USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 17
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PATRICK, JOHN, an old and esteemed citizen of Henry county, Ohio, was a native of Columbia county, New York, where he was born on the 23d of October, 1795. He was the son of Ralph and Mary Patrick. Ralph Patrick, who was a farmer, was born in Connecticut, October 22, 1766, and during the Revolutionary War drove a team for his father, who was a wagon-master in the army. The early school opportunities of John Patrick were limited, as there was then no public school system in New York. When he
was twelve years of age he went to live with his grand- father, in Massachusetts. He remained there about four years, then came back to his father's, and stayed there until he was twenty-one years old. During the war of 1812 he was called out with the militia to defend Sackett's Harbor. The soldiers and the militia numbered many thou- sands-so many that the English troops did not see fit to attack the place. The militia were obliged to furnish their own guns and blankets. On reaching his majority he went West, settling at Honey Creek Prairie, near Vincennes, In- diana, and rented a farm for eight years. He was success- ful in this occupation, and at the end of the time he gave up farming and invested all of his means in a drove of cattle. He started on his way to Detroit with them, through the woods, by the way of Lafayette, which was then a French trading post. There he found the Indians all intoxicated. They would have taken all of his cattle if the post-trader had not interfered. The next day he took up his journey, and arrived at Detroit without any further difficulty. He sold his cattle, going back to Waterville, Lucas county, Ohio. This was in the year 1824. He rented a farm for two years, and then moved to Henry county, three miles below Napo- leon, buying a farm of seventy-four acres, five of which were cleared. For this tract of land, standing on the banks of the "Muddy Maumee," including a log-house, he paid three hundred dollars. In his house he kept a tavern, which for many years did a good business. The Maumee was at that time the great thoroughfare of travel, answering both for the highway and railroad. Goods were carried in very large canoes, or piraguas, made of the largest whitewoods which could be found, sixty to eighty feet long. His place was a regular trading post for the Indians, Mrs. Patrick attending to all that business with the squaws. Every thing must be purchased which the Indians brought. At one time the red men went up on their ponies into Michigan to get a quantity of cranberries. They brought the berries down to her place, when Mrs. Patrick bought them, pressed out the fruit, made them into wine, and sold the juice to the Indians-of course, with a profit. She could talk the Indian dialect very flu- ently. This did not prove very difficult, as there are but few words in their vocabulary, and half the conversation is done by signs. The articles of trade were Indian calico (white ground with large red figures of different descriptions), broad- cloth, powder and lead, whisky, tobacco, trinkets, and rib- bons. The Indians would sell venison saddles, furs, and maple sugar. The regular price of a venison saddle-the two hind-quarters joined together-was a quart of salt or flour. They charged the Indians fifty cents for half a bushel of ears of corn. After the canal was built the company occu- pied a barn on his place for changing horses. During all this time his farm was constantly improving and adding to its dimensions, until it contained over nine hundred acres. He also owned other land to the extent of four hundred and eighty-four acres. Mr. Patrick was a whig in politics, and an ardent admirer of Henry Clay. When the republican party succeeded the whigs, he became a member, working earnestly for its success. He served acceptably as justice of the peace and county commissioner. He was married on the 13th of September, 1821, to Esther E., daughter of George and Dorcas Tefft. Her father was born in Rhode Island, October 20th, 1772, and her mother in the same colony, April 12th, 1774. There their daughter was born January 11, 1800. She was a woman of excellent business qualifications. Her
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husband's success was largely due to her energy and tact. There were eleven children, four of whom are living at the present time. Sarah was born August 7th, 1822; Kenneth, February 24th, 1824; Ralph, September 5th, 1825; Mary E., November 4th, 1827; Asenath, February 4th, 1829; Jane, July 7th, 1831 ; George, September 6th, 1834; Hester, No- vember 7th, 1837 ; Almira, February 16th, 1839; Mahala, February 22d, 1842. George now resides on the home farm; Mary lives in Harrison; Jane in Napoleon; and Hester in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Patrick died December 15th, 1868.
