USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 22
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
384
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
never misrepresents. His reputation for integrity and honesty gives him great power with juries. He is an able counselor, and it is said of him that, unlike most lawyers, he advises people, in many cases, to keep out of litigation, instead of trying to draw them into it. Courteous and gentlemanly in manner, genial in disposition, and liberal in spirit and in action, he has won the esteem of all those with whom he has been brought in contact, professionally and socially.
DRAKE, DANIEL, physician, professor, and author, was born at Plainfield, New Jersey, October 20th, 1785, and died at Cincinnati, November 6th, 1852. After passing his early boyhood in Mason county, Kentucky, to which his father, Isaac Drake, had emigrated in 1788, he came to Cin- cinnati, and in December, 1800, became the first student of medicine in that now great city. He entered the office of Dr. Goforth, and in 1803, began the practice of medicine; but two years afterward he went to Philadelphia, and at- tended the lectures of the celebrated Dr. Rush. From that time to the end of his life, nearly half a century, he was an active and eminent member of his profession; fully half of the time being a professor in great medical schools. With a very active mind, impulsive character, and great ambition, he took a large part in all public enterprises, and became the founder of some institutions which have not only survived him, but have become great and useful. In the meantime he was fond of literature and science. The first work which made him distinguished was his "Picture of Cincinnati," published in 1815. This work was unpretending, but, to this day, is the best work of its kind, descriptive of a place and country. It was particularly full and excellent in the natural history and topography of the Miami valley. This made him known, and stimulated his taste for public usefulness and scientific attainments. His ambition was to found benevo- lent and educational institutions, and in this he succeeded to a degree which should make posterity grateful for his ser- vices. He was first much interested with the late Joshua L. Wilson, D. D., in founding the Lancaster Seminary,-an academy upon a new plan for the education of youth. This was finally merged into the Cincinnati College, for which he devised plans also for the medical school, and the hospital. To aid these, in the session of 1818-19, he went before the legislature of Ohio and laid his plans before the members. They were adopted at once, and charters were granted for Cincinnati College, the Medical College of Ohio, and the Commercial Hospital. Nor was he satisfied with this achieve- ment; he also procured partial endowments sufficient to put them into operation. By his unfailing energy and undaunted zeal, he made them successful. The college and the medical school are still doing good service, and the hospital has been enlarged into magnificent proportions, among the largest and best of its kind. Engaged in all these public enterprises, and interwoven, we may say, with the whole growth of so- ciety, Dr. Drake, at the age of thirty-five, had already become one of the most prominent citizens, and acquired a wide and brilliant reputation. At this period (1820-21), he became the first professor in the first medical college of Ohio, where he had been the first medical student. The controversies of medical life, caused him to retire from this institution, but he became professor, successively, in other medical colleges, so that now began what became an eminently successful career as a teacher. In 1823, he accepted the chair of materia medica in Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky.
There for three years he was acceptable and successful, add- ing greatly to the prosperity of the college. His feelings, however, being strongly in favor of Cincinnati, he in March, 1827, resigned his position, the school having doubled in numbers while he was there. In 1830, he accepted a pro- fessorship in the Jefferson Medical School, Philadelphia, but, having formed the plan of reviving medical education in Cincinnati, he resigned, in the following year, and was again elected professor in the Medical College of Ohio. In 1835, resigning his chair, he began a new medical school under the charter of Cincinnati college. In this new school, Dr. Drake was the professor of the theory and practice of medi- cine. The professors were able and the school successful; but, the college having no endowment, both literary and medical departments ceased at the end of four years. After this, he accepted a professorship in the Louisville Medical College, where he remained to the last year of his life, when he re-entered the Medical College of Ohio; but died before entering on his work there. For more than thirty years he was admired and successful as teacher, lecturer, and writer. In the midst of all his professional labors, he found time to add largely to medical literature, and to leave at least one work which remains a monument to his genius, his industry, and learning. After the publication of the "Picture of Cin cinnati," his next important work was the Medical and Phys- ical Journal, begun in 1827. With the motto, e sylvis nun - cius-a messenger from the woods-he was the pioneer in the medical journalism of the West. During several years of its publication, he published through its pages many valuable contributions to medical literature. In the meantime, fol- lowing the instinct of his nature to teach and