USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 47
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of the noted Milburn Wagon Works, established in 1874, in which corporation he has ever since been a stockholder. He is also a stockholder and director in the Toledo Mower and Reaper Company, representing one-seventh of its entire capital. He is likewise a director in the Gendron Iron Wheel Company, which he helped to organize, and also a stockholder in the Union Manufacturing Company, Toledo Moulding Company, Citizen's Electric Light Company, and Tri-state Fair Association, which he largely aided in es- tablishing, and in which he has ever since been director. Mr. Eaton also aided in establishing the Merchants' National Bank, and the Merchants and Clerks' Saving Institution, of Toledo, and has been director of the former twelve years and of the latter eleven years. Thus, and in various ways, he has used his means and energies toward developing the resources of the city, not in one avenue alone, but in all de- partments of trade, manufacture, and public improvement. Besides all these, he is no less distinguished for his active and interested labors in connection with the many institutions of charity and benevolence in his city, which find in him a constant benefactor. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Protestant Orphans' Home, of Toledo. Mr. Eaton has been a member of the First Congregational Church, in charge of Dr. Williams, since 1858, in behalf of which, as well as every thing calculated for social and moral im- provement, his influence is largely enlisted. In politics, he takes but little interest. Although a liberal contributor in behalf of his party (the Republican), during campaigns, etc., he has never sought for political preferment, not even to the acceptance of a municipal office. Mr Eaton is emphatically a self-made man, beginning, as he did, with nothing, in a busi- ness beset on every side with competition, in defiance of which, in a comparatively short period, he has reached the acme of success, and has earned for himself a place in the catalogue of those who have won distinction in their respect- ive vocations. One man who honorably wins name and fame in his chosen avocation by dint of personal effort, aided only by his inborn power to succeed, is entitled to as much credit as another, whether in mercantile life or in statesmanship, in the trades or in the professions. While the statesman may theorize and win a battle of words and ideas, the business man practices his theories and wins a victory of dollars and cents -- that power which rules the world to-day. On March 8, 1861, Mr. Eaton married Miss Mary H., daughter of R. M. and Sophia Shirley, of Goffstown, New Hampshire. The only child (a daughter) born to Mr. and Mrs. Eaton died in 1876, at the age of ten.
YOUNG, SAMUEL M., banker and capitalist, of To- ledo, Ohio, was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, Decem- ber 29th, 1806. He was the son of Samuel Young, a prom- inent architect and builder, who had been a member of the legislature, and was highly esteemed. After receiving an education in the academies of New Hampshire, he read law with John M. Pomeroy, of Burlington, Vermont, and in 1835 removed to Maumee City, Ohio, where he commenced the practice of law. In 1839 he took into partnership Morrison R. Waite (at present Chief Justice of the United States), who had been reading in his office for the previous year, under the firm name of Young & Waite. In 1850, the county-seat having been removed to Toledo, it was found necessary to open an office there, which was done. This partnership con- tinued until 1856, when Mr. Young retired from practice. In
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relinquishing the profession of the law he by no means withdrew . from the active pursuits and duties of life. In 1847 he turned his attention to banking, and in 1855, with others, purchased the Bank of Toledo, a branch of the State Bank of Ohio, and was closely identified with its manage- ment until 1865, at which time the stockholders accepted the provisions of the national banks act, and reorganized as the Toledo National bank. He was chosen president and still fills that position. In 1860 he removed from Maumee City to Toledo. In 1862 he associated with Abner L. Backus, as forwarders and commission merchants, under the name of Young & Backus, and erected extensive grain elevators. The firm is still in existence, doing a heavy and prosperous business. Among other enterprises in which he engaged, was the rebuilding of the Maumee and Perrysburg toll bridge across the Maumee river at Maumee City. Three different times the bridge had been swept away by the ice-freshets, the last time in March, 1849. All the owners except himself were discouraged, and refused to rebuild. He stepped forward, bought their stock, and, at a cost of $36,000, rebuilt the bridge which now stands in good condition. In 1852-53 he took a deep interest in the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, which was then in process of construction, and was a director of the same for a number of years, and until it was consolidated with other roads, forming what is now known as the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. He is also a director and the largest stockholder in the Columbus and Toledo Railroad, now in process of construction. In 1866 he bought in and reorganized the Toledo Gas-Light and Coke Com. pany, and has been its president ever since ; and, also, was one of the originators of the Boody House hotel project, and president of the company that carried its construction for- ward to completion. A decided republican in his political views he took a prominent part in political matters, but would accept no office, with the single exception of a term of two years as the first auditor appointed in the county of Lucas. During the war, he contributed money and worked for the cause of the Union. His religious affiliations are with the Protestant Episcopal church, toward which, and also to char- itable institutions, he has contributed liberally. A self-made man, he has won success by steady, persistent, methodical work. A strong, clear-headed lawyer, he so worked up the points of a case that never was there danger of a client suffering because something had been neglected or not pushed. In 1841 he married Miss Angeline L. Upton, step- daughter of Dr. Conant, of Maumee City, and had four children : Horatio S., bank cashier; Frank I., with the firm of Young & Backus ; Helen E., and Morrison W.