HART, SETH, M. D., was born in Berlin, Hartford County, Connecticut, November 13th, 1804, and was a son of Joel and Lydia (North) Hart, grandson of Jehudah Hart, and descended from Deacon Stephen Hart, after whom the capital of Connecticut (Hartford) was named. When less than two years old the parents of Seth Hart moved to Meredith, Del- aware County, New York, and settled in the woods. At the time of his father's death, which occurred October 17th, 1811, he had cleared about forty acres. The management then devolved upon his mother, who was a woman of great energy and perseverance. The four years following the death of his father, Seth spent with his grandfather, Jedediah North, in Connecticut, where he enjoyed good school privileges. At the age of twelve he returned to New York State, where he was placed under the instruction of a tutor, and received a liberal education. He remained in that State, teaching school, studying medicine, and clerking in a drug store, until 1824, when he came to New Philadelphia, Ohio, and taught school during the winter of 1824 and 1825. Dr. Hart, in 1824, re- ceived a diploma certifying that he had read medicine three years, which qualified him to enter the practice of medicine, and in 1858 he received an honorary degree from the New York Eclectic College of Medicine. He came to Washington County, Ohio, in 1825, and on the 9th of April, in that year, opened an office in Watertown, where he practiced until Sep- tember, when he returned to New York State, and attended a course of medical lectures at Fairfield, Herkimer County. February 19th, 1826, he married Vesta Curtis, daughter of Dr. Bildad Curtis, of Delaware County, with whom he read medicine one year. This union was blessed with one child, Vesta Curtis Hart, who married F. H. Kemper, of Cincinnati. Mrs. Vesta Hart died in Watertown, Washington County, March 22d, 1827, and June 7th, 1829, Dr. Hart married Mary Wilson, daughter of Deacon David Wilson. The fruits of this marriage were eight children: Samuel married Sarah Purple, and was a surgeon during the Rebellion; Mary Wilson mar- ried James Nixon, of Ironton, Ohio; Romeyn Beck married Martha E. Metcalf, and resides in Harmar ; Henry L. married Lucy Wolcutt Deming, and lives in Washington County, Ohio ; Samuel Munson married Mary Roan, and resides and practices dentistry in Marietta, Ohio ; David Wilson married Miriam Cox, and resides in Denver, Colorado; Lydia North, the youngest child, is a teacher in the public schools of Har- mar. Mrs. Mary Hart died June 14th, 1863, in Watertown. The doctor then married Emma Lewis Hiett, October 22d, 1863. She was a daughter of James Hiett, of West Virginia. She died February 16th, 1865, and November 16th, 1870, he married Elizabeth D. Marshall, daughter of Gideon Marshall, of Morgan County, Ohio. To this union has been given one child, Minnehaha Grace. Dr. Hart practiced medicine in Watertown from the spring of 1825 until 1836, excepting the time he was absent attending lectures in New York. Since
1836 his office has been located in Harmar. In 1865 he was called to Tennessee, to assist his son at the Army Hospital at Tullahoma, and after the close of the war he remained two years. While there he was commissioned a Surgeon of the Fifth . Tennessee Cavalry, holding this appointment for one year. In 1869 he took charge of a mining enterprise in the Rocky Mountains, and stayed there one year. Dr. Hart, ever since entering the practice of medicine, in 1825, has kept and prepared his own medicines. His first experience in compounding medicines was at a drug store in Palmyra, New York. Since then a long and busy life of practice has given him an intimate acquaintance with drugs and their use. Since the period of his practice in Washington County, more than fifty years ago, Dr. Hart has maintained the highest reputation for efficiency as a physician and integrity as a man. He is a man of vigorous physique and well pre- served faculties. His life has been useful not only to him- self and family but also to the community which he has served for half a century. His visits have been a source of pleasure to thousands of families in the hour of pain and distress, and his life has been an example of industry and upright- ness. He joined the Presbyterian Church at the age of sixteen, but when he came to Harmar he united with the Congregational Church, where he still holds his membership.
