USA > Ohio > The Biographical encyclopedia of Ohio of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 73
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ATTHEWS, HION. STANLEY, Lawyer, was | United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, born in Cincinnati, July 21st, 1821. His parents but resigned soon after President Lincoln came into office. Soon after the war of the rebellion commenced he tendered his services to Governor Dennison, who appointed him Lieutenant-Colonel of the 23d Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, then quartered at Camp Chase. The regi- ment was engaged in the military operations in West Virginia in the summer and fall of that year. In October, 1861, he was promoted to the Colonelcy of the 51st Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with his regiment served under Buell and his successors in command of the Army of the Tennessee. In April, 1863, while with his conimand in Tennessee, he was elected a Judge of the Su- perior Court of Cincinnati, and resigned his commission to again take his seat upon the bench. Judges Storer and Hoadley were his colleagues. In July, 1865, he resigned for the same reason that impelled him to quit the bench in 1853. Ile is now in the very zenith of his intellectual and physical powers, and occupies a prominent place in the fore- most rank of the legal fraternity of the West. were Thomas J. and Isabella ( Brown) Matth. ews, the former a native of Leesburg, Virginia, and the latter a daughter of Colonel William Brown, one of the pioneers of the Miami country. llis mother was the second wife of the father, and he was the first offspring of the union. While an infant his parents removed from Cincinnati to Lexington, Kentucky, where his father was engaged as a professor of mathematics in Tran- sylvania College for a time, and also as a civil engineer in the construction of railroads. In 1832 he was elected Pro- fessor of the Woodward High School, in Cincinnati, and returned thither. In the same year bis son Stanley entered the institution as a pupil, where he remained until 1839, at which date he entered the junior class of Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio. He was graduated in August of the fol. lowing year. He began the study of law in the fall of 1840, in the city of Cincinnati. In 1842 he went to Maury county, Tennessee, where he resided for a time in the family of Rev. John Hudson, a Presbyterian minister, and assisted him in the government and instruction of a school known as Union Seminary. Shortly after this he married the dough- ter of James Black, of Maury county. Having been ad- mitted to the bar, he commenced the practice of law at Columbia, Tennessee. Ilis stay here was brief, but during its continuance he employed his leisure in editorial work upon a political weekly called the Tennessee Democrat. Returning to Cincinnati he was admitted to practise in the courts of his native State. Through the influence of Judge W. B. Caldwell he was appointed Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for a term of court, and the prominence thus ob- tained was the stepping stone to his future success. Through the writings of Dr. Gamaliel Bailey, then editor of the Daily Herald, of Cincinnati, he became strongly imbued with the growing anti-slavery sentiment of that period. When its editor removed to Washington city, to establish the National Era, he succeeded him as editor of the Herald, in which position he continued until the journal declined as a business enterprise. Ilis connection with journalism brought him into prominence in the politics of the State, and in the session of 1848-49 he was elected Clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives. This was the memorable session which elected Sahnon P. Chase to the Senate of the United States. In 1850 he returned to the practice of his profession in Cincinnati, and in the following year was elected one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Ilamilton county. He remained on the bench for two years, when, in consequence of the insufficiency of the salary, he resumed private practice, becoming one of the firm of Worthington & Matthews, his partner having been bis law preceptor. This partnership lasted about eight years. In the fall of 1855 he was elected to the State Senate, from Hamilton county, and served one term of two years. In 1858 he was appointed by President Buchanan,