write, he deliv- ered many public lectures on various subjects. One of these was in the cause of temperance, of which he was a life-long and zealous advocate. In September, 1827, he called the first public meeting and delivered the first lecture, in the court house of Cincinnati, on the necessity of temperance. At a subsequent period, he formed a temperance society in the Louisville Medical College. At this time he formed the idea and the plan of his great work-on the " Diseases of the Mississippi Valley"-which he announced in the Medical Journal of April, 1827. His plan was to give a complete view of the origin and character of the diseases which pre- vailed in that vast region from the Gulf of Mexico to the lakes; and this specially in reference to climate and topog -. raphy. Such a work could derive little assistance from any previous publication. It must be original. This required personal observation, only to be made in summer traveling. He had personally to observe and note the topographical phenomena of the entire interior valley. This he dia. From 1840 to 1850, inclusive, he made nine journeys and traversed thirty thousand miles. He had accurate surveys made, and topographical drawings of the hydrographic basins. Such a work was really immense in its labors, its details, and its magnitude; and it is not too much to say that no work of his generation surpassed it in the originality and labor of its per- formance. Its germ was in the "Picture of Cincinnati," written by him in 1810. Twice it had been announced, and for thirty years lay apparently dormant. It was ten years in preparation and publication. When it appeared, it was re- ceived, both in Europe and America, with unqualified praise by the highest medical and scientific authorities. It will remain a monument to a man who, to great natural genius, united the most benevolent designs and the most untiring
respectfully
385
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
labors. Dr. Drake married Miss Harriet Sisson, December 2Ist, 1807, and had five children. Charles D. Drake, jurist, his eldest son and last survivor, was born at Cincinnati, April 11th, 1811, living at Washington, D. C., September, 1878 He began the study of law in 1830, at Cincinnati, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. In 1834, he removed to St. Louis, where he practiced law and became prominent in politics. In 1867, he was elected to the United States Senate, resigning his seat in December, 1870, to accept the position of Chief Justice of the Court of Claims. He published in 1854, a "Treatise on the Law of Suits by Attachment in the United States."
TURNBULL, DAVID B., manufacturer, was born at Newark, New Jersey, April 16th, 1827. He was a son of James and Margaret Turnbull, the former born in Scotland, and the latter in England. His father came to this country in 1817, settling in Newark, New Jersey, and engaged in the business of carriage-making, following it until his death, which occurred July, 1848. His mother died in 1872. His education was only what he could obtain at the district school. Choosing carriage-making as his trade, he served an apprenticeship for seven years with his father, and suc- ceeded him in the business on the death of the latter. In 1852, desirous of increasing his trade, he opened a branch in New Orleans, which he successfully operated until the beginning of the Rebellion, which broke up the enterprise. Sixty thousand dollars, which he had accumulated during the last nine years, were lost by this. In 1861 he sold his busi- ness in Newark to his brother, Alexander, and removed to Madison, Wisconsin, where he engaged in farining for a year, remaining there, however, two years longer to regain his lost health. In 1864 he went back to his native place, stay- ing until the following year, when he moved to Aurora, Illinois, where he assumed the entire management of the business of Keith & Snell, who had taken a wagon manufac- tory on an assignment. He remained in their employment two years, and the end of the next year found him without a cent in the world, having spent his whole salary. He then made a bold resolve to try his fortune again, and, borrowing ten dollars of a friend, he went to South Bend, Indiana. The following day he bought some lumber and made himself a bench, and then commenced and laid the foundation, by hand, of the immense business now carried on by the firm of which he is the head. He remained there one year, and then removed to Goshen, in the same State, where he en- larged his business so that his place was capable of produc- ing about twenty-five thousand dollars of finished work per year. He remained in this place until 1870, when he removed to Laporte, and formed a stock company known as the Laporte Wheel Company, of which he was the general man- ager. After conducting this business three years he sold his interest to William Niles for the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars. In 1873 he removed to Napoleon, Ohio, and rented an agricultural manufactory, carrying on business there for three years. During this time he associated with him his eldest son, Frederick A. Turnbull, and Mr. S. P. Shelly, doing business under the firm name of Turnbull & Shelly. In these three years his business had increased to such an extent that his accommodations were far too small, and he saw that he must look for more extensive ground. He selected twelve acres in Defiance, the county seat of the adjoining county on the right bank of the Maumee river,