SHANNON, WILSON, the eleventh governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born February 24th, 1803, in Bel- mont county, Ohio, and died in September 1877, at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, being appointed governor of that State, while it was yet a territory, in 1852. His parents crossed the mountains from Pennsylvania, and settled in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1802, and there, in the deep seclusion of a wilder- ness farm as a child and youth, our subject grew up the assistant of his father, until he was fifteen years old. Then he was sent to school for a year at what was called the Ohio University at Athens, and with the preparation there obtained he entered Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky. In this school he remained two years, and then having re- turned home, began the study of law. St. Clairsville had become the county seat of Belmont county, and here, having completed his law studies and passed an examination, he was admitted to practice, and for eight years subsequently engaged in business as a county lawyer. In 1832 he was the democratic nominee of his district for Congress, but was de- feated by the whig nominee. In 1834 he was elected county attorney, and discharged the duties of the office with such ability, that his party after a survey of the State for an avail- able nominee for governor, selected him, and he was elected by 3,600 majority in 1838, and renominated at the close of his term. Party politics then absorbed attention -the slavery question having become more and more the great issue - Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison were rival candidates for the Presidency, while in Ohio Governor Shan- non and his opponent, familiarly known as "Tom " Corwin, addressed the people in nearly every county, and the elec- tion for governor made Corwin the victor. The personal popularity, nevertheless, of Governor Shannon was evinced by the State going for the democratic Presidential candidate, by a majority of 25,000. On retiring from the labors of the campaign, Governor Shannon returned to the practice of the law in Belmont county. Two years afterward he was again nominated and elected governor of Ohio by 4,000 majority over his former opponent, and in which year both men can-
Ing w; W. HAcome
Beth Hart M. D.
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vassed the State as they did in 1840. Having in the spring of 1843, been by President Tyler tendered the ministry to Mexico, Governor Shannon resigned the governorship in June of that year, repaired to the City of Mexico, and there discharged the exceedingly difficult and important duties of his office for two years; when, following the annexation of Texas, Mexico having renounced all diplomatic intercourse with the United States, Governor Shannon returned home and resumed the practice of the law. After being thus engaged seven years, he was elected to Congress from the Belmont district, so called, by a majority of 1,300 votes, and there his conduct gave such satisfaction that he was by Pres- ident Pierce appointed territorial governor of Kansas. Of his conduct in this position we have nothing very pleasing to record. The contest between freedom and slavery that cul- minated in our civil war began on those plains, and no man could reconcile the antagonistic parties. Hence it is no re- proach to Governor Shannon that he failed, and, after serving fourteen months, that he, in 1856, was superseded by John W. Geary. The following year Governor Shannon removed his family to Kansas, and began the practice of law in Le- compton, then the capital of the Territory, and his reputation in a short time caused him to obtain a large and lucrative practice, there being much litigation under the preemption laws of the United States. When Kansas was admitted as a State, and the capital removed to Topeka, Governor Shannon removed his office and residence to the city of Lawrence, where he resided until his death, beloved by all who knew him, as a faithful public minister and a conscientious man.
GLOVER, E., lawyer, editor, and legislator, was born in Portsmouth, May 11th, 1811. He enjoyed only common school advantages, but being a close student acquired a very good education for his day. From sixteen to twenty he spent his evenings in reading and study, very frequently continuing at his books until the hours of the morning. He began life at the age of twenty-one, as editor and publisher of the Ports- mouth Courier, an organ of the Whig party for Scioto, Law- rence, Jackson, and Pike counties, and conducted that journal for some six years. For a few years subsequent he was en- gaged in the book business. On January 17th, 1833, he married Miss S. J. Offnere, of Portsmouth. In 1840 he was elected county auditor, and held the office for six years, during which time he read law with S. M. Tracy, of Ports- mouth ; was admitted to the bar in 1847, and continued in practice until 1870. Among other public and honorable po- sitions which he filled may be mentioned that of prosecuting attorney and probate judge for Scioto county. He also repre- sented his county for six years in the Ohio legislature. In 1866, he was appointed by Chief-Justice Chase register in bankruptcy for the Eleventh Congressional District, but re- signed that office in 1869, having at that time a seat in the legislature, which, according to the new enactment, prevented him from holding both these offices. While a member of the legislature, he procured the passage of the act securing free turnpikes for Scioto county, and also served for a time as chairman of the committee on finances. He was a life- long temperance man, and was one of the organizers for his county of the Washingtonian Society in 1840, and of other similar societies having for their object the suppression of in- temperance. He also published for a time a temperance paper called the Life-boat. He cast his first presidential vote for .Henry Clay, in 1832, and continued to support the Whig
