USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 36
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which composed the Lake Erie and Western Railway was mainly the result of his personal exertions. He himself built the line from Muncie, Indiana, to Lafayette, Indiana, and com- bined it with that from Lafayette to Bloomington, Illinois. The old Lake Erie and Louisville, running south-west from Fre- mont, Ohio, was then purchased, and the connecting link built between its south-western terminus and Muncie. The through line was thus formed from Sandusky and Muncie to Bloom- ington. Upon the organization of the consolidated company, Mr. Eells became first vice-president, being unable to devote so much time to details of management as the presidency would have involved. In 1879 the same syndicate of capitalists pur- chased twelve thousand five hundred acres of coal lands in Sunday Creek Valley, Perry county, Ohio, and formed the Ohio Central Coal Company. They also constructed the Ohio Cen- tral Railroad, extending from these coal fields to Toledo, Ohio, one hundred and eighty-one miles, with a branch of twenty- nine miles to Columbus. Extensive mines were opened on these lands, and the flourishing villages of Corning and Rend- ville sprang up near the southern terminus of the railroad and at the center of operations in the coal district. Mr. Eells was elected president both of the coal company and of the railroad. Before the line was fairly completed to Toledo, a project was formed to consolidate the Richmond and Alle- ghany Railroad (extending from Richmond, Virginia, west- ward along the valley of the James river two hundred and fifty miles to Clifton Forge in the Alleghanies) with the Ohio Central, by building from Corning southward, crossing the Ohio river at Point Pleasant, and thence via Charleston to a connection with the first named road, making a continuous line from To- ledo, Ohio, to tide-water at Richmond. Mr. Eells took a large interest in this enterprise, and is now with his associates actively engaged in its completion. In addition to his banking and rail- road enterprises, Mr. Eells's business interests have become extensive and diversified. For fifteen years he has been a di- rector in the United States Express Company. He is also director in the Bank of Leadville, of Leadville, Colorado; the American Mining and Smelting Company, of Leadville; the Brown, Bonnell & Company Rolling Mills, at Youngstown, Ohio; the Bucyrus Foundry and Manufacturing Company, at Bucyrus, Ohio ; and in Cleveland, of the Otis Iron and Steel Company, the Woodland Avenue Railroad Company (of which he is vice-president), Cleveland Machine Company (of which he is president), the King Iron Bridge Company, the Whipple Manufacturing Company, the Cleveland Telephone Company, the Conrad Iron Company, the Cleveland Gas- light and Coke Company, the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal Company, and various other companies of lesser conse- quence; besides which he is largely interested in iron and steel companies in Chicago, Chattanooga, Kansas City, and Sandusky. Mr. Eells is widely known as the patron and friend of many institutions devoted to charitable and relig- ious work; is one of the managers of the Cleveland City Hospital, Bethel Relief Association, and Young Men's Chris- tian Association ; is president of the Cleveland Bible Society, and treasurer of the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum. He is a trustee of Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio; of the Lake Erie Female Seminary, at Painesville, Ohio, and of Lane Theological Seminary, at Cincinnati. He is an active mem. ber of the Second Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, of which he has been for many years an elder. Mr. Eells was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary M. Howard, eldest daughter of the late Colonel George A. Howard, of Orwell,
Ashtabula county, Ohio. By her he had two children, How- ard Parmelee and Emma Paige, the latter the wife of Arthur St. John Newberry. His second wife was Miss Mary Witt, daughter of the late Stillman Witt, of Cleveland. Of five children of this marriage only one, Stillman Witt, now about eight years of age. survives. Mr. Eells resides at No. 856 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland.