ENT, ZENAS, was born in Middletown, Connecti- cut, July 12th, 1786. Ile came of good old Puritan stock, a nobility of descent which rests its claim upon a robust manhood and hardy virtue. Ilis father was a carpenter and joiner by trade, and carried a musket in the war for American independence. When Zenas Kent was a boy, even New England had made but a beginning in the development of the common school system, and though he made the best of his opportunities, exhausting the facilities of the country school of that time and place, his early advantages were very limited as compared to-the common school privileges enjoyed by the youth of to-day. Mr. Kent has left at least one monument of the methodical perseverance with which he addressed himself to every task. A copy of Adam's Arithmetic, published in 1802, which Mr. Kent used at school, is now in the possession of his son, Marvin. It is a well-thumbed book, now yellow with age, and a plodding student has left his impress on every page. Indeed he has left considerable additions to the original text. The pub- lisher had had the forethought to bind numerous blank pages with his letter-press, to stand the pupils instead of a slate, and remain a record of his industry. On these leaves young Kent carefully worked out and proved every example in the book. Here was a combination of excellent traits-appli- cation, method, thoroughness-in which the boy well fore- shadowed the man. He entered his work on the leaves of the book of his life, and he left not a blank page in it all. In selecting a pursuit in life, Zenas Kent chose the trade of his father, and endeavored to make himself master of it. By the time he reached his twenty fifth year, young Zens Kent was united in marriage to Pamelia Lewis, a native of
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Farmington, Connecticut, a young woman of most excellent | solved business connection with Mr. Ladd, Mr. Kent made traits, and withal a fitting helpmeet for him. Her father, arrangements with John Brown to carry on the tanning business in an establishment already under way. In 1836 Mr. Kent sold his large tract to the Franklin Land Com- pany, which afterwards became the Frank hin Silk Company. In 1849 the Franklin Bank of Portage County was estab- lished, and Mr. Kent was chosen its President. This im- portant post he held until 1864, when the Franklin Bank gave place to the Kent National Bank, of which he was also made president, holding the position at the time of his death. In 1850 Mr. Kent began the erection of a cotton factory and a private residence in Franklin, where his interests had een- tered. Thither he removed on the completion of his dwelling house in 1851. In the spring of 1853 Mr. Kent was elected Treasurer of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company, filling the position efficiently for one year. In April, 1860, he moved into an elegant mansion which he had built on Enelid street, Cleveland. While on a visit to Kent, on the 21st of October, 1864, death took from him the partner of his early toils and of his years of case. Thus bereft he longed for quiet and repose, and in the following month returned to Franklin (the name of which had been changed to Kent) to pass the remainder of his days. Mr. Kent's business career was that of an indus- trious plodder, who gained success by deserving it. Hle was possessed of a great fund of solid common sense, to which it had pleased God to add an indomitable will, native business tact, energy that never flagged, and, above all, an unyielding integrity which gained him the confidence of all with whom he had relations. Ile was a cautious, method- ical business man, not given to speculation, watchful of little things, and thrifty. Once, while in New York city to buy goods, an incident occurred which will serve to illustrate a marked trait in his character. A representative of a silk house called upon Mr. Kent at his hotel at the usual hour for beginning the day's business, for the purpose of soliciting his custom. Mr. Kent met his visitor and said to him, " If you expect to sell me goods, you must get up early in the morning. I bought all my silks before breakfast." Another instance will show how dearly he held his integrity and the good opinion of his fellows. While President of the bank- ing department of the Franklin Silk Company, he required to be placed in his hands the means to redeem the com- pany's issues, remarking that he would put his name upon no paper without having the power to protect it from dis- honor. The arrangement was effected. Notwithstanding the disastrous termination of the silk company, thanks to Mr. Kent's honor and forethought, its paper was all redeemed at face value. Ilis life record was made up of deeds that re- fleet lustre on his memory, and mark him as one of the pio- neer noblemen of the West. In personal appearance Zenas Kent was tall of stature, ereet and graceful of carriage, dig- nified of wien. Little given to society, he was nevertheless affable and agreeable in all of his relations. Though fair and equitable dealing made him popular as a tradesman, like the elder Keut, was a veteran of 1776, and a carpenter and joiner by vocation. These two young people joined their honest hands and humble fortunes for the battle with the world. In 1812 Zenas accompanied his father's family to the far West. The - family located in Mantua, Ohio, where the elder Kent died, at an advanced age. Zenas had left his young wife in Connecticut, while he went prospect- ing in the western wilds, and as soon as he bad chosen a place for his home, he