USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 21
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Gallia Republican, Already known as a ready and forcible writer, his paper at once obtained a wide circulation. He- continued its publication for three years, and saw the party which in 1855 had given but three hundred and fifty votes in his county increase its vote to nearly three thousand. His lameness and corpulency prevented him, in a great measure, from attending the sessions of the courts, and he relinquished the practice of the law in all the counties ex- cept Gallia and Jackson, and devoted himself to the super- intendence of his farms. In 1871, while on a visit to his brother, John E. Holcomb, in Missouri, in the law office of his nephews, he fell heavily to the floor with a stroke of paralysis. He was brought home in a comparatively help- less condition, and from that time was never able to transact business. After six years of quiet passed with friends and relatives, he died at his residence, July 14th, 1877, and was buried with Masonic honors. General Holcomb was a man of strong good sense, and his mind was stored with useful knowledge. He had clear, decided views, in the expression of which he was bold and fearless. He never " paltered in a double sense," and possessed none of the arts of the politician. As a speaker he was argumentative ; his lan- guage was strong and forcible, and he went at once to the marrow of every subject he discussed. As a writer he was exact and concise, and his powers of ridicule and sarcasm were unequalled. His literary taste was good, and he com- mitted to memory the choicest selections of the poets. No man could be more familiar with Shakespeare and the Bible than he was. As he had a great fund of humor and was an admirable story-teller, he became noted as a conversational- ist. A leading lawyer recently said of him, that " at home or abroad, General Holcomb, in every company, was the center of attraction-when he commenced to talk all became attentive listeners." He was one of the leading Masons of the State, and until disabled, was a regular attendant upon the meetings of the grand bodies. He was a man of fine presence. His head was large, with a strongly-marked but attractive expression of countenance. He was erect, and in his youth well proportioned and graceful. He was large- hearted, and always kept an open house. His home was always an asylum to the poor ; the orphan found in him a friend, and many were taken in tender years and by him raised to lives of honor and usefulness. His heart was as large as his brain. He married in early life Miss Esther Matthews, with whom he lived happily more than forty years. Their only child died when a few years old. His wife, in all the relations of life, as wife, friend, and neighbor, was a most exemplary woman. She died in 1869.
CURTIS, HOSMER, lawyer, born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on the 29th July, 1788, was the eldest son of Zarah Curtis, a pioneer of Licking County, Ohio, who was a revolutionary soldier, and officer in Colonel Sheldon's Regi- ment of Dragoons, of the Connecticut line. On his mother's side, the subject of this sketch was allied to the Hosmers and Yales of Connecticut. In 1809 his father's family removed to Ohio, and settled at Newark. After a few years employed in school-teaching and completing his course of education, he entered upon the study of the law, under the preceptor- ship, first, of Edward Herrick, afterward of Jeremiah Munson (both eminent in their profession at that day), and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1813. He prepared his first brief in a little frame office that stood where the Newark market-house
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now stands. The next year he served in the campaign for the relief of Fort Meigs, under General Harrison, and in the fall of 1814, married Miss Eleanor Melick, of Pennsylvania, a lady of distinguished excellence of character, and the mother of all his children, except the youngest, Samuel P. Curtis (now deceased), who was a son by a second marriage. In 1815 he removed to Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, where for many years he was the leading resident lawyer, and prosecuting attorney for the county. And as nearly all the younger members of the bar resident of the county, for the first fifteen or twenty years, were pupils from his office, he became generally recognized as "the father of the bar." He continued in full practice in Knox County forty-two years, and for a considerable part of that time (as was then the custom), he also regularly attended the courts of the adjoin- ing counties, and the United States Courts, at Columbus. His great industry and indefatigable labor in the preparation of his cases established his reputation for a clear knowledge of the principles of the common law, and his probity of char- acter always insured him earnest attention and the highest confidence and respect of both court and jury. In 1822-3 he represented his county in the State Legislature, and held many other important offices and public trusts, in all of which, as also in the large interests of his clients, which in so long a period of practice came under his care, his character for hon- esty and fidelity was ever prominent. In 1857 Mr. Curtis re- moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where several of his children had previously settled, and there, in connection with Mr. Gilmore, resumed the practice of law, which he continued to pursue several years, when, finding a nervous infirmity growing upon him, about 1867, he retired from all professional en- gagements. Naturally of strong mental powers, cultivated by philosophic research and study, he was distinguished, in the days of his best vigor, for his capacity in abstruse spec- ulation and close analytical investigation of every subject presented to him for consideration. He accepted no conclu- sion without weighing all the facts for or against the propo- sition or theory. These traits marked his character through- out all his professional career, and the aspiration inscribed on the fly-leaf of his first law book, "God preserve my mental vigor," seemed to be mercifully granted to him to the close of his life. He died at Keokuk, Iowa, on the 14th May, 1874, ripe in years and the honors of a well-spent life. Of his sur- viving children, Henry H. Curtis resides at St. Louis ; J. Laf. Curtis, banker, at Chicago ; Charles R. S. Curtis, physician, at Quincy, Illinois; and his daughter Eleanor, widow of Cap- tain Uzziel Stevens, deceased, at Mount Vernon, Ohio.