CROCKER, TIMOTHY DOANE, attorney at law and capitalist, of Cleveland, was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and is one of the few representative men of Cleveland who are natives of the county. He is the son of J. Davis Crocker, formerly of Lee, Massachusetts, and Deborah Doane, daughter of Judge Timothy Doane, originally from Connecti- cut. He comes, on both his father's and mother's side, from two of the oldest families in the country. It is seldom the privilege of the biographer in the United States to be able to give the genealogy of a family. In the present case, the facts and data being in the possession of the writer, and all being of historical value, we shall give a brief synopsis of them. The original Crocker family in this country settled at Cape Cod shortly after the landing of the pilgrim fathers at Ply- mouth Rock. The great-grandfather of Timothy Doane Crocker was a captain in the king's navy before the Revolu- tion, and at one time was a high official on Long Island. under British rule. The son of the captain was one of the leading men of Lee, Massachusetts, in which town he owned a large tract of land, but being urged by his pastor, the Rev Dr. Hyde, and others, to head a colony of emigrants to Ohio he consented to do so, and settled on what is known as the Western Reserve. Before leaving for the new settlement the colony organized a church, of which he was chosen one of the officers. Having disposed of his property in Massachusetts, he purchased large tracts in Euclid and Dover townships, a part of which were afterward sold to early settlers, the residue being divided among his children. The village of Collinwood is now situated on a portion of the former tract, which was extensive and valuable, reaching to the lake, and as far west as the Coit farm. Although quite young at the time of the Revolution, he was in the military service, and was on the staff of General Washington. As an example of his character, the following is worthy of note. The act giving pensions to those who had served in the war was passed, and he was urged by his friends to apply for one. His reply was, "I would never be guilty of receiving reward for services rendered my country in time of peril and need." He was a man of sterling qualities of head and heart and unblemished integrity ; he was well in- formed, and one whose advice was sought from far and near. In those early times a sideboard was esteemed a household necessity, yet no representative of that family was ever known to be a drunkard. He traveled to Ohio in his own private carriage, which was said to be the first pleasure car- riage ever driven through the Reserve, bringing with him his family, among them the father of the subject of our sketch, who at the time was very young, yet even then possessing in a large degree his father's superior qualities. He became the father of four children-Sarah, who married the Rev. E. Adams, an .Episcopal clergyman (of the family of John Adams, of Massachusetts); Mary, who married Judge P. H. Smythe, of Burlington, Iowa (a descendant of the Patrick Henry family, of Virginia); Timothy Doane, and Davis J., a lawyer of Chicago. The heads of the family of Mr. T. D. Crocker's mother, on the paternal side, were, for at least three
J. D. Crocky
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generations, sea captains, owning the vessels they com- manded, and trading to the Indies. John Doane, the founder of the family in this country, crossed the Atlantic in one of the first three vessels that sailed to Plymouth. He came from a very old and renowned English family, many of whose mem- bers became men of distinction, and are alluded to in the "Patronymica Britannica "as "Done"-"a great Cheshire family, whom Omerod designates as 'a race of warriors,' who hold Utkinton (supposed to be the Done of Domesday) as military tenants of Venables from the time of King John. The chiefs of this house will be found in the battle rolls of Agincourt, Bloreheath, and Flodden. . The name is pronounced Döne (o long), and is also spelled Doane by members of the same Cheshire family." He was prominent in the affairs of the colony, and in 1633 was chosen assistant to Governor Winslow. Subsequently he was one of the commissioners chosen to revise the laws. In 1642 he was again chosen to be Governor Winslow's assistant, and for several years he was selected as a deputy in the colony court. Judge Timothy Doane removed from Connecticut to Herkimer county, New York, about 1794. In 1801 he migrated to Euclid, now East Cleveland. With his family he started to make the journey from Buffalo to Cleveland in an open boat, rowed by Indians, landing where night overtook them, re- suming their travels the following day. Near Grand river they saw a storm approaching, and attempted to land, but their boat was swamped; all were, however, providentially saved, and most of their goods fortunately washed ashore during the night. The next morning they procured horses from some settlers in the vicinity, and on horseback, follow- ing the Indian trail, continued their journey to Cleveland, there being then only four log houses where now stands the beautiful city of Cleveland. West of the Cuyahoga river was Indian territory, and Judge Doane found the Indians to be peaceable and good neighbors. They were always received at his house as friends, and on many a night, Indian like, they would wrap themselves in their blankets and sleep around the Judge's cheerful fire. In appreciation of his kindness they would frequently present him with some of the best venison or fish which their skill could procure. At this period the mother of T. D. Crocker was five years old She died November 18th, 1881, at the advanced age of eighty-five. Until her brief illness, which resulted in death, she lived in the full enjoyment of good health, physically and mentally, and was a remarkable woman. Possessing, as she did, so retentive a memory, her mind was stored with the historical facts and important matters pertaining to the city from the time of its being founded, which was only three years previous to her advent in it. During the war of 1812, and during the rebellion of 1861-65, she was very actively employed in giving aid and comfort to the sick and wounded soldiers, and good cheer to those in health. A woman of liberal and intelligent views, of a happy and cheerful disposition, she was beloved by all who knew her. During the first year of the administra- tion of Governor Tiffin, the first Governor of Ohio, he ap- pointed Judge Doane Justice of the Peace. The original commission, now in possession of Mr. Crocker, reads as follows:
"EDWARD TIFFIN, GOVERNOR. In the name and by the author- ity of the State of Ohio.
