USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 14
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mourned by many. Warm and true-hearted, he made his wealth a benefit to others. To all meritorious charities he gave largely, not neglecting that giving which is done in secret.
HUTCHINS, JOHN, attorney-at-law, Cleveland, was born in Vienna, Trumbull County, Ohio, July 25th, 1812. His father, Samuel Hutchins, and his mother, whose maiden name was Flower, were natives of Connecticut, and among the ear- liest settlers in the Western Reserve. Samuel Hutchins first came to Ohio in 1798, and in 1800 drove an ox-team from Connecticut to Vienna, where he then settled. He had a fam- ily of three sons and four daughters, John being the fourth child. He was educated in the common schools until he was twenty, when he continued his studies with a private tutor, and subsequently entered the preparatory department of Western Reserve College. He commenced the study of law at War- ren, Ohio, in 1835, in the office of David Tod, afterwards gov- ernor of Ohio. In 1838 he was admitted to the bar at New Lisbon. A year later he was clerk of the court of common pleas, of Trumbull County, and in this capacity he served five years, when he resigned and entered the law firm of Tod & Hoffman, which became Tod, Hoffman & Hutchins. He later became connected with J. D. Cox, since governor, and was his partner at the breaking out of the rebellion. In 1868 he removed to Cleveland, and formed a partnership with J. E. and G. L. Ingersoll, under the firm name of Hutchins & In- gersoll. Later, he became associated with his son, John C., prosecuting attorney, and O. J. Campbell and Thomas L. Johnson, as Hutchins, Campbell & Johnson, their office now being in the new Blackstone building. In 1849 and 1850 he was a member of the legislature. This legislature called the convention which framed the constitution of 1851. As a member of the legislature he entirely opposed all legis- lation allowing a majority of the people of towns and cities to vote stock subscriptions to build railroads, and, as a mem- ber of the judiciary committee, drew up an elaborate report against the policy, which was signed by him, M. R. Waite (now Chief-justice United States Supreme Court), and George E. Pugh (afterward United States Senator from Ohio). In 1858 he was elected to the 36th Congress, and two years later re-elected from the same district. The territory of the district was then changed, and from the new district General Garfield was chosen to succeed him. In Congress Mr. Hutchins took an active part in the advanced measures for the prosecution of the war, the abolition of slavery, and the employment of colored soldiers. He was an active anti- slavery man from the time of arriving at manhood. He belonged to the old liberty party, and was once mobbed in his native county for declaring his convictions on the subject of slavery. In an antislavery meeting in Hudson, Ohio, in 1841, in criticising what he regarded as the proslavery posi- tion of the Western Reserve College, he used language dis- tasteful to the faculty and students, and was loudly hissed by the latter. In giving the history of the antislavery cause on the Western Reserve and in reference to the antislavery efforts of President Storer and Professors Beriah Green and E. Wright, Jr., when connected with the college, he said : " Then an antislav- ery light blazed from College Hill, but where is that light now ?" when the hissing continued for several minutes, but was finally drowned in cheers. In the 37th Congress Mr. Hutchins made a strong argument in favor of using the slaves as soldiers. He said : " If we can take for soldiers minor ap-
prentices and minor sons, we have the same right to take slaves, for they are either persons or property. If they are persons we are entitled to their services to save the govern- ment, and the fact that they are not citizens does not change the right of the government to their services as subjects un- less they owe allegiance to a foreign government. If colored persons are property we may certainly use that property to put down the rebellion." He also in Congress introduced an important bill, backed with a very able and carefully prepared speech on the subject of postal reform, advocating a reduc- tion of postage on letters, and uniform rates for all distances within the United States, with uniformity of postage on printed matter, and strongly urged the advantages of the carrier de- livery system and the money-order system. For his very able and persistent efforts in this direction he received spe- cial mention from the postmaster-general. It was on May 19th, 1862, that he delivered in the House his famous speech in favor of this bill. In this speech he treats his subject in a most exhaustive manner, bringing forth as he did, clear and lucid arguments backed up and demonstrated by statistics of the postal service of Great Britain, as well as of this country. His arguments in favor of lower and more uniform rates of postage, as also of the free-delivery system in the large cities, were so ably brought forward and