party until the organization of the Republican party, when 'he espoused its principles, and was an unflinching advocate of its policy until his death, which occurred on September 17th, 1880. He became a politician before he had reached his majority, and was ever afterwards actively engaged in all political contests, always being found on the right side of all moral questions. He was a fluent and brilliant speaker, and one of Portsmouth's most influential and respected citi- zens. In all his political addresses, he was never known to engage in personal abuse, and so great was the respect and reverence in which he was held by his opponents, that not one ever dared to assail his personal character. Several years previous to his death, while on his way home after night, he was waylaid, and robbed and severely beaten on his breast and head, from the effects of which injuries he never fully recovered The following is an extract from a letter written in 1865, by the Rev. Mr. Pratt, of the First Presbyterian church, of Portsmouth: "I have known Hon. Elijah Glover somewhat intimately for many years. He is eminently one of those whom the Romans used to call ‘ Novi homines,' a self-made man. He is one of the readiest men for a speech on almost any subject that I ever knew. I have heard him called out on different occasions, on political, moral, and literary questions, and I have never known him to make a failure. He has great self-possession, is ready at repartee, and his stock of knowledge seems always at com- mand. He has been a warm and consistent advocate of the temperance reformation, under all its various phases, when it was popular and when it was unpopular, and he has prac- tically carried out his principles by total abstinence from all that can intoxicate. As an upright, honest lawyer, a public- spirited citizen, a man of unimpeachable morals, and an opposer of vice in all its seductive forms, he bears a deserv- edly high reputation in the community where he has always lived. His bold and open stand against popular vices, especially against the vices of gambling and tippling, have rendered him unpopular with certain classes. He would never condescend to the low tricks of the 'pot-house' poli- tician for the sake of office. Hence he has sometimes been defeated when before the people as a candidate, but, by his consistent and manly course, he has lived down this oppo- sition. In this day of 'time-serving politicians,' it is refresh- ing to find a man who is honest and true to his convictions of what is right." The action of the Portsmouth bar, upon the occasion of his death, attested their profound respect for his memory-his honesty, ability, and character, as a mem- ber of the Scioto bar-and for his honorable and pure pro- fessional life.
PRATT, CHARLES, an able lawyer, of Toledo, was born near Rochester, New York, January 15th, 1828, his parents being Alpheus and Louisa Pratt. His father, who is a native of Massachusetts and a descendant of the old Puritan stock, is now living at the age of eighty-eight. In 1819 he moved to the State of New York, being a pioneer in the vicinity in which he settled, and in 1833 removed from that State to Michigan, settling at Hudson, where he now resides, having borne the part of a pioneer in that State also. Mrs. Pratt was also of old New England lineage, and is also living at Hudson. She is eighty-five years old. The race is a long- lived one, almost all its members having reached ages from eighty to nearly a hundred years. Charles Pratt's earliest education began at home, as in the pioneer days of Michigan
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there was hardly a school-house to be found. There were few inhabitants but Indians in the vicinity where he was reared. However, by the time he had reached the age of twelve, schools began to be established, and from that time till he was sixteen he attended the district schools, such as they were. He nevertheless obtained a fair knowledge of the fundamental branches, and soon afterward he attended a select school at Adrian, Michigan, whence he went to Albion, Michigan, going to a seminary which finally developed into what is now known as Albion College. Here he pursued his studies till the age of twenty-one, teaching district schools in the mean time, to help himself along. In the spring of 1850 Mr. Pratt went into a law office at Adrian, where he remained as a law student a short time, then going to Toledo, Ohio, and entering the law office of Hill & Perigo. Here he pur- sued his studies till 1852, at that time being admitted to the bar. After his admission, Mr. Pratt succeeded Mr. Perigo in the firm, which continued practice as Hill & Pratt till 1861. At that time Mr. Hill entered the military service as general, although the firm was known as Hill & Pratt till 1870, Mr. Hill, how- ever, having but little connection with it. The firm is now Pratt & Wilson. Mr. Pratt's earliest inclinations were toward the profession he now follows, although they were against the earnest wish and protests of his parents ; but believing himself fitted for this calling, he adopted it, and has made a marked success, having practiced in Toledo ever since his admission. Mr. Pratt's professional life has been of a very even tenor, and he has always preferred practice to the uncertainties of public office and the gaining of political notoriety. As a lawyer, Mr. Pratt occupies a place among the foremost advo- cates at the bar. Combined with his ability as a lawyer are conscientiousness, intelligence, and independence. Besides Mr. Pratt's known ability and acknowledged success as a lawyer, he is also an active leader in political, city, and church affairs. He has been a valuable member of the city council, both as a member and its president; he has also been a member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church for sixteen years, having been one of the trustees ever since its organization, and for many years the president of the board of trustees. Mr. Pratt has also been president of the Y. M. C. A., and an active temperance and Sabbath-school worker. The personal character of Mr. Pratt is excellent profession- ally, socially, and morally. He is a man of most excep- tional independence of opinion and action, and commands the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens. Politically, Mr. Pratt was first a whig and then a republican, having made stump speeches for Fremont when a young man. He was married first in 1853, but his wife soon died. In 1857 he married his present wife, Catherine Sherring. The result of the union is seven children, all of whom are living. The oldest son, Henry S., is now in his senior year at Michigan University, at Ann Arbor.