returned for his wife. Together they set out for the tedious journey to the West, and arriving in Ohio settled in Hudson, then a township of Portage county. This was a fortunate selection for Mr. Kent. Here he met Captain Heman Oviatt, to whose friendship it was his pleasure to acknowledge himself indebted for many kind offices. Here he built a tannery for Owen Brown, father of John Brown, of Osawatomie fame. Mr. Kent taught school during the winter while he remained in Iludson. Ilis friend, Captain Oviatt, impressed by Mr. Kent's up- right walk and industrious habits, was disposed to do him a good turn and help him to start fairly in the world. Con- ferences led to conclusions, and in the summer of 1815 the firm of Oviatt & Kent was formed to conduct a typical pio- neer store in Ravenna. Thither Mr. Kent went to erect a building before the firm could begin business. The site chosen was that upon which the Second National Bank now stands. With his saw and plane and hammer Mr. Kent helped to put up the wooden building which was to serve for store and dwelling. This building was subsequently moved to the south side of Main street, in Little's Block, After the firm of Oviatt & Kent had been in successful oper- ation for several years, Mr. Kent was able to refund the capital advanced by Mr. Oviatt, and the firm dissolved, leaving the junior partner the sole control of the business. In 1826, while managing his growing business, Mr. Kent entered into a contract to erect the court-house, which still stands in Ravenna, one of the most substantial buildings of its kind in the State. In its early days it was looked upon as a wonder in architectural art. From 1831 to 1850 Mr. Kent was senior partner of the firm of Kent & Brewster, which did a profitable trade in Hudson. In the meantime Mr. Kent was accumulating a store of the world's goods, and making investments where there was fair prospect of good returns. In 1832 he joined David Ladd in the pur- chase of a tract of land embracing between five and six hundred acres of land in the township of Franklin, now the village of Kent. This tract embraced the water-power of the Cuyahoga river at that place. The connection of Mr. Ladd with this property was short, Mr. Kent soon becoming sole proprietor. In the year of the purchase he erected Kent's Flouring Mill, the product of which has been held in high repute for more than a third of a century. This mill produced the first floor shipped from northern Ohia to Cleveland, going by way of the Ohio canal. Having dis-
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Iis retiring nature forbade many intimate friendships. the Opera House on Fourth, between Vine and Walnut While malice did not enter into his heart, the very firmness streets, in 1857, which was completed and opened to the public February 22d, 1859, being one of the largest in the United States ; it was destroyed by fire in 1866. He rebuilt it in 1871. In 1867 he was nominated for mayor of the city, but declined being a candidate. He was noted for his charities, and was foremost in every benevolent undertaking. Ilis kind, courteous and genial nature, unassuming manners, and warmth of heart, endeared him to all those who ever came in contact with him. He was married in 1846 to the youngest daughter of Judge Miller. of his character made him quick to resent an abuse of his confidence. Beneath a dignified exterior, bordering at times upon austerity, he wore a warm and sympathetic heart. lle held a kind act in tender remembrance, and the few friendships he formed remained unbroken to the end of his days. His tastes were simple and his habits the most correct. He never used tobacco or stimulants of any kind, and for thirty years did not have an hour's sickness, Mr. Kent was blessed with a family of thirteen children, nine of whom survive him. These he lived to see arrive at ma- turity, all occupying positions of prominence and influence in their respective homes. The surviving children are Mrs. Harriet Clapp, of New York city; Henry A., Edward and George L., of Brooklyn, New York; Marvin, Charles 11., and Mrs. Amelia 1 .. Shively, of Kent, Ohio; Mrs. Francis E. Wells, of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Emily K., wife of R. B. Dennis, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio. Of the four children deceased, Mrs. Eliza A. Poag died in Brooklyn, July 4th, 1864; three, Louisa, Amelia, and an unnamed infant, lie in Ravenna Cemetery. Zenas Kent died suddenly at his residence in Kent, October 4th, 1865, in the eightieth year of his age. ITis remains were interred in Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland's beautiful city of the dead. In a lovely spot, removed from the hurly-burly of a busy world, under the shade of the cypress and willow, by the side of the wife of his bosom, sleeps all that is left to earth of a man who fought the battle of life bravely and left a good name-the best of all heir-looms. At the time of his death Mr. Kent's estate was valued at $ 300,000.