CORWIN, THOMAS, lawyer, statesman, and the twelfth governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 29th, 1794, and died at Washington City, December 18th, 1865. In 1798 his father, Matthias Corwin, who subsequently became a judge, removed his family to what is now known as Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, then a wilderness, and there in a log school house, and taught by a young man named Dunlevy, who subsequently attained some distinction as a lawyer, our subject, while yet a boy, obtained the education now bestowed on children of six or seven years old. In his seventeenth year the war of 1812 was proclaimed, and for want of a more able-bodied driver this lad drove a wagon loaded with provisions for the army to General Harrison's headquarters. This accidental
occurrence became a potent factor in his subsequent pop- ularity. In 1816 he began to study law, and so earnestly did he apply himself that the following year he was examined and admitted to practice. In March, 1818, he was appointed to the office of prosecuting attorney of his county, and until 1830 performed the duties of that office. His public career commenced in 1822 with his election to the legislature of Ohio. He was by this time not only a well-read lawyer, but also a sound reasoner and fluent speaker, and after serving out the term for which he was elected he returned to his law practice, that soon became extensive and prosperous. In 1829 he again allowed himself to be nominated and elected to the Ohio legislature, but the following year, he was, on the whig ticket elected to Congress by a very large vote, and subsequently reelected until he had in all served ten years. In 1840, at a great mass meeting at Columbus, he was, as the whig candidate for governor, nominated and elected, but served one term only. The governorship he never regarded but as a stepping-stone to a better position, the duties of gov- ernor, as he tersely specified them, being, in his opinion, mainly "confined to appointing notaries public and pardon- ing convicts out of the penitentiary." In 1845 he was elected to the United States senate, and until 1850 discharged with distinction the duties of that office. In those troublous years when the subject most exciting to both parties was the insti- tution of human slavery, his views were always clearly enunciated, and especially so in 1847, when his bold speech against the prosecution of the Mexican war delighted the people of the New England States. Had he maintained the stand he then took he would probably in 1852 have been the whig candidate for the presidency; but the courage he then manifested, in denouncing the war with Mexico for the extension of the slave power, was not sustained by any further exhibition of that sentiment which the active element of his party looked to him to make, and by that and subse- quent advocacy of the Wilmot proviso, so-called, he lost the position he had then gained. As a reward for his modera- tion Mr. Fillmore, who was recognized as the representative of those who then were called the "silver gray " whigs, ap- pointed him Secretary of the Treasury, a position that he held until 1852, when he retired to his home and private life among the hills of Warren county. He had now obtained a national reputation, and although regarding Lebanon as his home, he opened an office in Cincinnati. In 1858 the desire for more public life and triumph induced him to again run for Congress, and he was elected, and reelected in 1860. Having participated in the discussions which characterized Congres- sional operations during the months following Mr. Lincoln's election, in manner to please the latter, among his first ap- pointments, he sent the name of the Hon. Thomas Corwin to the Senate for the mission to Mexico, and it was confirmed. On the IIth of April following he embarked for Vera Cruz and thence to the City of Mexico, where during the whole of Mr. Lincoln's first term he served as United States minister and plenipotentiary to the Mexican government, then rather an undecided one, the pretensions of Maximilian and the church party being antagonized by the President Juarez and the party of the people. In April, 1865, Governor Corwin returned to the United States to be, in common with the whole nation, shocked by the assassination of President Lin- coln. He at once opened a law office in Washington City, but had no more than settled down to business in it with some degree of quiet, after the skurry and turmoil of that
