USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume I > Part 74
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
M.J. Force
287
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
for himself-religious and civil liberty-he died, at the ripe old age of seventy-six, thirty-six of which he had labored as priest and bishop on the missions of Ohio, amid the tears of his people, and the respect of his fellow-citizens, with the well merited reputation of a life spent for God and the good of his fellow men.
FORCE, MANNING FERGUSON, lawyer and soldier, was born at Washington, District of Columbia, December 17th, 1824. His paternal ancestors were French Huguenots, who came to this country on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. His grandfather, William Force, was an officer in the Revolutionary army. His father, Peter Force, a native of New Jersey, was the well-known compiler of the " Amer- ican Archives "-nine volumes of which he completed, and arranged for publication a tenth, in the preparation of which he gathered the fullest collection of books and pamphlets upon American history (except that of the British Museum) ever made-a collection which was purchased for the Con- gressional Library a few months before his death, January 23d, 1868. Manning prepared himself for West Point, at Alexandria, Virginia, but changing his purpose, entered Har- vard University, graduating from the college in 1845, and from the law school in 1848. In January, 1849, he went to Cincinnati, and studied law for one year, in the office of Walker & Kebler. In January, 1850, he was admitted to the bar ; afterward became one of the firm of Walker, Kebler & Force; remained in partnership with Mr. Kebler after the death of Judge Walker, and continued the practice of law in that connection until the commencement of the war of seces- sion. He then entered the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 20th Ohio Volunteers, and, having taken part in the capture of Fort Donelson and the battle of Pittsburg Landing, was soon after promoted to its colonelcy. With his regiment, Colonel Force was active in the advance to Corinth, and in the autumn of 1862 shared in the battles of Iuka and the Hatchie or Pocahontas, was engaged all day in Colonel Leg- gett's desperate fight near Bolivar, and took part in continued expeditions of reconnoissance. In the advance on to Vicks- burg, he was hotly engaged in the battles of Raymond and Champion Hills, and participated in those of Port Gibson and Jackson. During the siege of Vicksburg, his regiment was taken from the trenches, and sent with General Blair's expedition up the Yazoo, on his return from which, Colonel Force was placed in command of the 2d brigade, 3d division, 17th corps, detached, in June, 1863, to form a part of General Sherman's army of observation watching the movements of General Johnston. When General Sherman marched on Jackson, Colonel Force's brigade was employed to guard the road as far back as Clinton. After the siege, he received the 17th corps gold medal of honor, by award of a board of officers. In the latter part of August, Colonel Force accom- panied General Stevenson's expedition to Monroe, Louisiana, on returning from which he received his appointment as a brigadier-general, and in October took part in General Mc- Pherson's demonstration toward Canton. On November 15th he was transferred to the command of the ist brigade, and was, during the winter, in command of the outpost at the crossing of the Big Black. In February, 1864, General Force went with General Sherman to Meridian. On the 4th the 17th corps advanced, skirmishing eleven miles, when the enemy gave way, and General Force's brigade volunteered to push forward, and entered Jackson in the night. On the
14th General Force's brigade, detached to destroy the rail- way bridge at Chunkey, came upon the rear of two brigades of cavalry, Stark's and Wirt Adams's, surprised their rear guard at breakfast, charged into their camp, drove them across the river, destroyed the bridge, and rejoined the army at Meridian, after an absence of two days. When the army, on the return, crossed the wide and level valley of the Bogue Chitto, his brigade was placed by General McPherson in rear of the cavalry, then worn with severe service, to interpose between it and the hostile cavalry which was closely follow- ing. He then accompanied his old regiment, the 20th, home on their veteran furlough, after which he reported at the rendezvous of the veteran regiments of the 17th corps, at Cairo. Thence General Force's command marched, with the above-named corps, to meet General Sherman, at Ack- worth, Georgia, and took position on the left of his army. General Force's brigade formed the extreme left, and about the