HAYNES, GEORGE RANDOLPH, lawyer, of Toledo, was born at Monson, Massachusetts, January 24th, 1828. His parents were both of English descent. George Haynes, his father, was born at Brinsfield, Massachusetts, and his mother, Mary D. Haynes, near Hartford, Connecticut. The family removed to Ohio in 1836, and settled upon a farm in Bronson township, Huron county. In this place the children were reared. In 1863, the father (aged sixty) and two daugh- ters and a son, sisters and a brother of George R., with other near relatives, fell victims to an epidemic in the form of spotted and typhoid fever, which raged in that locality. The mother is still living, at the age of seventy-six, active and in possession of a well-preserved constitution. Mr. Haynes's early education was begun in the village school in his native town in Massachusetts, so that by the time he was compelled
to accept Ohio, with its meager opportunities, in exchange for the old New England State and its well-taught schools, he could thank Massachusetts for a good education for a lad of his years. However, advantage was taken of the schools in his newly-adopted State, the boy attending their winter and summer terms till he had reached the age of twelve. From that time till he was seventeen he went only during the winters, remaining at home the rest of the year, assisting his father with the labors of the farm. By this time he had acquired a pretty fair knowledge of the common branches, so that he was sent to Norwalk, Ohio, to attend the academy, where he remained till the age of twenty-two, teaching school occasionally during those five years. By this means he not only aided himself financially, but also well fixed in his mind what he had acquired in the class- room, giving him experience and self-reliance, thus fitting him more thoroughly for the duties that were about to de- volve upon him throughout his active professional career. After completing his school education, he entered the law office of John Whitbeck, at Norwalk, where he stayed one year, whence he went to Fremont, Ohio, entering the office of L. B. Otis (now of Chicago), remaining there till Jan- uary Ist, 1852. He was then admitted to the bar. Shortly after this Mr. Haynes opened a law office at Fremont, practicing there till 1854, having, by appointment, filled the office of prosecuting attorney for that county one year. He has, since 1854, been constantly engaged in the practice of law in Toledo, Ohio, and at present, and for some years past, has been a member of the firm known as Haynes & Potter. From 1861 to 1864 he was prosecuting attorney of Lucas county, and has since held the office of city solic- itor, having filled both positions with honor to himself and entire satisfaction to the people. Though Mr. Haynes has always taken a very active part in politics, occupying the stump during campaigns, and being a popular political speaker, he has never sought political preferment, always re- fusing the use of his name as a candidate for office, although repeatedly urged by his friends to become a candidate for Congress. Against his own protest his friends, in 1872. at the Congressional convention held at Toledo, put him forward, and very nearly secured his nomination, Mr. Haynes feeling very much gratified at the result. At the same con. vention he was chosen a candidate for presidential elector. He has been a delegate several times to State conven- tions. As a lawyer he stands high. The success which he has attained, and the high regard and esteem in which he is held by his brother attorneys and fellow-citizens, all speak for his ability and sterling qualities. He is a man who by nature as well as by culture is a perfect gentleman ; scrupu- lously conscientious in all his dealings and relations ; pos- sessed of the coolest judgment, never allowing any thing which may arise in the trial of a case to unman him, and never arriving at conclusions without due consideration These qualities, combined with his unquestioned honesty, candor, and fairness, bring conviction from a jury and carry weight with the court. The fidelity with which he guards his honor in the performance of the duties intrusted to him, joined with his known ability as an advocate, have secured to him a very large and growing practice. Socially, Mr. Haynes is enterprising and liberal, taking an active part in all commendable social enterprises. He is a man of most excellent social habits, having the esteem of all who know him. He has been an active member and liberal
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supporter of the Congregational Church since 1863. Polit- ically, he was first a democrat, having voted that ticket from 1851 to 1855; casting his first vote in behalf of the repub- lican party for Fremont. It is needless to say that Mr. Haynes is now, and has been since that time, a zealous sup- porter of the republican party. He was married October 14th, 1857, to Anne Raymond, a native of New York. They have had four children, but only two little daughters are now living.
