USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 20
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excitement was at its highest pitch at the time, and people were swarming in thousands from all parts of the country to the great oil center, while the immense products of the con- stantly increasing oil-wells were seeking the markets of this country and of Europe. All of that cool executive force and great activity which are among Doctor Streator's most pro- nounced characteristics were called into full requisition to meet the extraordinary demands which were made upon his railroad ; but the task was beyond all bounds. The rapidity with which the country developed was so astonishing, and the magnitude of the oil interests with all their various ramifica- tions was so great, that the work demanded of the Oil Creek Road was simply overwhelming, and for a time, in spite of the most strenuous exertions, could not be wholly performed. Of course, the profits of such a line must necessarily be enor- mous. The Oil Creek, during Doctor Streator's connection with it, and some time afterwards, was one of the best paying lines ever put down in this or in any other country, while the creation of wealth incident to the enterprise was beyond all computation. Its projector and constructor con- trolled and operated it until 1866, when he disposed of it to Dean Richmond, of the New York Central Railroad. He subsequently contracted to build, and did build, for the New York Central Company what is known as the Cross-cut Rail- road, a line running from Corry to Brocton, a distance of forty-two miles, to connect the New York Central main line with its recently purchased Oil Creek line. His next business enterprise was the organization of a company for the purchase of a large body of coal land on the Vermilion River, in La Salle and Livingston counties, Illinois. This was in 1867. The tract of land in question comprised five thousand acres, under which, and one hundred feet below the surface, was found a splint vein of dry-burning coal six feet in thickness, and much resembling the celebrated Massillon coals of Ohio. To connect these coal beds with the Illinois Central Rail- way, he built fifteen miles of railroad to Wenona. This con- nection proving inadequate to move the products of the mines, he then built seventy-one miles of railroad, called the "Fox River Railway," crossing the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Road at Ottawa, and connecting with the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy at Aurora. He disposed of the shorter of the two lines to the Chicago, Alton, and St. Louis Company, and the Fox River Road he transferred to the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railway Company. This was in 1869, and in 1871 he sold one-half of the coal com- pany's property to parties connected with the Chicago, Bur- lington, and Quincy Company. These mines have proved among the most productive in the country, the yield having now reached the enormous amount of six hundred thousand tons per annum. While still handling the great mining enter- prise in Illinois he had engaged in yet another heavy rail- road project in Ohio. This was the planning and construc- tion of the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley, and Wheeling Railway, a line extending from the mouth of Black River, on Lake Erie, through the heart of the coal regions of Cen- tral Ohio, to the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. On the organization of this company in 1870, Dr. Streator was chosen its president, and is connected with the road at the present time. In addition to his great activity in the rail- road world, he has engaged extensively and successfully in several other branches of business. In the various depart- ments of agriculture, also particularly in the raising of blooded stock, he has taken an active interest. Having a
natural taste in this direction, he originally devoted himself to it as an amusement and recreation ; but in this, as in his more serious enterprises, his thoroughness and vigor soon became felt, and he in a short time was recognized as one of the most earnest and intelligent promoters of agricultural interests in the State. He is, in fact, almost as well known among the leading agriculturists of the country as he is among the leading railroad men, and has several times re- ceived flattering testimonials of appreciation. He was ap- pointed by Governor Hayes, in 1872, a trustee of the Ohio Agricultural College, remaining in that board until the ad- vent of a democratic administration and the incident reor- ganization ; and he has repeatedly been elected president of the Northern Ohio Fair Association, one of the most com- plete and widely known organizations of the kind in the United States. He is the owner of two large farms near Cleveland, and his splendid herds of short-horn thorough- bred cattle, Kentucky horses, and imported sheep, have long been known among stock-raisers and dealers as being unexcelled by any in the country. Although he has dur- ing all his unusually active professional and business life taken a keen interest in public affairs, and was, during the war of the rebellion, conspicuous for his activity and large money contributions in behalf of the Northern cause, he