"To all who shall see These Presents, Greeting :
"Know ye that we have assigned and constituted, and do by these presents constitute and appoint, TIMOTHY DOANE Justice of the Peace for Cleveland Township, in the county of Trum-
bull, agreeably to the laws, statutes and ordinances in such cases made and provided, with all the privileges, emoluments, etc., for three years from the date hereof, and until a succes- sor shall be chosen and qualified.
"In witness whereof, the said EDWARD TIFFIN, Governor of the State of Ohio, hath caused the seal of the said State to be hereunto affixed, at Chillicothe, the 14th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1803, and of the independence of the State of Ohio the first.
" By the Governor, EDWARD TIFFIN. "WM. CREIGHTON, JR., Secretary of State."
[L. S.] (Private seal, the State seal being not yet procured.)
Subsequently Judge Doane served as associate judge for many years. Having thus given this brief family outline, we now come to our more immediate subject, the son of so honor- able an ancestry, Timothy Doane Crocker, who at an early age evinced those traits of character-energy, integrity, and perseverance-which proved to be beacon lights in after life, and have enabled him to attain to his present position. His earliest boyhood was spent on his father's farm, attending the district school. As a boy, he possessed a passion for arith- metic and mathematics. At the age of thirteen he was an accomplished arithmetician, and was able to resolve mentally many of the most difficult problems. From the district school he went to Twinsburg Academy, where his expenses were defrayed by the manual labor he performed, and where undoubtedly, by the habits of industry there imbibed, he laid the foundation of his successful life. Subsequently he at- tended Shaw Academy, and afterward entered Western Reserve College, where he paid the most of his expenses by his own labor, devoting much of his time to the study of science, Latin, and Greek. He was graduated in June, 1843, taking high rank, both in scholarship and deportment, no unfavorable mark having been recorded against him. In 1843 his father died, leaving him as one of the two administra- tors of his estate, a tribute to his ability and judgment. In the same year he became principal of a select school near Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he continued at the same time to prose- cute assiduously his classical and other studies. During his two years and a half stay at Bowling Green he developed a high order of talent as an educator and disciplinarian. In 1846 he returned to Cleveland, and read law in the office of Allen & Stetson for a few months, when he entered the law school of Harvard University, from which he was graduated in 1848, having previously-in 1847-been admitted to prac- tice at the Middlesex (Massachusetts) bar, after a severe ex- amination in open court by Chief Justice Wilds. The same year he returned to Cleveland, and in November again left home, this time for Burlington, Iowa, where he spent the winter in the office of Grimes & Starr, and became thoroughly acquainted with the laws of that State. In March, 1849, he there opened an office, and continued in active practice until 1864, during which time he distinguished himself in many important cases, in which some of the best legal talent of the State were his opponents. His practice increased until it was worth ten thousand dollars a year, an exceedingly large one for a city the size of Burlington; in fact, one of the largest practices in the State. He was attorney for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad from the time it broke ground east of the Mississippi. He was also interested in other railroads as well as plank-roads in that section, and was a stockholder and director in the Burlington Bank. He invested considerable of his professional gains in land, be- coming a large land-owner in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Mich- igan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, all of which has now increased