middle of June carried the entrenchments at the foot of Kenesaw Mountain. On July 3d the corps took position on the right, his brigade constituting the extreme flank of the army. On the 4th General McPherson directed General Blair to command General Leggett to send General Force with two regiments to beat up a cavalry camp understood to be somewhere on the flank, and to find a certain crossing of Nicajack Creek. He drove the cavalry from their camp and across the creek; and, in pursuance of additional orders, penetrated to the main line of the enemy, and remained there, almost surrounded, till recalled in the night. The army having crossed the Chattahoochee, he was again trans- ferred to the extreme left flank, on the 14th, and on the 21st his brigade attacked and carried a fortified hill in full view of Atlanta, defended by a portion of General Cleburne's division. In the terrible battle next day, when General Hood endeavored in vain to recapture this hill, General Force was shot through the upper part of his face, and as he was supposed to be mortally wounded, was sent home. He was able, however, on October 22d, to report for duty to General Sherman, at Gaylesville, Alabama, where the latter had paused in his pursuit of General Hood. General Force was brevetted major-general for "especial gallantry before Atlanta." The march from Atlanta to Savannah and across the Carolinas followed, when General Force commanded the 3d division, and forced the crossing at Orangeburg, but was subsequently, at Goldsborough, promoted to command the Ist division, 17th corps. The character of the service in Sherman's campaign is shown by the fact that while General Force had but four staff officers, besides a quartermaster, these four were several times replaced in the seven months from June, 1864, to January, 1865. In these seven months, three of his staff were killed in the field, one mortally wounded, one taken prisoner, and two sent to the hospital broken down with exhaustion. After the general muster-out of the army of the Tennessee, in the summer of 1865, General Force was appointed to command a district in Mississippi, which was his last military service. He was finally mustered out, and left the service in January, 1866. Upon returning to Cincinnati, he was tendered a civil office by the President, and was appointed colonel of the 32d infantry, in the regular army, but declined both. Of General Force's record as a soldier, it may be said that he was at the front during the whole war of secession, that he lost neither a cannon, nor a caison, nor a wagon, and his command, though always in the extreme front, was never taken by surprise, was never
.
288
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
thrown into confusion, and never gave way under fire. Having resumed the practice of his profession in Cincinnati, he was elected, in the fall of 1867, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, by the Republican party, of which, though never an active politician, he had long been a member. At the expiration of his term, in 1871, he was re-elected. In the autumn of 1876 he was nominated for Congress, but being on the bench, took no part in the canvass. He was defeated by a majority of nearly seven hundred, by Mr. Sayler, an able and popular Member of Congress, who had previously been elected by majorities of three thousand and four thousand. In the spring of 1877, Judge Force was elected Judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati; and in April, 1882, was re- elected without opposition, being unanimously renominated by the conventions of both political parties. He is also pro- fessor of equity and criminal law in the Cincinnati Law Col- lege. Judge Force is president of the Historical and Phil- osophical Society of Ohio, and member or corresponding member of the Historical Societies of Massachusetts, Virginia, Wisconsin, Buffalo and the Western Reserve, the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, the Archaeological Insti- tute of America, and the Cincinnati Natural History Society, and associate fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was many years a director of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, and trustee of the Medical College of Ohio. He was one of the original mem- bers of the Musical Festival Association, and of the Zoolog- ical Garden Association, and one of the incorporators of the Music Hall Association, the Museum Association, and the College of Music. He edited the 7th and 8th editions of "Walker's American Law," and the American edition of "Harris's Criminal Law." He has published papers on the Mound Builders, and kindred topics. On May 13th, 1874, he married Miss Frances Dabney Horton, of Pomeroy, Ohio, who has borne him one son.