has never, in any sense of the word, been a seeker after office or political honors. Whatever of these he has had have been thrust upon him entirely unsolicited on his part. He served one term in the Ohio legislature, having been elected in 1869 by the republicans of Cuyahoga county to represent them in the senate; and his good sense and earnestness of purpose made him one of the most useful members that have ever been sent from the Cleveland district. His term in the senate closed in 1871. In 1874 he was elected a pres- idential elector for the twentieth district of Ohio, and as such voted at the electoral college for Rutherford B. Hayes, presi- dent, and in 1879 he was appointed by President Hayes collector of internal revenue for Northern Ohio, an office which he still continues to hold. In July, 1881, he was ap- pointed by the mayor of the city of Cleveland a member of the board of directors of the Workhouse and House of Correction, and was elected president of the board, in which "capacity he still serves. Doctor Streator has the advantage of a singularly clear and sound judgment both in business and other matters, and this is so generally recognized in the wide circle of his acquaintances that his opinions and coun- sel are frequently sought and highly valued. In this way, combined frequently with timely aid of a more substantial nature, he has given many who were in need of a friendly hand a guidance and assistance that have put them on the road to substantial success. Thus unostentatiously applying his help with intelligence and foresight, and so giving it effectiveness, he has done more really substantial good for others than many whose benefactions have been accom- panied with more noise. He has for many years been an active member of the Church of the Disciples, and the pros- perity of that denomination in Cleveland is greatly due to his exertions and large money contributions. Notwithstanding the active business life he has led since he retired from the practice of medicine, he has retained the taste for study and general reading which he acquired during his professional life, and has kept fully up with the current of modern thought, particularly in the matter of the remarkable scientific de- velopments of the day, and has taken an effective interest in
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education generally. He is now, and has been since 1872, an active member of the trustee boards of Bethany and Hiram Colleges, and is one of the corporators of the Case School of Applied Sciences, an institution which, with its liberal endowments and intelligent management, promises to become one of the most thorough and complete in the coun- try. It should not be omitted from a sketch of Doctor Strea- tor's life and character that there have been manifested no more pronounced features in both than a strict integrity and high sense of honor. And to this, no doubt, quite as much as to his other sound qualities, is due the enviable degree of success he has attained and the high esteem which he has enjoyed in all communities where he has lived. Doctor and Mrs. Streator have a family of four children-one daughter (the wife of E. B. Thomas, general manager of the Cleve- land, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis Railway), and three sons.
BROWN, ETHAN ALLEN, the fifth governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born on the shore of Long Island Sound, in Fairfield county, Connecticut, July. 4th, 1766, and died at Indianapolis, Indiana, February 24th, 1852. His father, Roger Brown, was an intelligent farmer of wealth, who to secure the advantages of a liberal education for his children employed a teacher of good ability to instruct them at home. Under such tuition, Ethan's quickness of appre- hension and extraordinary memory enabled him to acquire a knowledge of the Latin, Greek and French languages not inferior to that of most college graduates of the present day. Having determined to adopt the profession of a lawyer, he then procured the necessary books and began the study of law at home, at the same time assisting in the labors of his father's farm. After thus acquiring some legal knowledge, he went to New York City and entered the law office of Alex- ander Hamilton who, as lawyer and statesman, had achieved at that time a national reputation. Here he soon won the esteem and friendship of Mr. Hamilton, while, also, he was brought into contact with others of the ablest men of the day, and mingling in the most refined and cultivated society of the city, his mind was developed and stimulated, and he acquired the elegance and polish of manners for which he was remarkable in after life. Diverted from the study of law at this time, he engaged in business by which he obtained very considerable property, when subsequently he again en- tered upon his neglected study, and in 1802 was admitted to practice. Then urged by a love of adventure and a desire to see the principal portions of that State which in that year had been admitted into the Union, he, with a cousin, Captain John Brown, started on horseback and followed the Indian trails from east to west, through middle and western Pennsyl- vania, until they reached Brownsville, on the Monongahela river. Having brought a considerable sum of money with them, they here purchased two flat-bottomed boats, loaded them with flour, and placing crews upon them, started for New Orleans which city they reached in safety, but not being able to sell their cargoes to advantage, they shipped the flour to Liverpool, England, and took passage themselves in the same vessel. There having disposed of their flour at good prices, they returned to America, landing at Baltimore the same year. Then his father wishing to secure a large tract of western land, eventually to make it his home, he empow- ered his son to select and purchase the same, which he pro- ceeded to do, locating it near the present town of Rising Sun,
