USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 73
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words of sympathy for the unfortunate and afflicted. These vastly outnumber those whose plans were frustrated by his im- perious will. He was a consistent member of the First Congre- gational Church, of Cincinnati. While living at Glendale he contributed liberally toward the construction of the new Pres- byterian church, and to the support of its ministers. In all Church and charitable enterprises he was among the foremost in his contributions. He married Mrs. Amelia E. Jenkins, December Ist, 1852, at Cincinnati. She was a daughter of the late Zephaniah Platt, Esq. The last years of their mar- ried life were spent in their beautiful home on Greenville Avenue, in Glendale, abounding in evidences of wealth and refinement. . The splendid library collected by Mr. McLaren in his lifetime, numbering over two thousand volumes, is still there, as an evidence of his love of literature and his apprecia- tion of the labors of others in the generally unremunerative field of authorship. Two sons of this marriage survive him : Daniel, born April 22d, 1855, at Cincinnati. He graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, in 1878, and is now superintendent of the Cincinnati, Selma and Mobile Rail- road. He married Miss Lucy Gano Cunningham, daughter of the late James F. Cunningham. John Platt McLaren, the other son, was born February Ioth, 1857, and graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1877. He is now living with his mother in the homestead at Glendale. There is also one step-daughter, Frances R. Jenkins, the wife of S. A. Mc- Cune, Esq., for several years mayor of Glendale. The death of Mr. McLaren, September 9th, 1875, produced a profound sensation in business and social circles. His funeral was one of the largest ever held in this locality. Twenty-two closely crowded passenger-cars conveyed lodges of the I. O. O. F. and Masonic fraternities and friends of the deceased to Glendale, and seven cars from Dayton and Hamilton were similarly laden. The Dayton delegation was accompanied by the Knights Templar band, and the Cin- cinnati delegation by the Germania band. Glendale, in the vicinity of the railroad, was thronged with people. There were a thousand or more around the depot, of whom many were employes of the railroad ; hundreds in the streets, and other hundreds in the vicinity of the late dwelling of the deceased, and on the lawn. The Rev. W. H. Babbitt, pastor of the Glendale Presbyterian Church, conducted the exercises at the house. After prayer, singing, and the reading of an appropriate chapter
of Scripture, the clergyman delivered a short address upon the religious life of the deceased, his character, and successes in busi- ness. The Rev. Eben Halley, of the Seventh Street Congre- gational Church, Cincinnati, recited some incidents of his rela- tion toward the deceased as pastor six or seven years be- fore. Rev. Henry D. Moore, of the Tabernacle Congregation, offered a most impressive prayer, which closed the exer- cises. The body was then conveyed by hearse through the grounds to the train drawn up in front, and placed in an express car, near the forward part of the train, the following gentlemen acting as pall-bearers: H. W. Hughes, Robert Clarke, F. H. Short, J. W. Hartwell, William Cullen, John H. Weller-and the following as representatives of the societies of which the deceased was a member: I. O. O. F., Henry E. Porter, John P. Moore; Masonic, Thomas McLean and Henry Kessler, of Lafayette Blue Lodge; Charles Brown and John E. Bell, 33°; John Evans and Henry Martin, Knights Templar. It is estimated that the train from Glendale carried over two thousand persons to the cemetery. It was drawn by the powerful locomotive, "D. McLaren," draped in mourning,
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and, with the great load, moved slowly to the cemetery. An idea of the length of a train of thirty cars may be formed from the statement that when the rear of the train was leav- ing Lockland Station the locomotive had passed Maplewood. The cortege halted at the public vault, where the solemnn and impressive services of the respective orders were con- ducted by John P. Moore, head of the I. O. O. F., and J. B. Peaslee, of the F. and A. M., assisted by the Revs. Richard Gray, Henry D. Moore, and Eben Halley. At the close, the touching ceremony, peculiar to the Scottish Rite, of present- ing the ring worn by the deceased, as member of that degree, to his nearest friend, took place. The presentation was made by Mr. E. T. Carson, to Daniel McLaren, eldest son of the deceased. The body was placed in the vault, and the solemn ceremonies, conducted in the last glimmer of the western light, were brought to a close just as the great shadows in gloomy somberness wrapped the entire scene.