GILMOUR, RICHARD, Catholic bishop of Cleveland, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, September 28th, 1824. . In 1829 he came to America. He was reared and educated a Scotch covenanter, but became a Catholic in his early manhood. In his conversion he was influenced only by unaided investigation and reason. After the usual course of study for the priesthood, at Mount St. Mary's College, in Maryland, he was ordained August 30th, 1852, by the Most Rev. Archbishop Purcell, by whom he was sent to labor in southern Ohio, northeastern Kentucky, and in the southwestern part of Virginia. His mission began at Aber- deen, on the Ohio river, and ended at Gallipolis, one hun- dred and fifty miles up the river, embracing six counties on the Ohio side, and the counties of Greenup in Kentucky, and Cabell in Virginia. In Ironton there was but a handful of Catholics, most of them hands who were working on the railroad. He began the ministrations of religion here in a little railroad shanty, eighteen by twenty-five feet, then large enough for all the Catholics of the place. He afterwards added another twenty-five feet to this shanty, and for a year and a half the congregation worshiped in this rude structure. During the years 1852-53 he undertook the building of the present English church, yet large enough to accommodate the present congregation of two hundred and fifty families. He obtained at the same time lots for schools and for a large and handsome cemetery. When he began this church he had not a dollar subscribed and but five in his pocket. He
was forced to beg from other congregations throughout the State and in Kentucky, and among the furnaces scattered over his large mission of eight counties. Ten churches, with flourishing congregations and schools, have since grown out of the original missions where he was pastor. He traveled on horseback, carrying every thing needful for Mass in his saddle-bags. He was wont to stop at night where lodgings could be found, often in Protestant families. Many of them had never seen a Catholic priest before, and he was often eyed timidly by the children and women. He came near being drowned several times when crossing rivers. In 1857 he was called to Cincinnati, and placed as pastor of St. Pat- rick's Church, one of the largest congregations in that city. A large increase, substantial improvements, and the organ- ization of one of the largest schools in Cincinnati, were the results of eleven years of faithful service in this congrega- tion. Thence he went successively to St. Mary's Theolog- ical Seminary, Cincinnati, as professor, and from there as pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Dayton. In 1872 he was pro- moted to the bishopric of Cleveland, and was consecrated April 14th, of that year, by Archbishop Purcell. His diocese. embraces the whole of northern Ohio. Bishop Gilmour is a man of great individuality and strong character, of great clearness and vigor of statement as an orator, a quick, nerv- ous writer, and author of one of the best series of Catholic school readers so far -published. Bold and fearless as a con- troversialist, he is, however, scrupulously honest and fair in his treatment of an antagonist, but when once convinced of the truth and justice of his cause he is unyielding. He took strong ground against what he conceived to be the injustice of taxing Catholics for the support of public schools in which, for conscientious reasons, they could not educate their children, but has always been a great patron of education, requiring schools to be attached to every church in his diocese. He is decidedly opposed to a purely secular education, holding that religion should be made a part of the education of a child. Bishop Gilmour is also an able executive officer, and has attained to his high position in the ministry by a course marked in a rare degree by persistent and ably systematized labor. A patriotic citizen of his adopted country, he is a firm supporter of her form of government.
RICE, HARVEY, LL. D., lawyer and author, was born at Conway, Massachusetts, June 11th, 1800. When seventeen years old he requested his father, who was a farmer, to give him his freedom, and allow him to acquire a liberal education as best he could by his own efforts. This he achieved, and grad- uated from Williams College, in 1824, with honor. From col- lege he went directly to Cleveland, Ohio, a stranger, and without influential friends there or elsewhere to aid his efforts for ad- vancement. When he landed at Cleveland he owned nothing but the clothes he wore and three dollars in his pocket. At that time Cleveland contained but four hundred inhabitants. He soon became employed in teaching a classical school in the old academy on St. Clair street, and about the same time commenced the study of law under the direction of Reuben Wood, then a prominent member of the Cleveland bar. At the expiration of two years he was admitted to practice, and entered into copartnership with his former instructor, which continued until Mr. Wood was elected to the bench. In 1829 he was elected justice of the peace, and in 1830 elected to represent his district in the State legislature. Soon after, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed an agent
RGil mour
289
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
for the sale of the Western Reserve school lands, a tract of fifty-six thousand acres, situated in the Virginia Military District. He opened a land office at Millersburg, in Holmes county, for the sales, and in the course of three years sold all the lands, and paid the avails, nearly one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, into the State treasury, as a school fund for the exclusive benefit of educating the children of the Western Reserve, the interest of which is now annually paid by the State for that purpose. In 1833 he returned to Cleveland, and was appointed clerk of the common pleas and supreme courts, an office in which he faithfully served for seven years, and in 1834 and 1836 was nominated by the democratic convention as a candidate for Congress, and re- ceived the united support of the party, though without ex- pectation of success, as the democrats were largely in the minority. He was the first democrat ever sent to the Legis- lature from Cuyahoga county, and, while serving in that body, was considered one of its ablest and most influential members. He was appointed by the house one of the select committee for revising the statutes of the State, and while in that capacity introduced and advocated with acknowledged ability many new provisions, which still retain their place upon the statute book. In the fall of 1851 he was put in nomination for the State senate, and was elected by a ma- jority exceeding seven hundred votes. The general assembly to which he was then returned was the first that convened