MCARTHUR, DUNCAN, the eighth governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born in Dutchess county, New York, in 1772, and died at his home near Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1840. When a child his parents removed to a wilderness home in western Pennsylvania, and there, by subsequently spending a few weeks in school, the subject of our sketch contrived to pick up the rudiments of a common school edu- cation. With this acquirement he attained his eighteenth year, and then enlisted under General Harmar for his cam- paign against the Indians north of the Ohio river. Barely surviving that disastrous succession of hide and seek warfare in 1792, he again enlisted, and at the battle of Captina, in what is now Belmont county, Ohio, he took a conspicuous part. The company commander having been killed early in the action, Duncan McArthur, the youngest man in it, was chosen to command his company, and his conduct was such as to merit the hearty applause of his associates. He exhib- ited good military judgment, and directed the movements of his men in such manner as to protect them from the enemy's fire. When the order was finally given to retreat, he ordered the wounded to be carried in advance while his gallant little band covered the retreat. This fight made him the admiration of frontiersmen. After his term of service expired, he hired himself to work at salt-making in Maysville, Kentucky, and afterward, looking for a job wherever he went, he engaged as a chain-bearer to assist General Massie to`survey the Scioto valley. In this business he was often employed to watch the movements of the Indians, and report the same. This was a species of engagement that required the greatest sagacity, coolness, and bravery, and so well did he acquit himself that subsequently, with three others, he was appointed to patrol the Kentucky side of the Ohio river, and watch and give the alarm to the occupants of scattered cabins on that side, when Indians in bands crossed to raid upon them. After spending the summer of 1793 in this occupation, Captain McArthur again engaged in the service of General Massie, as assistant surveyor, and in this employment occupied several years. He assisted in platting the city of Chillicothe, among other works of this kind done by him, and there, just north of the town, purchased a large tract of land which subsequently be- came and is to-day a very valuable estate, occupied by his son-in-law, Governor William Allen. His acquaintance thus acquired with the best lands in the Scioto valley, enabled Captain McArthur to make investments which were very profitable, and with increasing wealth and reputation, and ever-growing confidence in his own abilities, he began to feel ambitious of political distinction. In 1805 he was elected to the State legislature, where his common sense and industry enabled him to take, from the beginning, a very satisfactory position. In the military organization of the State he took, as a soldier of previous years, much interest, and rose in rank until he became a major-general of militia. As colonel of one of the Ohio regiments, in 1813 he accompanied General
Hull to Detroit, and became in the expedition second in com- mand. When Hull surrendered, Colonel McArthur became a prisoner to the English force, but, released on parole, he returned to Ohio, greatly exasperated by his commanding officer's incompetence. Shortly afterward he was elected to Congress, by an unprecedented majority, on the democratic ticket, succeeding the Hon. Jeremiah Morrow, but being re- leased by exchange from parole, he resigned his seat as a member of Congress, and reentered the army as a brigadier- general under General Harrison, and the next year succeeded him in command of the Northwestern army. He proved an able and gallant officer, defeating, at the battle of Malcolm's mills, the British force he there fought, with, on their side, great loss. Peace proclaimed, General McArthur retired to his farm, but he was immediately returned to the State legis- lature, and made commissioner to the Indians at Detroit, Fort Meigs, and St. Marys, by appointment of the President, and for three years was thus engaged. Subsequently after filling several State offices, he in 1822 was again sent to Con- gress from the Chillicothe district, and served one term, but declined reëlection, having resolved to devote his attention to his long neglected private affairs. He was then a man of large wealth, and his business in iron furnaces, mills, and real estate very extensive. In 1830 he was elected governor, and the two years of his administration passed tranquilly in the ordinary routine of business, and then, weary of public life, he retired to his beautiful farm and homestead, called "Fruit Hill," near Chillicothe.