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memorable summer and autumn, when he was stricken with apoplexy, and three days afterward ceased to live. Possessed of those talents which command popularity, he was ever re- regarded with affection and kindness by even his opponents, the unquestionable sincerity that characterized his language giving persuasive power to all he said. In Congress he never rose to speak unless he had something important to say, and hence whenever he appeared upon the floor of House or Senate, he commanded attention. In ability to wield the weapons of ridicule and sarcasm he was generally regarded without a rival, but, so greatly did his amiable disposition control those weapons, that even in the most exciting passages of debate he rarely aroused the animosity of his opponents. In private life he had from boyhood exhibited the utmost integrity and purity of character, with, in professional life, a high sense of honor. On November 13th, 1822, he married Miss Sarah Ross, a sister of the Hon. Thomas R. Ross, who served three terms in Congress. This marriage was without issue.
PEEBLES, JOHN G., president of the Portsmouth National Bank, and one of the most prominent citizens in the development of commercial and manufacturing interests in the city of Portsmouth, was born near Chillicothe, Novem- ber 30th, 1813. In 1819 he left the place of his nativity with his parents, John and Margaret Peebles, for Portsmouth, arriving there April 3d on a keel boat, which came down the Scioto River. Here he received his early training, at- tending school until he had reached the age of fourteen years, after which, in the Spring of 1828, he returned to Chillicothe, and entered upon the duties of a clerk for his uncle, John McCoy, who was engaged in the dry goods busi- ness. This he continued for the space of eighteen months, and then returning to Portsmouth assisted his father in the commission and hotel business, making his home in Ports- mouth until 1843, when he removed with his family to Pine Grove Furnace, near Hanging Rock, Ohio. The year follow- ing he accepted the position of manager of Pine Grove Furnace, and was thus employed until 1854. During the ten years that he occupied this position he was economical, and having accumulated some capital was enabled, in part- nership with his brother Joseph S. Peebles and Samuel Coles, to buy out the individual half of Pine Grove Furnace, and also the Hanging Rock Coal Company, which, in 1864, they sold to Thomas W. Means and others. In 1860 Mr. Peebles was elected president of the Iron Bank, of Ironton, at Iron- ton, Ohio, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. James Rogers. This position he ably filled until the organ- ization of the First National Bank of Ironton, when he be- came its president, a position he occupied until after his removal to Portsmouth, in 1865. While living at Pine Grove Furnace Mr. Peebles became interested in the Belfont Iron Works Company, and after his removal to Ironton in the Ashland Coal Company and the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad. As stated above, Mr. Peebles returned with his family to Portsmouth in 1865, and from that date has been most prominent in developing her resources and enhancing her material growth. In 1867 he, in partnership with Messrs. S. G. Johnson and Benjamin B. Gaylord, both of whom are now deceased, built the hub and spoke factory in that place, and subsequently disposed of their interests to Sherman G. Johnson and Josiah H. Roads, a firm which, in 1877, became Johnson Brothers, and in 1880 Johnson & Son. He also was
a stockholder in the Portsmouth National Bank from its in- fancy, later becoming a director, and in 1875, upon the demise of Mr. George Johnson, whose sketch may be found elsewhere in this work, he was elected its president, a position he has filled with credit and distinction ever since. Mr. Peebles is also connected with various other enterprises, and his great success is due to his fine executive ability, keen insight into business affairs, and the faculty of grasping the right oppor- tunity at the right moment, and the power to determine, with great accuracy, the result of a business undertaking. Mr. Peebles has avoided all official positions, and though solicited has never accepted any office in the gift of the people. In his political affiliations he has been a republican since the organization of that party, and was an old line whig pre- viously. For a number of years he has been connected, as a member, with the First Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth, and has contributed liberally of his means toward its support. Mr. Peebles was married June 10, 1835, to Miss Martha Rose Steele, daughter of Robert and Martha Rose Steele, of Phil- adelphia. Nine children were born to them, five of whom survive, three sons and two daughters, namely: Robert, who is engaged at Ashland, Ky .; John, of the wholesale firm of Reed & Peebles, of Portsmouth, Ohio; Richard R., who is associated with the firm of Peebles, Terry & Co., and Mar- garet J. and Mary E., who reside at home. Mr. Peebles is a gentleman of