HART, CHARLES PORTER, M. D., was born at Norwich, Connecticut, April 17th, 1829. His grandfather was Dr. Jonathan Hart, who served his country in the War of 1776. His father, Dr. Eliphaz Hart, was also a physician, and distinguished himself in the War of 1812. His mother was Elizabeth Armstrong, of Newport, Rhode Island, a woman of noble Christian character, whose memory is still fragrant in the community where she lived and died. The doctor's an- cestors belonged to the aristocracy of England, the coat-of- arms being still preserved in family records, representing a lion Standant Gardant, while at his feet appears the heraldic motto, "Cede Deo." When pride of character is the result of such a lineage it becomes an important factor in solving the problem of life by inciting to great excellence in the calling or profession one may choose. Dr. Hart's literary education was obtained principally in his native town, under the tuition of Dr. George W. Standish. Among his fellow- pupils were the distinguished linguist and missionary, Rev. William Aitchison, and the no less distinguished scientist, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, F. R. S. In his childhood he resided for a time in the house in which Benedict Arnold, the traitor, was born, it having been his father's residence several years previous to its demolition. Having come into possession, through his father, of the surgical works and instruments of that celebrated New England surgeon, Dr. Philip Turner, together with the fact of an inherited proclivity for that branch of the learned profession, his mind manifested a bias, at an early day, for operative surgery. After passing the prescribed course of study, under the distinguished American surgeon, Dr. Valentine Mott, of New York, he matriculated at the New York University, in 1853, and grad- uated the following year. Having passed a successful ex- amination before the Ohio State Board of Examiners, Gover- nor Tod, in June, 1862, appointed him a surgeon in the United States army, and directed him to report to Dr. McDougal, Medical Director, at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. He was assigned to duty in the field, under General Asboth, at Rienzi, Mississippi, when he was assigned to the 44th Regiment Illinois Volunteers. After passing through the battles of Perrysville and Stone River, Dr. Hart resigned his position in the army, in January, 1863, in consequence of sickness in his family ; but re-entering the service in June following, he was placed in charge of the surgical wards and eye department of Brown General Hospital, at Louisville, Kentucky, where he served with distinction until the close of the war. He was elected
by the surgical staff of the hospital President of the Board of Medical Examiners, and received other testimonials of tlie appreciation in which he was held. As a surgeon Dr. Hart enjoys the reputation of being a bold, skillful, and successful operator, having performed most of the major operations of surgery. Nevertheless, he has always inclined to conserv- atism, deeming it a much higher honor to be able to save a diseased or mutilated member than to obtain eclat as a "dex- trous " operator. The same conscientious regard for human life and suffering early led him to an honest investigation of the merits of homeopathy, and becoming convinced, both by observation and experience, that it was a superior system of medical practice, he has, during the last eighteen years, devoted himself exclusively to it. He is a firm believer in and uncompromising advocate of high potencies, except in mi- asmatic, anæmic, and so-called zymotic, or "blood" diseases, such as malarious and exanthemic fevers, chlorosis, syphilis, cerebro-spinal meningitis, etc., which he treats, to some ex- tent, on a different principle, and which receive especial elucidation in his work on the "Practice of Medicine." The ad eundem degree of M. D. was conferred upon him by the Chicago Homoeopathic College, in 1878. He is an honorary member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Michigan, also a member of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science. In November, 1848, Dr. Hart married Ellen, the only daughter of Rev. Thomas Beacham, of Xenia, Ohio. She died May 5, 1872, leaving one child, who is now Mrs. Caro- line B. Sypher, residing at present in Kansas. He subse- quently (July 9, 1873) married Mrs. N. R. Scott, a cultivated lady, widely known and well-connected in the social circles of Cincinnati. They reside in a beautiful home in Wyoming, enjoying the friendship of an enlightened community. The doctor is a member of the Presbyterian and his wife of the Christian Church, and both are liberal in their contributions to all needful Church and charitable enterprises. The doctor believes the best interests of the republic can be conserved by the supremacy of the Republican party, so-called ; but in politics as in his profession he is liberal and tolerant. Dur- ing his busy professional career he has found leisure to write the following medical works: "Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System," "Homœopathic Medical Practice (Brain and Eye)," "Homoeopathic Ophthalmic Practice," "Repertory of the New Remedies," "Treatise on Diseases of the Res- piratory Organs." In the domain of surgery, Dr. Hart became long since a skillful operator, and has made many valuable contributions to the literature bearing upon that branch of medical science, which found publicity through the columns of the Western Lancet and the Medical and Surgical News, of Cincinnati. The press notices and reviews of Dr. Hart's works have always been favorable, and complimentary articles have appeared in such leading medical journals and publications as the following : New York Medical Times, St. Louis Clinical Review, Medico-Chirurgical Quarterly, North American Jour- nal of Homeopathy, Homeopathic Courier, Homeopathic World, British Journal of Homeopathy, New England Medical Gazette, The Medical Advance, etc. The following from the New York Medical Times is introduced as a specimen : " The author brings to his task an intelligent and observing mind, and in addition to his own special views, has gathered from a wide range of reading the most scientific views of the best writers and teachers of the subjects presented, his writings thus evincing wide research, while bearing unmistakable evidences of scholarly finish."