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very largely in value. The health of his wife demanding a change of residence, he removed his family to Cleveland in 1860, having been married seven years previous, in Septem- ber, 1853, to Eliza P. (the only and accomplished daughter of the late William A. Otis, Esq., one of the leading men of Cleveland), by whom he has had five children, three sons and two daughters. Since closing his legal business (about 1864) the care of his estate has required nearly all the attention he could give to business matters. He has, however, found con- siderable time to devote to the higher objects of life, having been president for several years of the Sabbath-school Union, and superintendent for ten years of the Mission Sabbath- school of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, of which body he was a member. When he took charge of the school it had but eighty members; at the time of his resigna- tion there were one thousand on the roll, seven hundred of whom were regular attendants. The Western Seamen's Friend Society and Bethel were also much indebted to his labor and liberality for their flourishing condition. He is one of the trustees of the Western Reserve College, at Hud- son, in aid of which he has given liberally, and of Mount Union College, of Alliance, Ohio, in which he is the lecturer on political economy, commercial, and international law. During the war for the Union he devoted much time and money to the national cause, and rendered valuable service to the Christian commission on the Potomac. His success in life has undoubtedly been due to great industry, energy, and perseverance, and also to the peculiar and intuitive faculty of seizing the right opportunity at the right moment, together with the foresight to determine accurately the probable result of an undertaking ; being rather a man who makes circumstances than one whom circumstances have made. He has ever enjoyed the confidence, respect, and esteem of his fellow- citizens, and has often been tendered political honors. For six consecutive years he was president of the City Board of Equalization of the city of Cleveland, having been reap- pointed each year. He was a member of the State Board of Equalization, having accepted the appointment after much urgent solicitation, to which office he devoted his time, talents, and energy, frequently working till midnight at his statistics, and was never absent from his place on the board. He was instrumental in reducing the decennial assessment in Cuyahoga county for the year 1880 about five million dollars. This alone reflects high honor on his character and ability. His speech on the subject of the business of the board, de- livered at Columbus, May 4, 1881, was remarkable for its logic, pith, and terseness, showing how thoroughly he grasped and understood his subject. His arguments there (a report of which now lies before the writer), forcible and to the point, were but characteristic of the man. He gained his point, and. the State taxation of Cleveland, whose ratio had been too high, was reduced, he having shown conclusively by actual statistics that it, equitably, should be so reduced. The Cincinnati Enquirer of the following day pays him the tribute of saying, "He is the Gatling gun of the equalizers for elo- quence." Mr. Crocker is one who has never sought political preferment. The Cleveland republican papers of July 25, 1881, published the following open letter:
"CLEVELAND, July 25, 1881.
"HON. T. D. CROCKER :
"Viewing with satisfaction your record as a member of the late State Board of Equalization, and desiring that our county may again have the benefit of your services, we request the
privilege of presenting your name at the approaching con- vention as a candidate for the Senate.
"Very respectfully, MANY REPUBLICANS."
The Herald, in a leading article, says: "We are glad to see such men as Mr. Crocker brought to the front. . We can not have too much good material from which to select senators and representatives who would be an honor to Cuyahoga county, and guardians of her interests." The rec- ord of his past is evidence of what his future will be. He is yet in the prime of life and in the full enjoyment of a vigorous manhood. We may add that the above was re- spectfully declined by Mr. Crocker, very much against the wishes of his friends.