Indiana, that locality having attracted his attention on his flat boat trip to New Orleans. Hither his father removed from Connecticut in 1814, when that portion of the Northwestern territory which subsequently became Indiana was canvassing delegates to hold a territorial convention. Ten years pre- viously, however, and after securing the land mentioned, Ethan Allen Brown began the practice of law in Cincinnati, where he very soon took a prominent position in the profes- sion, and in receipt of a large income for his professional services. In 1810 he was chosen by the Ohio legislature a judge of the Supreme court of the State, a position he held with distinguished ability during the eight following years, and in 1818 he was elected governor of the State. His ad- ministration is marked for the prosecution and completion of important internal improvements, among the chief of which may be mentioned that important work, the Ohio canal, and which the governor's opponents nick-named "Brown's folly." In 1820 he was reelected, and in 1821 elected to the United States Senate, and served one term with distinction. In 1830 he was appointed minister to Brazil, remaining in that coun- try four years, and giving general satisfaction, when he re- signed and came home. A few months later, at the urgent request of President Andrew Jackson, he accepted the posi- tion of commissioner of public lands, and held the office two years, then retiring finally from public life. Governor Brown never married, and the close of his life was passed among his relatives at Rising Sun. After reaching the age of eighty-two years, with not more than a week's sickness during all the years of his long life, he died suddenly while attending a democratic convention at Indianapolis, and was buried at Rising Sun, near the grave of his father, leaving an enduring record of a useful life.
LARGE, HENRY, an extraordinary mathematician of Southern Ohio and a well-known capitalist, is a native of Ireland, where he was born on the 21st of July, 1817. He is the son of George and Eliza Large, excellent and worthy farmers, who came to America with their son when he was a small boy, landing at Quebec, Canada. It was not decreed, however, that the father should get a footing in the New World, his death occurring shortly after arrival. He left Mrs. Large in very limited circumstances, and with a large family of small children. As soon as he was able to work, Henry Large found employment, assisting his mother and the other members of the family. After a brief time they moved to Ohio, settling in Noble county. His mother pur- chased there a farm of eighty acres, and on it her son, with his brother, labored assiduously until the death of their mother, which occurred in 1863. Mr. Large has never en- joyed any advantages of education, and this fact renders his extraordinary acquirements in mathematics still more won- derful. He has never met with a problem he can not solve, and has often determined upon the solution of one which had previously been given up as impossible by learned men and experts. His gift in this respect is wonderful. It is not the result of instruction-for he knows very few of the rules laid down in the books-but is a God-given faculty, of which he can make no explanation. It is the same gift which distin- guished the great French moralist, essayist, and mathema- tician, Blaise Pascal, or that gave renown to the well-known engineer, Zerah Colburn. The newspapers soon made these wonderful abilities of Mr. Large known, and while he has always avoided publicity, he could not escape it. Problems
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have been sent to him from distant points for solution, and at home no name is so well known. Mr. Large was married early in life to Miss Maria Cleary, who still survives to cheer him. The date of the union was January Ist, 1845. Nine children have been born to them, three of whom are dead. In politics Mr. Large is a pronounced republican, and is strongly pledged to the support of the principles of his party. By his energy, frugality, and excellent executive ability, he has amassed a handsome competency, and is among the representative men of Noble county in brains, wealth, and influence. Eschewing politics so far as regards active par- ticipation in party struggles, he has never accepted office, and could not be prevailed upon to do so. He has no reg- ular connection with any religious denomination, but is in- terested in and contributes largely to the support of the Methodist Episcopal Church of his locality. He is quiet and reserved in manner, and does his work chiefly in the solitude of his home.