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RAPPE, RT. REV. LOUIS AMADEUS, first bishop of Cleveland, was born February 2d, 1801, at Andrehem, de- partment of Pas de Calais, France. His parents were of the peasantry, and truly virtuous people. Until his twentieth year young Amadeus was obliged to assist his aged father in cultivating his fields, and hence his early literary training must necessarily have been defective. What his youthful aspirations were, as to what pursuit in life to follow, are not known. On one occasion, however, as he himself related, his mother remarked that up to that time there had always been a priest in the family, and that she lamented to see that now none of her many sons aspired to the dignity of the priesthood. Young Amadeus took these remarks to heart, and on due reflection believed himself called to enter the ecclesiastical state. At the age of twenty he started for the college at Boulogne, then under the direction of the celebrated Abbé Haffringue. After completing his collegiate course he entered the seminary of Arras, and on March 14th, 1829, was ordained priest by Cardinal Latour d'Auvergne. His first charge was a country parish in the village of Wizme, whence he also attended a neighboring mission church. About five years after his ordination the chaplain of the Ursu- line community at Boulogne-sur-Mer died, and the sisters, knowing the sterling worth, indomitable zeal, and great prudence of Father Rappe, were desirous of having him appointed their chaplain and spiritual director. Mother Ur- sula, the superioress of the community, petitioned the Cardi- nal to this effect, and her request was granted. Father Rappe remained chaplain to the Ursulines of Boulogne from 1834 till 1840. During this time he read with intense interest the " Annals of the Propagation of the Faith," which excited in him an ardent desire to devote himself to the American mis- sions. In 1839 Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, passed through London on his way from America to Europe, and whilst in the city, he was requested by the parents of three young English ladies to take them under his protection as far as the Ursuline Convent at Boulogne. Here he met the zealous chaplain of the community and future missionary, Father Rappe, to whom he made known the spiritual destitution of his large diocese. Rev. Amadeus Rappe then offered to go with him to America. This he did, however, with great diffidence, owing to his age (39), which would be no small hindrance in the change of life to which he would of necessity be obliged to submit. Another great obstacle for him was his entire lack of knowledge of the English language. But he would allow none of these obstacles to hinder him from entering upon the toilsome and self-sacrificing life of a missionary. After re- ceiving the necessary permission from his Ordinary to leave his diocese, and, bidding farewell to his charge, which deeply regretted to lose him, who was to them a wise counselor and prudent director, he set sail for America, arriving at Cincin- nati towards the end of 1840. He was immediately sent by Bishop Purcell to Chillicothe, in order to learn English. Mr. Marshall Anderson, a convert and most estimable gentleman, was his teacher. But Father Rappe found it very difficult to master even the rudiments of the language. In a few months, however, he was able to speak it sufficiently well to make him- self understood, though his pronunciation was, and always remained, defective. About 1841 the present flourishing city of Toledo was founded. Catholics there were very few in number, and had neither church nor priest. Tiffin was the nearest place whence sick-calls were attended. The Miami and Erie canal was being built about this time, and there
came quite a large influx of Catholic laborers, who settled along the line of the canal, and the Maumee river. There was much sickness here, the dread " Maumee fever" under- mining the strongest constitution, and hurrying many of its victims to an early grave. There was also much intemper- ance among the laborers, who spent their hard earned money for drink and allowed their families to want. To this unculti- vated and uninviting field of labor Father Rappe was sent by his bishop. His "parish limits" extended from Toledo to the Indiana State line and as far south as Allen county. From the summer of 1841 till the spring of 1846, his labors, privations and difficulties of all kinds were indeed trying. He never lost courage, but full of missionary zeal and self- sacrifice he labored faithfully among his people. It was here that he first saw the terrible effects of intemperance, which so filled him with a horror of this vice, that he fought it then and during the remainder of his life by word and example. Thousands bless his memory for the energetic measures he took in rescuing them from a drunkard's grave. For five years (1841-46) Father Rappe was alone in this section of the State ; but his work grew beyond his strength, and hence Bishop Purcell sent him a