shrewd observation and extensive business knowledge, While his tastes are elegant and refined, and his disposition frank and generous, he is very positive in his convictions and decided in his views, and when once his opinions as to duty are formed he is immovable. This posi- tiveness of character has sometimes made him enemies, but even such have found something to admire in his consistent upright life and sterling integrity. In business matters Mr. Peebles is always prompt, and has never allowed his obliga- tions to be unfulfilled. In appearance he is dignified and commanding, and takes rank among Portsmouth's most dis- tinguished citizens. He has a beautiful residence, situated on the corner of Second and Washington Streets, Portsmouth, where he and his accomplished family reside, surrounded by every evidence of refinement and wealth.
RICKOFF, ANDREW J., A. M., superintendent of public instruction, Cleveland, was born August 23d, 1824, near Newhope, New Jersey, a small village lying between Trenton and New Brunswick. His parents removed to Cin- cinnati when he was only about six years of age. Here he attended successively the public schools, Woodward High- school, and Woodward College. Having completed the studies of the high-school, he commenced the collegiate course, but soon withdrew to enter upon the career of a teacher, which he has followed from that time to this. He was then less than seventeen years of age. With so limited a preparation for his duties, he had to complete his educa- tion by many years of assiduous study after he had begun his labors in the schoolroom as a teacher. But having a strong constitution he was able to do an amount of work which few have been able to accomplish. For many years during this period of his life he was accustomed to allow him- self but six hours per day for sleep. While thus carrying on his private studies, he seldom permitted himself to go before his classes without so thorough a review of the sub- ject before them that he was able to conduct their recita- tions without reference to the text-books. Thus he acquired
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the reputation of an indefatigable laborer in whatsoever was set before him to do. By means of such application to study he won from the Ohio State University at Athens the degree of A. M. This in brief was the career of Mr. Rickoff as a student. As a teacher his history may be presented in chronological order, as follows : He commenced teaching in 1840, and after being engaged for a few years in the coun- try schools in the vicinity of Cincinnati, he was invited to take charge of the schools of Portsmouth, Scioto county, Ohio, as superintendent. Here he remained five years, at the end of which time, August, 1849, he received an appoint- ment in one of the public schools of Cincinnati, the same that he had attended for a while when a young boy. Here he served as assistant one year, at the end of which he received an appointment to his old position at Portsmouth. This he at first accepted, but afterwards declined, to take the principalship of the school in which he was then engaged. This post he held a little more than two years, when he was appointed superintendent of schools by the board of trustees and visitors, being the first one to receive such an appoint- ment from the board, the two superintendents who had pre- ceded him having been elected by popular vote. Having filled this office five years, he established a private school for the sake of the better pay which it afforded. For the suc- ceeding nine years (1858-1867) his attention was mainly con- fined to this work. But during that time he remained upon the board of examiners of teachers for the city, and in 1864 was elected from the First Ward to the Board of Education, and in the following year to the presidency of that body on the retirement of the Hon. Rufus King, who had occupied the chair for fourteen years. He remained in the board only two years. In July, 1867, without his knowledge or consent, and during his absence from the city, the board again elected him to the superintendency of the schools, the proposed salary being more than double that which he had previously received. But shortly after, on returning to the city, he declined the flattering offer and advertised the open- ing of his own school for the following September. In less than six weeks, however, he was offered the superintend- ency of the schools of Cleveland at a salary of $4,000, more than twice the salary then paid by any city having a population less than double that of Cleveland. This he ac- cepted and held for fifteen years. In the winter of 1849-50 Mr. Rickoff became a member of the Ohio State Teachers' Association, and was elected to the presidency of that body in 1855, presiding at the sessions held in Cleveland