ILFORD, JOIN BARKER, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, was born, March 26th, 1833, in Batavia, Genesee county, New York, and is a son of John Chester Wilford, who was a major in the war of 1812, and underwent all the hardships and perils of an Indian captivity during that contest. ITis ancestor, Colonel Wilford, was a soldier of the Revolution. Dr. Wilford at an early age evinced rare talents for research and study. Surrounded by all the discouragements of poverty and inappreciation, the long hours of the night and the uncertain glare from the family fire-place were brought into requisition in satisfying his longing appetite for knowl- edge. At the early age of nineteen, with but the limited advantages of a common school education, he commenced preparation for his chosen profession, medicine. Over- coming all obstacles, he graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania, medical department, in 1856. Still thirsting for knowledge, of which as yet he had just tasted, he entered the Pennsylvania Hospital, in Philadel- phia, as a physician, and desirous of making the diseases of women a specialty, at a later date engaged in Allen's Lying.in Hospital in the same city. In that institution many vexatious combinations of disease were brought to his notice, and all his mental energies aroused to minister to their relief. Immediately civil war burst upon the country, he volunteered his services at the front, but owing to physi- cal disability was assigned to duty in one of the United States Army llospitals in Philadelphia. Here his great skill in surgery found full play, and many of the brave de- fenders of liberty remember him gratefully for the saving of life and limb. Ile continued the practice of his profes- sion in Philadelphia for two years after the close of the war, standing high in public esteem and in the ranks of the pro- fession. Attracted by the wider field of usefulness in the West, he removed to Chicago in 1867, and after the great fire in that city, in October, 1871, made a tour through the South, where he studied the diseases peculiar to that lati- tude, in the hospitals of Memphis, New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston, and other cities. Ile finally settled, in 1873, in Toledo, Ohio, where his success in the treatment of chronic
IKE, SAMUEL N., Merchant, was born in the city of New York in IS22. Hle was educated at Stamford, Connecticut. When only seventeen years old he went south, and settled at first in Florida, where he engaged in business. He sub- sequently removed to Richmond, Virginia, thence to Baltimore, and finally to St. Louis, in all of which cities he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, but these not answer- ing his expectations, he resolved to return home. On his way to New York he chanced to take his journey via Cin- cinnati, reaching that city July 4th, 1844, and there he concluded to remain. He opened a dry-goods store in the Hopple building on Third street, and afterwards removed to Pearl street. This proving unprofitable, he relinquished it,,and purchased a grocery and rectifying establishment at the foot of Main street. In 1848 he bought a warehouse on the canal. In 1853 he commenced the erection of an elegant stone front block on Fourth street below Smith ; and during the same year changed his business location, and likewise purchased a lot on Sycamore street wear Front, where he erected a substantial warehouse. He commenced | diseases, female complaints, nervous debility, neuralgia,
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scrofula, and dyspepsia, soon brought him into favorable notice, which has been succeeded by a large practice with its attendant benefits, Being determined to overcome the disadvantages, so well Faown by the profession, he is about to establish a home hospital for women, where they can enjoy all the comforts of a home, and at the same time be under his especial care. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church in good standing since 1850. He occupies a high social position in society, and is eminently a man of the times, who conscientiously fulfils every duty devolving upon him. The present century is peculiarly an age of progress and advancement. Within its limits the impassable barriers of other ages have passed away, and science has made giant strides. In no department has there been more advancement than in the science of medicine. This is largely due to the special researches of special men. Taking up a particular branch, each has advanced to the front rank therem, inventing rare and valuable appliances and patent remedies, before which diseases, long thought incurable, disappear. Dr. Wilford is entitled to rank among these representative men. ITis deep reading and earnest research have confined him to the channels of private life, compelling him to reject many flattering offerings of public advancement and trust. He has been twice married, and is the father of four children, two of whom survive.