maintained that his bill, with some modifications, became law, and to him and his efforts we are indebted for our present lower rates and better system. But Mr. Hutchins wanted to go still further than the House .at that time were willing to follow. He aimed at making letter postage as low as two cents. (As we are writing this sketch, the present post- master-general, Mr. Howe, is most strongly advocating that very point.) Mr. Hutchins elucidated his subject and points in so clear and concise a manner, that they became at once apparent. He demonstrated the fact that with a lower rate of postage there would be a great increase of revenue, without a corresponding increase of expense. This ably prepared speech was afterward published by D. Appleton & Co., and widely circulated and read. As a member of Congress he was the first to adopt a competitive examination of cadets for West Point and to the naval school. His precedent has since been followed by many Congressman, and has tended to greatly elevate the standard of the young men gaining the ap- pointments to those schools. As a lawyer, Mr. Hutchins ranks high, not only for his ability, but also for his integrity and high
sense of honor. He is a man highly esteemed by his fellow- members of the bar and the citizens at large. He was mar- ried October 27th, 1836, to Rhoda M. Andrews, daughter of Hunn Andrews, Esq., formerly of Connecticut. They have had five children, three sons and two daughters. One of the daughters is now deceased. Of the sons, the eldest, Horace A., is at the head of the sales department of the Standard Oil Company at Cleveland; John C. is a lawyer in partnership with his father; and the younger, Albert E., is head salesman at Chicago for the Standard Oil Company.
GUNNING, OWEN T., lawyer, Columbus, Ohio, was born at Richmondale, Ross county, Ohio, December 15th, 1830. He is a son of James C. Gunning and Susan (Felter) Gunning. His father's people came from the north of Ireland to the city of New York in 1793. The family of that name in Ireland consisted of two branches, one of the Catholic faith, and the other of the Protestant belief. The members of the latter branch possessed large landed estates in County
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Armagh, and belonged to that class known as the Irish gentry. The eldest sons of each distinctive family, being seized of its estate by virtue of law, were adherents of the British crown, while the younger sons, with whom William and Owen Gunning were numbered, engaged in intrigues and armed rebellion against the authority of the sovereign. Their plots not meeting with any degree of success, they were com- pelled to flee the country for safety, Owen going to France, and William to America. Mr. Gunning's father was James C., the son of William, and was born, June 6th, 1793, on board of a vessel in New York harbor, soon after its arrival in port. In 1798 Owen landed on the northern coast of Ire- land with a few followers, and attempted to raise a revolt against the British government, but was captured and exe- cuted, with a number of his associates. In 1815 William settled at Bloomingburg, Ohio, where he was known as a rep- utable and prosperous citizen, and where he died in 1835, leav- ing a large family. Mr. Gunning's father was the foreman of the first boot and shoe manufactory which was established in the village of Cincinnati. He was there married to Susan Felter, in 1815, and three years later located at Bloomingburg, Ohio. He afterward removed to Richmondale, where Owen T. Gun- ning was born. In 1832 he returned to his former home at Bloomingburg, where he lived until his death, which took place in 1868. Mr. Gunning's mother is a woman of many strong traits of character, and during her long and useful life has endeared herself to many people by her acts of kindness and her womanly and wifely qualities. She is still living in Bloomingburg. The children of James C. and Susan Gun- ning were, Angelina and James A., both living in Fayette county, Ohio; Susannah, now the wife of Judge E. F. Bing- ham, of Columbus, Ohio; Cecelia, who died when twenty years of age; Owen T .; and Elder Orville Gunning, who now lives in Vinton county, Ohio. Mr. Gunning's father was a man of lofty character, and possessed those manly virtues which drew about him many friends and secured him the love and respect of his fellow-citizens in every walk of life, and during his long life never made an avowed enemy. The boy attended the common schools of the time, at intervals of labor upon the farm, until he was fifteen years of age, when he began as a teacher on his own account, teaching school during the winter season for nine years with great success, and working at the business of a carpenter and on the farm during the summer months. In 1854 he commenced the study of the law under Judge E. F. Bingham, at McArthur, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Vinton county in 1856, and served one term. At its expiration he resumed and continued his regular practice until he was compelled to relinquish it on account of ill-health. He then engaged in farming, and