GIDDINGS, JOSHUA REED, statesman, was born at Athens, Pennsylvania, in 1795, and died May 27th, 1864, at Montreal, Ontario. His ancestors were originally from New England, to which they emigrated about the middle of the seventeenth century. During his infancy, his parents moved to Canandaigua, New York, and afterward to Wayne town- ship, Ashtabula county, Ohio, where they settled permanently in 1805, three years after Ohio had been admitted into the Union as a State. The family was a good specimen of those early emigrants, whose enterprise, morality, and intelligence contributed to the growth of civilization in the Western Re- serve. The youth of young Joshua was spent in clearing and cultivating the virgin soil. His pioneer and agricultural toils gave full scope for the display of his great physical vigor ; while in running and other feats of activity, he rarely or never found an equal. At the same time, all his intermissions from labor were spent in reading and study, and he endeavored to profit by all the advantages placed within his reach for men- tal improvement. In the war of 1812, young Giddings, though under military age, entered the militia as a volunteer, and took part in a very sharp action near Sandusky Penin- sula. But Perry's naval victory on Lake Erie, together witlı the retreat, defeat and capture of Proctor's army, averted the storms of war from northern Ohio, and contributed much to secure, soon afterward, the blessings of an honorable peace. At the age of nineteen years, young Joshua had acquired the reputation of a scholar; his love of books was manifested by the late hours spent by him in reading, and afterward, like many young men of the Western Reserve who became em- inent, he taught school for several winters. In 1821, he commenced the study of law with the celebrated Elisha Whit- tlesey, in whose office Senator Wade and other members of the bar obtained a knowledge of the legal profession. The time which Giddings spent in his studies, before he was ad-
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mitted to practice, was uncommonly short, evidently showing his great genius and application. With the powers of mind and of body which had carried him through the difficulties of early life, he now started forth under better auspices to par- ticipate in the political affairs of the world, and to make an enduring mark in the destinies of his country. In 1826, he was elected a member of the Ohio house of representatives, but he declined being a candidate for the office in 1827. He was nominated for the Ohio senate in 1828, but the election resulted in his defeat-the only one which he ever received when his claims were presented to the people. In 1838, he was elected representative to Congress, and this high position he held for more than twenty years. In politics, he was a whig until 1848, when he aided to organize the Free-soil party in Ohio, Massachusetts, and other States. His stern abolition principles are said to have been first impressed on his mind by Theodore Weld, who made a tour through Ohio in 1836 or 1837, and in public speeches exposed the evils of slavery. The impressions which Giddings received from this agitation of the question, were much strengthened when he resided in Washington, and saw the slave traffic displayed in its most revolting and inhuman forms, as the slave pen and prison were within sight of the capitol. It was in March, 1842, that his opposition to slavery assumed a most decided form in the House of Representatives. About five months previously, a cargo of slaves, shipped on board the "Creole," took posses- sion of that vessel and made their way to Nassau, where they were received and sheltered as freedmen. In the debate on the subject, Mr. Giddings defended the course of the negroes in asserting their freedom, and opposed the demand which had been made on the British government for compensation. For his declaration in this case he received a vote of censure, without being permitted to obtain a hearing. He immedi- ately resigned his seat, and, repairing to his constituents, was reëlected by a large majority, so that, in the conviction of having done his duty, he was strengthened by the calm judg- ment of the independent voters whom he represented. His subsequent attacks on the favorite institution of the South were very severe; and though the Abolition party blamed him much for supporting Henry Clay, they soon found that he was the most steadfast friend of their cause. His philan- thropic efforts in behalf