E LANO, MORTIMER FREDERICK, D.D.S., and Oculist, was born, November 7th, 1820, at Onk Orchard, Orleans county, New York, and is a son of Doctor Austin and Catharine (Almy) De Lano, being of English and French descent. IIe was educated at Cayuga Academy, which he left at thirteen years of age to enter the Academy at Burton, Ohio; thence he went to Ravenna Seminary for one term, and completed his studies in the Yates Academy, New York. While at this latter school and subsequently, he learned the printer's trade at Penn Yan, remaining there until 1837, when he removed to Detroit, and worked there in a printing office, and subsequently became an attache of the United States Topographical Engineer Corps for a short time. Ile next devoted four years to the study of medicine and dentistry, and finished his dental education in Adrian, Michigan. When twenty-one years of age, he commenced the practice of dentistry in Manmee, where he sojourned one season, and travelled for three or four years; during this entire period continuing his professional pursuits. IIe then located in Sandusky, where he remained until 1868, . and established an extensive practice in that city, and earned the reputation of being one of the leading dentists in the State. Iu 1870 he removed to Toledo, but for some years gradually ,withdrew from active duties on account of failing health. Since 1874, however, having recovered, he is rapidly regaining his old reputation. He attributes his
great success, in this line, to his close application to his pro- fessional avocation; he has also met with great success in those operations performed as an oculist. Ile has devoted many years to scientific questions bearing upon navigation, and the result of which is his invention of an instrument termed the " Longimeter," being a new method of deter- mining the longitude at sea, and which is evidently destined to cause a revolution in the science of navigation. It has been examined carefully and critically by many scientists, who have acknowledged it to be a success in every respect. Ile was married, 1838, to Philena N. Anderson, of New York.
AYES, HON. RUTHERFORD B., Governor of Ohio, was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 4th, 1822. Ile is the son of Rutherford and Sophia (Birchard) Hayes. His father descended from George Hayes, a Scotchman, who came to New England about two hundred years ago; his mother from John Birchard, who settled in Connecticut about 1640. After a good preliminary education, he read law with Thomas Sparrow, of Columbus; entered the Law School of Harvard College, and graduated in 1845. IIe began the practice of his profession in Fremont, Ohio, but for some years prior to the outbreak of the rebellion was located in Cincinnati. Ilis genial manners and fine capaci- ties as a public speaker had commended him to popular favor, and in the responsible official positions he was called upon to fill he enlarged his reputation as a lawyer, and established himself in the confidence both of the profession and of his increasing numbers of clients. . At the first call for volunteers in 1861, he was in the height of a successful practice. Ile proffered his services, however, at once, and was appointed Major of the 23d Ohio Infantry, June 7th, 1861. Ile served under General Rosecrans in West Vir- ginia, during the summer and fall of 1861, and for a short time was Judge Advocate on the General's staff. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, November 4th, 1861, and took and retained command of the 23d Regi- ment during the spring campaign in West Virginia, and the autumn campaign under General Mcclellan, until he was disabled at the battle of South Mountain. In 1862 he was appointed Colonel of the 79th Ohio, but was prevented from joining the regiment by the South Mountain wound; and on October 15th of that year was promoted to the Colonelcy of the 23d Ohio. December 25th, 1862, he was placed in command of the ist Brigade of the Kanawha Division, and so continued until Sheridan's victory at Winchester, in Sep- tember, 1864, when he took command of this Kanawha Division and Ied it through the remainder of the active campaigning in that year. In October, 1864, he was ap- pointed Brigadier General " for gallant and meritorions ser- vices in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek." In the spring of 1865 he was given command of
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an expedition against Lynchburg, by way of the mountains of West Virginia, and was engaged in preparations for that campaign when the war closed. For gallant and distin- guished services during the campaign of 1864, he was brevetted Major- General. Before the close of the war he was elected to Congress from the Second Cincinnati Dis- tiet by a handsome majority, and in 1866 was re-elected. Although a fine speaker, he preferred not to add to the multitude of words which in Congress so often darken counsel, and in three sessions did not make a single elabor- ate speech. Ilis action was uniformly in the line of policy of the Republican party by which he had been elected; and his fidelity and sound judgment were greatly relied on by his fellow-members. At the Republican State Convention in 1867, he was nominated by a handsome majority, almost indeed spontaneously, for the Governorship of the State, to succeed Governor Cox. He thereupon resigned his seat in Congress, and entered actively upon the canvass. The con- test was complicated by the negro-suffrage question, the bond question, and other matters which loaded down the ticket with an unpopular platform. Ile was, however, elected over A. G. Thurman, now United States Senator, by a majority of about three thousand; and was all the more highly esteemed at the close of the campaign for his handsome bearing throughout it. In 1869 he was renomi- nated for Governor without opposition, and was elected by a very large majority (7501) over the Democratic candidate, llon. George II. Pendleton, At the close of his second term as Governor, he resumed his private business, and continued thus engaged until summoned again by his party as its leader in the State canvass of 1875, which resulted in his election to the office of Governor for a third term. Ile married Lucy B. Webb.
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