under the new Constitution. Upon this body devolved the responsibility of reconstructing the statutes of the State, and adapting them to the requisition of the Constitution, so as to secure to the people the practical benefits of the great re- forms which had been achieved by its adoption. He con- tributed quite as much as any other member to the important legislation of the two sessions held by that general assembly. It was said of him that he was always at his post. The degree of influence which he exercised as a legislator was
such as few have the good fortune to wield. Among the variety of measures which engaged his attention, he took a prominent part in procuring the passage of the act which authorized the establishment of two additional lunatic asylums in the State. His course in relation to the subject of common schools attracted public attention throughout the State, and called forth from the press commendations of a very complimentary character. Another bill, of scarcely less importance than the school bill, was introduced into the Senate by him, which had for its object the establishment of a "State Reform School," expressly designed for juvenile offenders. The bill, at a subsequent session, resulted in establishing the present Reform Farm School at Lancaster.
The services which he rendered the State in the founding of a new system for the public schools, and in the promotion
having been the father of the present school system of Ohio. of her educational interests, earned for him the honor of
While a member of the city council, in 1857, he took the
lead in establishing the Cleveland Industrial School, was chairman of the committee that put it into successful opera-
tion, and was active in extending its usefulness. In the
same year he originated the project, and introduced the
Perry Monument which now graces the public park of the resolution into the council, authorizing the erection of the
lution, was made to depend on the voluntary subscriptions of city. The cost of the monument, by the terms of the reso-
the citizens. He was appointed chairman of the monument committee, and, after three years of persevering effort, suc-
ceeded in carrying the object of the resolution into effect. The monument was inaugurated, with imposing ceremonies, on the Ioth of September, 1860, the anniversary of Perry's victory on Lake Erie. Mr. Bancroft, the historian, delivered the inaugural address. As carefully estimated, not less than one hundred thousand people attended the inauguration. In carrying out the programme, the battle of Lake Erie was re- produced in a mock fight on the lake in front of the city. It was a proud day for Cleveland. Both the monument and the inauguration were pronounced a perfect success. In 1861, being elected to the board of education, he was ap- pointed president of the board, and during his term of office rendered essential service in promoting the educational in- terests of the city. In 1862 he was appointed by the governor of the State, with the concurrence of the War Department, a commissioner for Cuyahoga county, to conduct the first draft made in the county during the late civil war. In exe- cuting this delicate task, he acquitted himself with firmness, integrity, and discretion. While in the discharge of his duties, he found his office one morning suddenly besieged by some five or six hundred excited citizens, who were armed with pistols and other weapons, threatening to demolish the office and destroy the records. They had been instigated to make this demonstration by false rumors regarding the tairness of the draft. He met the crisis firmly, sent to the military camp on the Heights for a detachment of soldiers, infantry, and artillery, who came to his relief and dispersed the riotous assemblage. To satisfy the disaffected that all was right and just, he proposed that they should appoint a committee of their own to investigate the state of affairs in the draft-office. With his aid an elaborate examination was made, and the committee reported that the draft had been conducted fairly and justly in all respects. Two of the com- mittee, who had been ring-leaders in getting up the demon- stration, were afterwards drafted on the spot. In 1867, wishing to express his regard for the cause of missions, as well as for the college where he graduated, he planned and erected at his own expense, and with the approval of the college authorities, a beautiful marble monument in Missions Park, at Williams- town, Massachusetts, commemorative of American foreign missions, originated by Samuel J. Mills, an early graduate of the college. At one of the out-door prayer-meetings, in which Mills and others were wont to engage, a storm arose and drove the party to seek shelter under a haystack, and while thus protected from the fury of the elements, Mr. Mills suggested the idea of a mission to foreign heathen lands, as being a religious duty. In this noble and philan- thropic thought his associates all concurred, and there, while at the haystack, consecrated themselves in solemn prayer to the great work. From this circumstance originated American Foreign Missions. The monument is erected on the spot where the haystack stood, is twelve feet in height, and sur- mounted with a marble globe three feet in diameter, and cut in map lines. The face of the monument has the inscrip- tion, "The Field is the World," followed with a haystack, sculptured in bas-relief, and the names of the five young men who held the prayer-meeting, and the date, 1806. The monument was dedicated July 28th, 1867, at the maple grove in the park, and, by special request, Mr. Rice delivered the dedicatory address, which was received with a high degree of satisfaction, and afterwards published, with the other pro- ceedings, in pamphlet form. In 1869 he visited California, and while there indulged in a newspaper correspondence,
.