BREARE, REV. ROBINSON, of Wilkesville, Vinton county, was born June 17th, 1810, at Addingham, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His father, Thomas Breare, was superintendent of the building operations at the cotton factories at Greenholme, on the river Wharfe. The family removed to Burley, in Wharfdale, in 1813, where young Breare received his education under the superintend- ence of Mr. Charles Farncliffe and Thomas Gill. By early association and hereditary bias he was destined for the cler- ical profession. Having become a member of the Methodist Church, at the early age of seventeen years he commenced to preach. He devoted the next five years of his life to careful study and preparation for the Methodist ministry. In 1832 he was examined before the District Meeting in Leeds, and was recommended as a candidate to the Meth- odist Conference. In July of the same year he passed his final examination before the Wesleyan Missionary Com- mittee, in London. In 1833 he was appointed a missionary to the Zetland or Shetland Isles, where he remained till 1836. In that year, when but twenty-six years of age, he removed to Edinburgh, Scotland, and took charge of the Wesleyan Church in that city. In 1837 he was sent to the Wesleyan Association of the Manchester Circuit. In July, 1839, he was sent by the Association to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and arrived there August 26th, after a voyage of forty-nine days, in the barque Halifax. He received a warm reception from the members of Ebenezer Church of that city. For over two years he had constant and marked success. In November, 1841, a change in his religious views took place. He felt himself obliged to reject the doctrine of endless misery, and accept the doctrine of universal salvation. At a meeting of the trustees of the Church, held December 13th, he made known his change of sentiment. After remon- strance, pleading, and tears on the part of the members of the board, it was resolved, "That on account of the change of sentiment adopted by our minister, Rev. Robinson Breare, he no longer be considered the pastor of this Church, but be forthwith dismissed." On the last Sunday in 1841 he preached his first sermon as a Universalist, in McIntyre's Hall, in the city of Halifax. His labors were very successful, so that on the first Sabbath in January, 1844, he dedicated the first Universalist church ever erected in the British Prov- inces. In 1845 he accepted a call from the Universalist Church at Marblehead, Massachusetts, and there continued
till 1849. Besides his pastoral duties, he edited the Marble- head Mercury, the leading paper of the city. In October, 1849, lie took charge of the Universalist Church at West Scituate, Massachusetts, where he continued to preach till 1853, when he removed to Ohio, and became connected with the Star in the West, then published by the Rev. Mr. Gurley, of Cincinnati. In 1854 he took charge of the Ballou Asso- ciation. In 1857 he moved to Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio, and there remained till 1869, when he removed to Gallipolis. In 1876, being in delicate health, he moved to Haverhill, Massachusetts, and preached in West Haverhill and New- buryport. In 1879 he returned to Ohio, and removed to the village of Wilkesville, where he now resides, preaching there and at Vinton and Middleport. In November, 1867, while in company with Rev. I. D. Williamson, on the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette Railroad, he was severely injured by his train coming in collision with another train. In 1836 he was married to Elizabeth G. Clarke, daughter of Rev. George Clarke, general superintendent of the Shetland Isles. They have three daughters living. The eldest, Mary, is liv- ing with her parents; Elizabeth, wife of James C. Baxter, re- sides in Gallia county ; and the youngest, Grace L., is the wife of A. T. Holcomb, of Portsmouth. Mr. Breare is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, belonging to Chapter and Commandery. He has served as High Priest, and in 1865 was elected Chaplain of the Grand Chapter of Ohio. Mr. Breare, as a pulpit orator, ranks high. He is pleasant, per- suasive, and earnest. His frank and genial manner attracts every one to him, and he is universally esteemed and loved by those who know him. While he is an admirable extem- pore speaker, he usually prepares with great care his dis- courses. He is liberal in his views, and very rarely preaches what is denominated a doctrinal discourse. He preaches the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. He is a man of wonderful energy, and though he has been in the pulpit over fifty years, his natural force is not abated nor his eye dimmed. In his visits to Boston, New York, Cincinnati, and other cities, he is always honored with an invitation to preach, which he accepts, to the pleasure of those who hear him. He has delivered many lectures and addresses which have been published. His brothers, Thomas Breare and Jo- seph R. Breare, followed him to this country, Thomas locat- ing in Lynn, Massachusetts, and Joseph, an attorney, in Ala- bama. He was a delegate to the Charleston Convention, in 1860, and was an officer in the Confederate army. He died during the war. Mr. Breare is compactly built, corpulent but graceful. His face is handsome and attractive; and though over seventy years of age, he seeks and loves the companionship of young men and women. To them he is always charming. He has always been a great reader, not only of religious works, but of history and the current litera- ture of the day.