the fol- lowing summer, and at Columbus in the winter of 1856-57. He became a member of the National Teachers' Association in 1859, and was elected to the presidency in the same year, presiding at the session in 1860, held at Washington, D. C. In 1880 he was elected a member of the National Council of Education, which is limited to fifty-two members, all repre- sentative men in their profession. They receive their appoint- ment from the National Teachers' Association. In 1881 he was made a life director. For several years he was president of the Ohio State board of examiners of teachers, which had been established by legislative enactment, for the purpose of examining and issuing life-certificates to those who, by their scholarly attainments and success as practical teachers and superintendents, had won the right to such honorable dis- tinction. As a member and as chairman of successive ex- ecutive committees, Mr. Rickoff has had great influence in directing the proceedings and moulding the character of the
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educational associations with which he has been connected. For many years he was a member and regular attendant upon the meetings of the " Round Table Convention," as it was called, which was never composed of more than five or six members, among wliom were J. L. Pickard, then superin- tendent of schools in Chicago ; W. T. Harris, superintendent of schools for St. Louis, and John Hancock, superintendent of the Cincinnati schools. It was the custom of these gen- tlemen to meet annually in one of the cities named, or at intermediate points, for the purpose of discussing the educa- tional problems of the day more fully and freely than was possible in the larger assemblies of their profession. The society (so-called, it was without constitution or by-laws) de- rived its name from the fact that its meetings were held in the private parlors of the hotels at which the members were staying for the time. All reporters were excluded from these meetings. To the thorough and exhaustive discussions of this association, ranging as they did over almost every point of school organization, instruction, and discipline, the progress, uniformity, and high standing of the Western schools may be justly attributed. Mr. Rickoff is never satisfied with what has been attained in educational affairs. During this active service of more than forty years as a teacher and school manager, he has been an indefatigable student in all matters pertaining to his profession. Probably there are not more than two other libraries in the United States which are as complete as his in works pertaining to education ; one is the library of the National Bureau of Education, at Wash- ington, and the other that of the Hon. Henry Barnard, at Hartford, Connecticut. As he puts it himself, he " is a skep- tic in education," believing that the practical results of our present systems of public and private education are far from what they should and might be; but, being sanguine of the future, he has been recognized for many years as one of the foremost among educational reformers. On this point we make the following extract from the " History of Education in the State of Ohio," published by authority of the General Assembly, 1876:
"No man in Ohio has studied more thoroughly the classifi- cation of schools and done more during the last twenty years to bring about the degree of perfection which has been at- tained in the present system of grading than Mr. A. J. Rick- off, now superintendent of the Cleveland schools. Mr. Rick- off's attention was called to this important subject when, in 1854, he was superintendent of the public schools of Cincin- nati. Soon after he entered upon the duties of his office he made a report on the expediency of organizing grammar schools, as a part of the school system, intermediate between the district and high schools. . . . In this able report he de- fines classification to be 'the arrangement of pupils according to proficiency and capacity for study into grades, classes, or divisions. That system of schools is most nearly perfect which enables us to secure the nicest classification. It is at once the most economical and the most efficient-the most economical because it gives the greatest possible number of pupils to the teacher, and the most efficient because it gives to each pupil the greatest possible share of the teacher's time and labor.' In accordance with this plan, which differed in many points from any plan previously adopted and on his recommendation, the grade known as the intermediate in the Cincinnati schools was established. So perfect was the grad- ing and classification of these schools at this time that few essential changes have since been found necessary."
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