290
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
which has been collected and published in a volume en- titled "Letters from the Pacific Slope, or First Impressions." In 1871 Williams College conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In his literary career he was widely known as the author of "Mt. Vernon and Other Poems." His natural abilities are of a high order. His mind is thoroughly disciplined and cultivated, and for the compara- tively short time he has practiced as a lawyer he has obtained an enviable reputation for legal ability, discriminating judg- ment, and gentlemanly deportment. He is well known as an able contributor to many of the best periodicals of the day, and is a graceful and vigorous writer. In 1875 another volume of which he was the author was published, under the title of " Nature and Culture," and in 1878 he published a volume of "Select Poems." In 1881 he published a fifth volume, enti- tled, "Incidents of Pioneer Life in the Early Settlement of the Connecticut Western Reserve." He was twice married-first in 1828, and afterwards in 1840.
TRACY, HENRY READ, brother of Charles P. Tracy, was born in Oxford, Chenango County, New York, December 9th, 1833. His parents were Uri Tracy and Persis Packer. He was educated at Oxford Academy, and after clerking for a while in his father's store, came to Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1857, and engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe trade with his brother, C. P. Tracy, under the firm name of C. P. Tracy & Co. Since the death of his brother, the business has been continued under the same firm name, with Mr. Henry R. Tracy as manager. He has been a director in the Portsmouth Na- tional Bank for the past ten years, and its vice-president since 1875. He is a man of superior business abilities, and though be- ginning life with little or nothing, has achieved a very gratify- ing success. With fine social qualities, and manners of more than ordinary polish and refinement, yet decidedly retiring, he combines a kindness of heart, thoughtfulness, benevolence, and charity which have justly won for him the respect and esteem of all who know him. He is connected with Christ's Church, Portsmouth, and is a vestryman in that communion.
WORTHINGTON, GEORGE, merchant and banker, of Cleveland, was born in Cooperstown, New York, September 2Ist, 1813, and died at Cleveland, November 9th, 1871. He was the son of Ralph and Clarissa (Clarke) Worthington. After re- ceiving a good common school education he commenced his business career at Utica, New York, in 1830, by entering the hardware store of James Sayer, as a clerk, Mr. Sayer being an old and respected hardware merchant of that city. There he remained four years, when, having acquired a thorough knowledge of the business, he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he established himself in business, in 1835. Cleve- land at that time was but a village, with a population of about seven hundred persons. His goods were carted to him in wagons drawn by oxen, and the business done was in the nature of bartering, there being very little cash among the settlers. His first store occupied the ground on which now stands the Bethel building; afterwards he purchased the stock of Cleveland, Sterling & Co., on the corner of Water and Superior Streets, where the National Bank Buildings now stand, and associated with himself as business partner Mr. William Bingham. This partnership continued until 1841, when Mr. Bingham sold out his interest. A few years later Mr. Worthington associated with himself Mr. James Barnett and Mr. Edward Bingham. The firm embarked more largely,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.