also became interested in, and devoted a good deal of attention to, the manufacture of pig-iron, lumber, and the development and working of coal mines. Mr. Gunning has always been a steadfast democrat, and occupies a conspicuous place in the councils of the party. He has generally resided in counties and districts where the opposition vote was so strong against him that there was little chance of an election. His party nominated him for senator in his district in 1863, and in 1872 he was the choice of the democratic voters of his Congres- sional district for presidential elector, but was not elected, for the reason already stated. He was the caucus nominee as one of the officers of the Lower House of the 60th General Assembly, and was elected by a vote of the members. He
was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention, at Chicago, in 1864. He was also a delegate to the Democratic State Convention, at Cincinnati, in 1874, where he was selected by the delegation of the 6th Congressional district as a mem- ber of the committee on resolutions, and was the author of the resolution, which that body adopted, denouncing the de- monetization of silver, being the initiative of similar action by the democratic conventions of the several States, subsequently held. Mr. Gunning claims that General Durbin Ward was the first statesman to detect the fact that silver had been de- monetized by legislation. Mr. Gunning declined to be nom- inated for Congress in the 6th district the same year that John S. Savage was nominated and elected as a democrat, prefer- ring to apply himself to the practice of the law. For twenty- five years he has held, in connection with party organization, places of trust and responsibility, in all of which he has shown great proficiency and executive ability. He resumed the practice of law in 1874, removing to Washington Court House, and met with more than ordinary success. In 1881 he removed to Columbus, Ohio, where he now resides, and engaged in the-practice of law. May 6th, 1856, Mr. Gunning was married to Martha J. Murdock, daughter of Judge Mur- dock, of Vinton county, Ohio. She died early in the year 1870; and in June, 1871, he was married to Mrs. Lucretia H. Strong, formerly Miss Moore, a daughter of Morgan Moore, of West Virginia. The issue of this union are, Delia M., Lena A., and Susie B. Gunning. Mr. Gunning is in high repute as an advocate with the judges before whom he has practiced, and he is regarded among his brother members of the bar as a sound and thorough lawyer, one who wastes no words in presenting his cause to the court or jury, but speaks to the issue logically and forcibly. He prepares his case with method in the pleadings, and is always ready for trial when an issue is joined. He is a total-abstinence tem- perance man, always approachable, of unquestioned integrity, and is popular with all classes. In short, Mr. Gunning has, without the aid of a great school or university, made himself a useful man, and gained an enviable name among his fel- low-citizens.
BEEBE, ARTEMAS, pioneer citizen, Elyria, Lorain county, Ohio, was born at Russell, Hampden county, Massa- chusetts, October 7th, 1793. His father, Artemas Beebe, born in Waterbury, Connecticut, died in 1852, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-six years, and his mother in 1851, at the age of seventy-nine years. In his boyhood educational facilities were limited, and he consequently did not have an opportunity to acquire any thing but the most rudimentary school knowledge until he was a man grown, and had gone into business for himself. Like most of the young men of New England in his day and of his condition in life, he di- rected his eyes toward the West for that field of operations in which he could struggle successfully with the adverse cir- cumstances of his birth and fortune. On the 20th of February, 1817, six persons composed a company of pioneer emigrants to Ohio : Heman Ely, the founder of the city of Elyria ; Eb- enezer Lane, afterward chief-justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio; Miss Ann Snow, and a colored boy, "Ned," Mr. Ely's housekeeper and servant boy ; Luther Lane, a team- ster, and the subject of this sketch, who was by trade a car- penter and joiner. He was hired by Mr. Ely before the company started for one year at one dollar a day, his time to commence when he arrived at Elyria, and had paid to