co-laborer in the person of Father Louis De Goesbriand, present Bishop of Burlington, Vermont, who arrived at Toledo in January, 1846. At that time Toledo and the surrounding country, even as far west as the State line, was full of malaria of the most malignant type. Bishop De Goesbriand, in his reminiscences of Bishop Rappe's mis- sionary life, says, "At certain seasons it was impossible to meet a healthy-looking person, and frequently entire families were sick and unable to help one another. Apart from the terrible malarial fever, we were occasionally visited by such epidemics as erysipelas, and towards the end of 1847 we saw the ship-fever-stricken emigrants landing on the docks, to die among strangers within a few hours after arrival." After the Miami and Erie canal was finished, many of the laborers left with their families to seek homes in a more healthy climate. As the majority of these were Catholics, Father Rappe's mis- sions were greatly weakened. Very few Catholic families remained between Toledo and Defiance. Mass was, how- ever, said each Sunday in Toledo and frequently at Maumee City (now South Toledo), and on week days in Providence, Defiance, Poplar Ridge, and occasionally in Fremont and La Prairie. The roads were often almost impassable, but Father Rappe and his faithful companion found neither bad roads nor the inclemency of the weather a sufficient obstacle to prevent them from visiting each of their scattered missions at the time appointed. In his intercourse with his people Father Rappe was most affable, and he knew well how to win their respect and confidence. He was acquainted with every family and knew every member of each family. He had a special gift to teach the catechism, and would spend weeks in a settlement preparing a few children for the reception of the sacraments. During this time of preparation he would instruct the children for hours each day, and always manage to rivet their attention. He was always watchful of the spirit- ual welfare of the adult portion of his flock, urging them to frequent confession and a regular attendance at Mass. Bishop Purcell, finding the labor of properly attending to his diocese, comprising the State of Ohio, too much for him, pe- titioned the Holy See for a division. Cleveland was consid- ered as the most fit city in the northern part of the State for an episcopal see, and hence was so designated, and the zealous " missionary of the Maumee," Father Rappe, chosen as the
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first bishop of this new diocese. He was consecrated at Cin- cinnati, October 10th, 1847, by Bishop Purcell, assisted by Bishop Whelan, first bishop of Wheeling, Virginia. Imme- diately after his consecration Bishop Rappe took possession of his see, his diocese comprising all that portion of the State lying north of the southern limits of C 1imbiana, Stark, Wayne, Crawford, Wyandot, Hancock, Allen, and Van Wert counties. There was then but one church in Cleveland, St. Mary's on the "Flats," built in 1836 by the Rev. John Dillon, and but one priest, the Rev. M. Howard. Shortly after Father Howard was sent to Tiffin, and Father De Goesbriand was appointed his successor and vicar-general of the diocese. St. Mary's congregation was composed of English and Ger- man speaking Catholics, and had far outgrown their church when Bishop Rappe came to Cleveland. He succeeded in getting a German priest, and was thus enabled to give sepa- rate services to the German portion of the congregation, in this way tiding over the necessity of building another church at that time. For several months the bishop resided in a rented house, south of the Public Square ; but in 1848 bought a house on Bond street, which he made his episcopal resi- dence. To supply the wants of the growing Catholic popula- tion, a frame building, 30x60, was erected on one of the lots on Superior street, some distance east of Erie, which Father Peter Mclaughlin had bought in 1845 for Church purposes. This frame building served for several years as a temporary church, and as a parochial school (the first in the city), folding doors closing the sanctuary during school hours. Meanwhile, Bishop Rappe had plans drawn and specifications made for a cathedral. Mr. Kiely, of Brooklyn, was the architect. The corner-stone was laid in the autumn of 1848, the administrator of the diocese of Detroit, Mgr. Lefevre, preaching on the occasion, as Father De Goesbriand informs us in his "Remi- niscences." In the following year the bishop went to Europe for the purpose of securing priests for his diocese, and mem- bers of religious fraternities for schools and charitable institu- tions. He returned in September, 1850, bringing four priests, five seminarians, and six Ursuline nuns. Two years previous he opened a seminary back of the episcopal residence on Bond and Teresa streets, with the saintly Father A. Caron as its first superior. Thither the seminarians, just arrived from France, were sent, some to complete their studies, and one or two to be ordained shortly. During