of over one hundred slaves who, after an unsuccessful attempt at freedom, were imprisoned at Washington, drew upon him demonstrations of mob violence ; but, by his stern demeanor, he repressed the storm of pas- sion and prejudice which seemed to threaten his destruction. This disgraceful eruption of popular rage took place in April, 1847. A very critical period was then on the eve of its com- mencement. The war with Mexico was at first supposed to contribute chiefly to the interest and power of the South, but as it closed soon afterward, with results which seemed favor- able for Northern ascendency, jealousy and hostile feelings gradually arose between both sections. The fugitive slave law, the abuses in its enforcement, and the disorders in Kansas and Nebraska, tended much to widen the breach between the North and South. In the winter of 1855-56, about three weeks were spent in unsuccessful attempts to elect a speaker, and ultimately Banks was elected. In the political campaign for the election of President in 1856, Giddings took an active part in favor of the free-soil movement. He remained in Congress until the 4th March, 1859, when he retired from its turbulent political scenes to the tranquillity of his home in the Western Reserve. On the breaking out of the civil war, he
was appointed consul-general to the British Provinces, in which position he remained until his death. Mr. Giddings' oratorical powers required great occasions and incentives to call them into successful action. In the absence of a proper stimulus, he seemed defective in fluency as well as the power of imagination ; but on great questions, under the influence of intense convictions, or when inflamed by opposition, he was always effective, and fully sustained the reputation of an orator. Mr. Giddings also obtained considerable reputation as an author. In 1858, appeared his "Exiles of Florida," a beautiful and affecting historical sketch of the fortunes and fates of the runaway slaves who took refuge with the Semi- noles. The last years of his life were employed in the pro- duction of his "History of the Rebellion, its Authors and Causes." In both works he has well sustained the character of a vigorous and interesting writer. He married, in 1819, Miss Laura Waters, daughter of Hiram Waters, of Granby, Connecticut, and left two sons: Joseph Addison Giddings, a lawyer and gentleman of culture and literary ability, who, after practicing law for a time with his father, was elected probate judge, and served as such for six years. He after- ward engaged in stock-raising on an extensive scale. He edited the Ashtabula Sentinel for some time, and was a pro- nounced Unionist during the war of Secession. In 1854, he married Mary A. Curtis, of Ashtabula, and they had four children. His brother, Colonel G. R. Giddings, served with bravery and distinction throughout the war for the preserva- tion of the Union, and sacrificed his life in the cause of his country.
Ross, MATTHIAS BALDWIN, merchant, was born in Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, August 4th, 1808. He received his education in the Lebanon school, and was a contemporary with the late lamented statesman, Thomas Cor- win. At the age of fifteen he repaired to Cincinnati, and for some two years was clerk in the store of the late George Graham. The next two years were passed as clerk for his father, under Judge McLean, in the post-office department in Washington City. In 1829 he came to Portsmouth and em- barked in the dry-goods trade. Upon the completion of the Ohio canal, in 1832, he relinquished that occupation and engaged in the wholesale grocery and general commission business, and so continued until 1845, when he removed to Cincinnati, and engaged in the same line of trade, in connec- tion with his brother, J. W. Ross, still retaining his interest in the Portsmouth house. In 1869 he left mercantile business and repaired to New Orleans, where he became general agent for the Erie and Atlantic and Great Western railroads, but fell a victim to yellow fever, and died September 20th, 1878. He was a remarkably well preserved, fine looking man for his age, and a kind, noble-hearted husband and father. Both as a business man and a citizen he was greatly respected for his scrupulous honesty and purity of life. On June 29th, 1843, he married Elizabeth D., daughter of Samuel M. Tracy, of Portsmouth. His widow and a daughter, Miss Alice Tracy Ross, survive him, and reside in Portsmouth.
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