HOLCOMB, ANSELM T., was born in Mason county, West Virginia, March 14th, 1803, and died at his residence in Vinton, Gallia county, July 14th, 1877. His paternal grand- father was an officer from the State of Connecticut in the Revolutionary war. His father, General Samuel R. Holcombe, in 1804 moved to Gallia county, and commenced the im- provement of a large farm. He was a man of fine address, great force of character, and much sagacity, and at once be- came one of the leading citizens of his county. He frequently represented his district in both branches of the legislature.
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He was an officer in the war of 1812, and was subsequently made major-general of the militia of Southern Ohio. The subject of this sketch, the eldest of the family, was raised on his father's farm. His opportunities for obtaining an educa- tion were limited. Facilities for education at that time were very meager, so that the little schooling obtained by young Holcomb was imparted in a log-cabin by teachers of very moderate acquirements. At the age of twelve he attended a select school at Gallipolis, then under the charge of Hon. Thomas Ewing, who was at that time a young man. The friendship there formed between pupil and teacher continued through life. As a student he was industrious and proficient, and a universal favorite of his young companions. But he was soon called from his studies to the care and manage- ment of his father's farm. Without system or direction, he read all the books of every character that he could borrow, and being blessed with a remarkable memory, the young farmer soon became recognized as the best informed man in the county. He investigated thoroughly every subject, scientific, religious, or political, that came under his observa- tion. He wrote well and he talked well, and had clear and well-defined views upon all the leading questions of the day. He became an active whig politician, with pronounced anti- slavery views. In 1839 he commenced the study of law, and graduated in 1840, at the Cincinnati Law College, at that time under the charge of Hon. Timothy Walker. He im- mediately began the practice of the law, and at once estab- lished a reputation as a sound, safe, and practical lawyer. His knowledge of legal text-books was wide and accurate, and he delighted in giving instruction to the many students who read law in his office. He was elected, in 1845, general of the militia of Gallia, Jackson, and Vinton counties. In 1846 he was chosen a representative to the State legislature, for the counties of Gallia and Jackson, and served three terms. In 1847 the legislature was not able for many weeks to effect a permanent organization, on account of a contest in the election of the three members from Hamilton county. The respective parties organized separately ; the whigs elected General Holcomb speaker, and the democrats, Hon. B. F. Leiter. Each wing for weeks claimed to be the duly organized body, and both, in the same hall, at the same time, held their session. This dead-lock was finally broken by the admission of the three democratic members. In the legislature at this time were George E. Pugh, H. B. Payne, Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite, Judge Wm. Lawrence, Governor Dennison, Alex. Long, Riddle, Burns, Hutchins, and others of State and National reputation. In this body General Holcomb was regarded as one of the leaders. He was instrumental in the formation of Vinton county, to which he gave the name, in honor of his old friend Hon. S. F. Vinton. General Holcomb declined further political honors, and devoted himself to his profession, practicing with suc- cess in Gallia, Jackson, Meigs, and Vinton counties. In 1853, when returning home from attending court, his horse, a large and powerful animal, attempting to jump over a broken bridge, fell upon him, crushing his left leg and very seriously injuring him. He was confined to his room for more than a year, and never recovered from the injuries he received. After the defeat of the whig party in 1852, he was active in the formation of an anti-slavery party, and at once became an ardent republican. In 1855, when anti- slavery principles were obnoxious to the mass of the voters in Southeastern Ohio, he commenced the publication of the
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