the Bishop's absence, Judge Cowles's mansion on Euclid avenue was bought for the Ursuline sisters, and is the present mother-house of that com- munity. The sisters took possession of their home and al- most immediately opened a select school and academy. In 1851 St. Mary's Orphan Asylum for girls was founded on Harmon street and in 1852 St. Vincent's Asylum for boys was opened ; the former under the charge of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Mary, the latter under the Sisters of Charity. Thus the most pressing wants of the diocese were supplied, and the Bishop now directed his attention to details of dio- cesan work, visiting every church and settlement at frequent intervals, giving missions, administering confirmation, and preaching. Though constantly at work, either at home in his cathedral or out in the diocese, he never showed signs of fatigue. Never satisfied with what he had already accom- plished, he was always anxious to do still more for the glory of God and the good of religion. He was specially solici- tous for Catholic schools, and where it was within the range of possibility, priests were obliged to establish such in their re- spective parishes. He also established institutions in which
charity in every form might be dispensed, and to this end introduced the following female religious communities into the diocese, besides those already mentioned, viz .: the Grey Nuns, about 1856; the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, 1869; and the Little Sisters of the Poor, 1870. He also welcomed to the diocese the Franciscans in 1867, giving them charge of St. Joseph's Congregation, Cleveland; and two years later, the Jesuits, to whom he entrusted St. Mary's Congregation, Toledo, both of which congregations are in a flourishing con- dition. Previous to 1863 Cleveland had no hospital. During the civil war, then at its height of bloody carnage, many sick and wounded soldiers were sent to Cleveland for medical treatment, but no provision had been made to receive them and care for them. It was then that the city realized the ne- cessity of a hospital, which Bishop Rappe would long before have built had he had the means. He now saw a near realiza- tion of his long-cherished plan. He offered to build a hospi- tal and provide efficient nurses, on condition the public would come to his assistance. This offer was gladly accepted and two years later (1865) Charity Hospital, costing about $75,000, was opened to the public, and placed in charge of the Sisters of Charity. In every good work Bishop Rappe was in the front ranks, never shirking his part, never refusing his aid or countenance. Though perhaps meeting with disappointment, or receiving insult for his pains, he never halted, but courage- ously went on in the work. He knew no such word as "fail." Time and incessant labor, however, began to tell on him. About 1869 his sight began to fail, he having partially lost the use of his right eye, and being in danger of losing his sight entirely. So, on returning from Rome, where he had been attending the Vatican Council, he tendered his resig- nation August 22d, 1870, as Bishop of Cleveland, which title he had borne amid hardships and mental trials of the most trying kind for nearly twenty-three years. Where he found a sparsely settled diocese awaiting organization at his hands, he left it flourishing, well provided with priests, churches, schools, and religious institutions. The episcopal city in 1847 had but one small church; in 1870 there were eleven, with as many, and mostly large, congregations. Bishop Rappe retired to Burlington, Vermont, and till. the time of his death, September 8th, 1877, was engaged in his former and favorite work of giving missions and catechis- ing the young. His remains were brought to Cleveland, and amid the most imposing funeral cortege ever witnessed in this city, they were taken to the cathedral, and there placed in the vault in the cathedral basement. In the line of his work few men on the missions of America ever excelled Bishop Rappe. Untiring in zeal, patient in hardship, generous, un- selfish, no labor seemed to weary or exhaust. Tall, wiry, quick, and elastic in motion, good his aim, suffering and sorrow the objects of his charity, he lived for religion and his kind. Ill versed in English, because learned late in life, defective in early education, yet by nature's gifts and his own energy of character he ranked as an orator of more than ordinary powers. His wont was to preach thrice every Sun- day-frequently four and five times -- each time to a different audience, and often in churches miles distant from each other. He was great as a missionary rather than as a bishop, and excelled as a pioneer who explored and out-lined, leav- ing to others to shape and consolidate. A lover of his native land, he gave not only his allegiance but his most ardent support to his adopted country. A true patriot, a Christian man, tolerant of dissent, conceding to others what he asked
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