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him twenty dollars for the expenses of his journey, and the privilege of riding to Buffalo, and from there he was to get forward to his destination as best he could. At dusk on the 18th of March, the party arrived at the site of the present city of Elyria, the only building then on it being a log-house that had been erected about a year previously. In this prim- itive building the whole party took up their domicile, and Mr. Beebe immediately went to work at his trade. The first frame building erected was located at the corner of what is now Cedar and Broad streets, during the year 1817, being used for a joiner shop, but the next year being filled with goods by Edward West & Co., as the first store of general merchandise ever in Elyria. Heman Ely's residence was the next building erected. Mr. Beebe and George Douglas purchased jointly the first lot sold in Elyria, that opposite the present Ely homestead, and in 1818 they as partners built a house on it and engaged in business therein for one year, when they dissolved, Mr. Beebe purchasing his partner's in- terest. In February, 1819, having purchased for the purpose a horse, Mr. Beebe rode to Massachusetts, by the way of Pittsburg and New York. In the following June he bought a one-horse lumber wagon, and returned to Elyria, greatly improved in health. The following February found him again journeying to West Springfield, Massachusetts, this time on foot. Having arrived there he went to work at his trade, receiving as his pay twenty dollars cash a month, and his board and lodging until the following October. On the 20th of that month he married Miss Pamelia M. Morgan, of that town, the minister who performed the ceremony being the Rev. Joseph Lathrop, then in his eighty-ninth year, and totally blind. The newly married couple then started on their journey for Ohio in an emigrant wagon, drawn by two horses, with their household goods snugly packed in the wagon box. During the journey they met with sundry mis- haps, in one case having their wagon upset and rolled down a hillside, but on the 17th of November, 1820, they reached Elyria safely. Moving into their own house, they began keeping tavern, as it was called, but in their case simply a house of entertainment, and continued so engaged during ten years. In 1826, in partnership with Ezra S. Adams, Mr. Beebe bought Silas Wolverton's contract to carry the mails between Cleveland and Lower Sandusky (now the town of Fremont). Under this arrangement Mr. Beebe transported the mails between Cleveland and Elyria, and Mr. Adams between Elyria and Lower Sandusky, and after a year thus engaged, the former purchased of the latter his interest in the contract, and took charge of the whole line. Fortified with letters of introduction from the Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, Heman Ely, and others, to the postmaster-general (then the Hon. John McLean), Mr. Beebe started on a trip to Wash- ington, and secured the contract to carry mails and passen- gers. Under this contract the first stage-coach that ever left Cleveland was run, a six passenger coach, afterward arranged to accommodate nine. On its first trip it attracted more at- tention than did the first railroad train twenty-five years afterward. As the roads were as yet badly made, and few bridges erected where it was possible to cross streams with- out their aid, stage-coaching was attended with many diffi- culties and some danger, especially in crossing unbridged streams after a flood, when coach and horses were sometimes swept away, and the latter drowned. In 1831, commencing a daily line of four-horse coaches, Mr. Beebe continued engaged in the business of stage-coaching between Cleve-
land and Lower Sandusky until 1842, when he sold out to Neil, Moore & Co. From 1830 to 1833, Mr. Beebe carried on the business of a general merchant, in partnership with others. In 1846 he built the Beebe House, and engaged Mr. Seegur, a well-known hotel man of Cleveland, to manage it, after conducting the business for a short time himself. Im- mediately after disposing of his interest in stage-coaches, Mr. Beebe bought the Eagle mills, consisting of a grist and saw mill, and operated them for twenty-three years. In short, as a business man he has been largely identified with the busi- ness interest of Elyria, watching its growth with interest, and using his wealth to assist in its prosperity. A man of sound judgment, good common sense, and active benevolence, he won the esteem of his fellow-citizens. The faithful wife, with whom he had lived fifty-eight years, died in June, 1878, at the ripe old age of seventy-nine. She was well-fitted to be a companion to the pioneer husband, being endowed with en- ergy indomitable amid the hardships of pioneer life. Of fine mental abilities, genial in social life, and hospitable in her home, she had the love and esteem of her friends. Mr. Beebe, on the 18th of November, 1876, suffered a severe at- tack of paralysis, which, for a time, rendered him powerless; but his strong constitution, good habits, and will power over- came the disease so that he could ride. Realizing that he was looking toward the sunset, he prepared his affairs to go when the Master called. At length the silent messenger (for whose coming he had so anxiously looked) came. On the 26th of March, 1880, he died, aged eighty-six, a few days after the sixty-third anniversary of his coming to Elyria, an event which was improved by his friends, accompanied with a band of music, to congratulate him. He died honored by all who knew him, the last of the pioneers of 1817. A man of strict integrity, Christian principle, and large benevolence, he was esteemed and mourned. He has left an impress of good deeds in the town he helped to build. He left five chil- dren, three daughters and two sons.
