 1848 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of Ohio, for the counties of Madison, Clarke and Champaign, and was re- elected in 1849. During his legislative service, in the winters of 1848-49 and in 1849-50, he was an active and useful member, and originated and carried through a great reform in the law of evidence. Prior to that time, by the law of evidence, neither parties in an action at law, nor State. In the fall of 1853 Mr. Smith was elected to the any person, having any pecuniary interest, in the event of a Senate of Ohio from the district composed of Madison, Clarke and Champaign counties, He made a useful and active member, and assisted in enacting a great deal of useful legislation, including the Liquor law, the Ten Per Cent. law, the Fee bill, ete., ete., and aided in reforming snit, could be witnesses. The law seemed to be based on the theory, that a witness who had a pecuniary interest, large or small, in the event of a suit, would be tempted to, and often would, commit perjury, and hence parties to a
snit could not testify, nor any person having a pecuniary in- terest, in the event of a suit at law. Mr. Smith, early in the session of 1818-19, introduced a bill " To improve the law of evidence," providing that panties to actions at law might call each other as witnesses, and that a pecuniary in- terest, in the event of a suit, should not disqualify a person from being a witness. The bill, after its second reading, was referred to Mr. Smith and the llon. George E. Pugh as a select committee. On the 21st of February, 1849, Mr. Smith of said committee made an elaborate report on the bill, which was ordered to be printed. The report can be found in the "Appendix to the House Journal," session of 1848-49, page 185. This proposed reform was so bold and radical, in striking down rules venerable for their antiquity, that many members hesitated, although the report in favor of said measure was unanswerable and absolutely con- vincing. Finally it was proposed, in order to give the bar time for reflection and consideration, to postpone the measure till the next session, which was done. During the next session, 1849-50, the measure was passed into a law with remarkable unanimity (vide vol. xlviii., page 33, session laws of 1849-50). This was a great advance in law reform. This remained to be the law till the adoption of the Code in Ohio, when the same principle was carried into the Code, extended a little on one point by allowing parties to volunteer as witnesses, In the session of 1848-49 Mr. Smith introduced a bill to amend the law of descents, by providing that husband and wife, in default of children, should be heirs to each other. Prior to that time, and for a short time after, the act regulating descents postponed the heirship of husband and wife to the last degree before property escheated to the State. The bill was referred to Mr. Smith as a select committee, and on the 24th of Feb- ruary, 1849, he made an exhaustive report thereon, which was ordered to be printed. The report is in the "Appendix to the llouse Journal " for 1848-49, page 198. This bill did not then pass; and, as it proposed such a radical change in the rules of descent, a great many of the members were afraid to support it, not because it was not reasonable and equitable, but because it was a great innovation ; the seeds were sown, however, and produced fruit in due time. In the session of 1851-52 the principle was adopted, and ever since that time husband and wife, in default of children, have been heirs to each other. At the same session he in- troduced a bill to punish the stealing of a will, after the death of the testator, or a testamentary paper before his death. The bill was enacted into a law, February 23d, 1849 (vide S. and C. "Statutes," vol. ii., page 1632). Thus a great omission in our criminal law was supplied in the
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