ANDREWS, SHERLOCK J., judge, advocate, and jurist, of Cleveland, one of the foremost of the many brill- iant and able lawyers who have made the State of Ohio so justly famous, was, like many of the earlier settlers of Cleve- land, born in the State of Connecticut, his native town being Wallingford. He was born November 17th, 1801, and died at his home in Cleveland, February 11th, 1880, ripe in years, ripe in wisdom and learning, and ripe in the affection and love of his fellow-citizens. His father, Doctor John Andrews, a prominent physician of Wallingford, also became in later
years a resident of Cleveland. Judge Andrews's preparation for college was made at the Episcopal Academy, at Cheshire, Connecticut. After a due course there, he entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he graduated with high honors, in 1821. For a short time he returned to Wal- lingford. Being offered the position of private secretary and assistant to Benjamin Silliman, Sr., the eminent scientist, of Yale College, he gladly accepted the offer, and remained with him about four years, with profit to himself and the utmost pleasure and satisfaction of the distinguished professor, who spoke of him in the highest terms, and in whose private journal, published afterward, appears a warm tribute of affec- tionate praise and loving regard for his young assistant, whom he looked upon and treated with a father's care. During this time he was assiduously devoting himself to the study of law, having made that his chosen profession, and for this purpose attended lectures and studied in the New Haven Law School. In 1825, having been admitted to the bar, he severed his relations with Professor Silliman, in order to practice his pro- fession, and the same year, following the example of so many of the Connecticut young men of those times, he sought the Western Reserve. He came to Cleveland, immediately entered upon his chosen calling, and becoming acquainted with Judge Samuel Cowles, who had established himself there some time before, he formed with him a partnership which lasted a number of years, and which attained a high position among the legal fraternity. In 1833 Judge Cowles retired, and the firm of Andrews & Foot was formed, which subsequently became Andrews, Foot & Hoyt. Brilliant talents, untiring industry, and his remarkable social quali- ties had by this time made Mr. Andrews a leading man in the community, and in 1840 he was elected to represent the Cleveland district in Congress. He served through the Twenty-seventh Congress with honor and credit to himself, when, on account of poor health, he retired from the more active duties of life, and only acted as adviser and advocate in the more important cases. In 1848 he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of Cleveland, a court of com- mercial and civil jurisdiction, and filled the position with con- spicuous ability. He was, in 1849, chosen a member of the convention to form the new constitution of Ohio, and ren- dered distinguished service as a member of the committees on the judiciary, revision, and temperance. The new constitu- tion having revised the judiciary system and dispensed with the superior court, he was from that time engaged as counsel and advocate in leading cases in the Federal and State courts till the year 1873, when he was again chosen as one of the members of the convention to revise the constitution of the State. Here again his long experience, ripe wisdom, and great abilities were sought in aid of the solution of the great problem of an improvement of the judiciary system, and he was made chairman of the committee having this subject in charge, a post he ably filled. As an advocate, he stood for forty years in the front rank of the bar of Ohio. He was rarely, perhaps never, surpassed in the skillful use of all the weapons known to be effective in debate. Logic, wit, sarcasm, humor, ridicule, and pathos, reinforced by all the resources of a disciplined and cultivated mind, stored with the wealth of all arts and sciences, all literature, sacred and profane,-all seemed ready and in rich profusion at his com- mand. As a technical pleader, though he stood high, there were others in the circuit equally as gifted. But in a cause where his convictions of justice and legal right were fixed,
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