HARLAN, WILLIAM S., a major in the late war for the Union, and in 1879 appointed by President Hayes post- master of the city of Zanesville, was born in Morgan county, Ohio, December 15th, 1836. He is of English and Irish ances- try, being the son of Ezekiel J. and Sarah (McCune) Harlan. The recorded history of the Harlan family dates back to the year 1740, when two brothers of that name came over from England and joined the colony of Friends established by William Penn. It would appear that they were men of en- terprise and force, as they subsequently engaged extensively in the manufacture of iron ; and when the remoteness of the period is considered, they were doubtless pioneer iron masters, if not among the originators of the great leading industry of Pennsylvania. Members of the family removed from Penn- sylvania to Kentucky, being contemporaries of Daniel Boone, and participated with that daring pioneer in the perils of border life. The grandfather, Ezekiel Harlan, removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio about the year 1818, settling in Mus- kingum county, where he died. Mr. Harlan's maternal grandfather came from Ireland at the age of twenty-one, and as early as 1802 settled in Morgan county, Ohio, where he purchased six quarter sections of land. Morgan county was then an almost complete wilderness, and the site now occupied by the town of McConnelsville was free of all vestige of hab- itation. Little or no progress had been made in developing the county along the Muskingum north of Marietta, and the
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pioneer city of Zanesville at that time consisted of a few rude structures. Those acquainted with the appearance of that part of the country can easily imagine some of the difficul- ties attending a settlement in Morgan county in 1802. The country was an almost impenetrable forest and the labor of preparing the soil for cultivation must have been very great. A matter of great concern with the settler of that day was the preservation of his live stock from the ravages of wolves ; and Mr. Harlan remembers with interest the account of his grandfather's difficulties in this particular. His early educa- tional advantages were limited to an attendance upon the district schools, where he improved his opportunities so that, at the age of fifteen years, he was qualified to accept a situ- ation as clerk in a store at Rural Dale, Muskingum county. He continued to improve his leisure moments until he was enabled to teach school, when he continued to clerk and teach alternately until he was twenty-four years old. Oc- tober 24, 1861, Mr. Harlan enlisted in the war for the Union, joining the 78th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. At the organ- ization of the regiment he was elected second-lieutenant, and on April 6th, 1862, on the death of Captain E. Hilles Talley, was promoted to a captaincy. His regiment was attached to the 3d division of the 17th army corps and par- ticipated in several notable engagements, including Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, and Corinth. Admonished by failing health, he resigned in the latter part of 1863, but re- enlisted in 1864, in the 159th Ohio National Guards, as major. He was stationed at Baltimore, Maryland, and had charge of the recruiting service of Maryland and Delaware. The end of hostilities ended Major Harlan's services, and he returned to his home. Before the war Major Harlan was a democrat, and cast his first ballot for President in favor of Douglas. At the close of the war he identified himself with the republican party, and has always bcen an enthusiastic laborer for its welfare. He is usually classed among the more pronounced members of his party, and exerts a large influence in its coun- cils. In March, 1879, he was appointed postmaster of Zanes- ville, which position he holds at this writing. He is inter- ested in the business affairs of Zanesville and is proprietor of the Zane Hotel. He was formerly extensively engaged in the lumber business with parties under the firm name of Herdman, Harlan & Co. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and Odd Fellows, and is connected with the Presbyterian Church. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Milhous, of Rural Dale, daughter of his former employer, and has issue of five children, four sons and one daughter.
CUNNINGHAM, DAVID, a lawyer of prominence, re- siding at Cadiz, is a native of Harrison County, Ohio, and was born March Ist, 1837. His parents were John and Nancy (Sharp) Cunningham, early settlers in Harrison County. The former accompanied his father from Pennsyl- vania to Ohio as early as 1813. Our subject attended the common schools, and later received a classical training at Franklin College, graduating from that institution in 1857. He then began his preparation for the bar, having for in- structor Hon. John A. Bingham, one of the foremost lawyers and statesmen of his time. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, and immediately commenced the practice of his pro- fession, in Cadiz, continuing until the breaking out of the late war. In July, 1861, he enlisted for the war, going out with Company B, 30th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On the
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