ALLEN, WILLIAM, the twenty-fifth governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born at Edenton, Chowan county, North Carolina, in 1807. By the death of both his parents within a few months of each other, during the first year of his life, he was left an orphan in his infancy, and the care of his childhood devolved on his only sister who, having married soon after the death of her parents, removed to Lynchburg, Virginia, taking her infant brother with her. It is to this ex- cellent woman, mother of Hon. Allen G. Thurman, at present a United States Senator from Ohio, that our subject considers himself indebted for the love and careful expenditure in his support of the small fortune left him by his parents. When he was about fourteen years old, Mrs. Thurman removed with her husband and family to Chillicothe, Ohio, leaving her brother in condition to attend a private school at Lynchburg, but two years afterward he joined her family, and attended the academy at Chillicothe, where he obtained that education that fitted him to enter as a student the law office of Edward King, the most gifted son of Rufus King, of New York, and Revolutionary fame. Admitted to practice in his twentieth year, he entered into partnership with his preceptor, and found his advantage in that acquired ability to address a jury he had so assiduously cultivated. In this, rather than purely legal habits of thought and statement, which make a coun- sellor influential with the court, he excelled; and it is to his forensic power he is mainly indebted for his great popularity and success. Possessed of a tall and commanding figure, with a voice of marvellous magnitude and excellence, his appearance in public discussion generally attracted the peo- ple, and, while yet under what is regarded the Congressional age, caused him to be put in nomination as a candidate for a seat in the national legislature. He entered upon the can- vass with vigor, and in a whig district was eventually elected as the democratic nominee by a majority of one vote. He took his seat in the Twenty-third Congress, and a leading part in its most important discussions, though in point of years the youngest man in it. In January, 1837, at a supper in Colum- bus, on "St. Jackson's day," so-called, and at which were present the candidates for United States Senator, he electri- fied his audience, and, to the surprise of those who did not hear him, was in that month nominated and elected to the seat of Hon. Thomas Ewing. He reached Washington on March 3d, and was sworn in the next day. Before the close of his first term he was reelected, and remained in the Senate until the 4th March, 1849. During those twelve eventful years he had attained the meridian of his powers. For much of the time he was chairman of the committee on foreign re- lations, a position from which he voluntarily retired, and while occupying it his vote and voice ever supported the advanced
Ec Bodman
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views of his constituents. In 1845, he married Mrs. Effie McArthur Coons, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of General Duncan McArthur, who in 1830 was elected gov- ernor of Ohio. She was Mr. Allen's early, true, and only love, and he was her choice among a host of suitors. She inherited the old homestead and large landed property of Governor McArthur, upon which Governor Allen resided with their only daughter, Mrs. Scott, her husband and child- ren. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, now Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Allen died in Washington City, and her husband rode on horseback beside the wagon containing her remains the whole distance to Chillicothe. A gentleman of sterling integrity, most polished manners, high character, and one who never stooped to any of the tricks which have too often dis- tinguished men in public life. In August, 1873, he was, by the party of his life-long fealty, nominated for governor. He made an able and effective canvass, and was the only suc- cessful candidate on his ticket. True to his earnest regard for public integrity, and which had, through the general de- moralization of the war, come to be regarded as something old-fashioned, he recommended the reduction of taxation, and the most rigid economy in all matters of State expendi- ture, and in such recommendation, to use his own language, he did not mean vague and merely verbal economy which public men are so ready to favor, but rather that earnest and inexorable economy which proclaims its existence by accom- plished facts. The first democratic governor elected for many years preceding, and all those years of and succeeding to, the civil war, his administration gave general satisfaction, and he was renominated in 1875, but in common with his ticket generally, he was defeated. He died July 11th, 1879, aged seventy-two years.
BODMAN, EDWARD C., extensive grain-merchant, banker, and capitalist, of Toledo, Ohio, was born March 22d, 1840, in Franklin county, Massachusetts. His parents, Luther and Philena Bodman, who were both natives of the same State, are still living at Northampton, Massachusetts. The Bodman family dates back to a very early day in the history of Massachusetts, having descended from its earliest settlers. Luther Bodman, the father of our subject, is a man widely known, not only throughout his own but other States, both in consequence of his extensive business relations and as a man prominent in public affairs, especially in politics, being a very ardent and influential Democrat. He is at present and has been for many years president of the Hampshire County Na- tional Bank, and likewise of the Hampshire County Savings' Bank, Massachusetts. He is also a large real estate owner in the West, especially in Illinois, where he has carried on for many years a very extensive farm. His whole life has been one of remarkable activity, both in business and in public matters. Though reared in the enjoyment of opulence and its consequent advantages, Mr. Bodman early recognized the fact that every man has an individual duty to perform, and an independent part to act in life. His school education was derived at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massa- chusetts, and at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. At the age of eighteen he entered his father's bank as teller, a position he filled for the two succeeding years. Though thoroughly educated for the banking business, which if he had followed his own inclinations would have been his life vocation, he was (and perhaps wisely) discouraged by his father from continuing in the occupation, and induced to re-
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