just below the confluence of that stream with the Auglaize river. In 1876 he erected the buildings he now occupies, and engaged in the manufacturing of wagons and agricultu- ral wheels. His business has increased very fast, requiring additional buildings, year by year, until now they cover an area of five acres. From the small beginning at South Bend, in 1870, has grown a business of about half a million dollars per annum, or an average of about twenty wagons and one thousand agricultural wheels per day. His position is very favorably located for his business, as he can utilize both rivers for a market in which to buy his logs, they being rafted down to his neighborhood and remaining in the water until he is ready to saw them. At this writing he has about four million feet in the water. In 1852 he was made a F. A. M., and has attained the degree of Knight Templar. In politics he has never taken a very prominent part, but has used his influence and given his support to the republican party, which he has always adhered to, his father being an old-line whig before him. He is not a church member, but enter- tains sound orthodox views, and is a regular attendant at, and a liberal supporter of, the Presbyterian Church, of which he is a trustee and his wife a member. He was married Janu- ary 20th, 1848, to Miss Frances J. Hayden, daughter of Mrs. Hayden, a widow lady residing in Newark, New Jersey. Three children have blest this union-Fred. A., David H., and William. The two eldest are associated with their father in business, Fred. A. attending to the financial department, and David H. acting as superintendent, while William is fit- ting himself to be a competent machinist and draughtsman. He has already served his full term as apprentice in a shop, and is about to travel in Europe to complete his education, and upon his return will be superintendent of machinery for his father. Soon after he came here Mr. Turnbull found the Presbyterian Church building in a dilapidated condition, not inviting to the members or calculated to bring additions to their number. Through his energy, ability, and inventive genius he has made it one of the finest churches in the city. For the benefit of the musical interest of the city he has furn- ished a room and piano to a teacher free of charge. Mr. Turnbull is a gentleman in every respect, and ranks high in social and business circles. He has done more the past five years for the welfare of Defiance than any of its citizens, and bids fair to become one of the leading men of the North-west.
WILSON, HORACE, lawyer, of Columbus, was born in Athens county, in this State, June 22d, 1823. He is the only son of Ezekiel Wilson and Nancy (Camp) Wilson. His father was a seafaring man, and was born in the County Antrim, Ireland. His mother was a native of Connecticut, and her family were among the early settlers of that State. She was a woman of strong traits of character and rare ac- complishments. When Mr. Wilson was four years of age his father died, and eight years later his mother, also, died, and he was, therefore, early thrown upon his own resources to make his way in life. He regulated his conduct as nearly as possible in accordance with the wholesome lessons taught him by his mother, who gave him all the instruction he re- ceived up to the time of her death, after which he irregularly attended such schools as were convenient in his neighbor- hood. In 1838, he removed from Athens county to Licking county, and while living there made application for appoint- ment to a cadetship at West Point. General Rosecrans, how- ever, was the successful applicant, and Mr. Wilson returned
386
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
the same year to Athens county, and went to work at such labor as he could procure. In 1840, he commenced a course of study at the Ohio University. During his attend- ance at this institution he was obliged to support himself by teaching and daily labor in his intervals of study. In 1845, while he was teaching a private school in Athens, he com- menced the study of law with the Hon. John Welch, late of the Supreme Court. He was admitted to the bar at McCon- nelsville, in 1847, and the same year taught school at Nelson- ville. Although Mr. Wilson has been in the practice ever since he was admitted to the bar, he has given considerable attention to other business matters. He has always been, to a certain extent, a farmer. He takes a lively interest in every thing which tends to advance the growth of the city of his adoption and the development of the resources of Frank- lin and adjoining counties, and performs a full share of all the duties which are incident to the career of an active and in- dustrious business man. He began the practice of law at Ath- ens, in 1848, and was married the same year to Miss Caroline A. Hunt, of Franklin county, the third daughter of P. R. Hunt, of Clinton township. He continued to practice in his native place until 1859, when he removed to Columbus, where he now lives. Three children were the issue of this marriage, Clifford Hunt, Percy Ripley, and Mac Lee Wilson. Percy, his second son, is a graduate of the Columbus high-school, and served for a time with the State Geological Survey. At the expiration of this he entered, as a student, the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1875. During the latter year and 1876 he attended a course of law lectures and was admitted to the bar. The same spring he visited Eu- rope, and remained abroad two years, when he returned to his home. In 1879, he went to Ireland, where he was married to Miss Emily Sandes, fifth daughter of Stephen Sandes, Esq. He is now a resident of Columbus, and is associated in the practice of the law with his father. Horace Wilson, the sub- ject of this sketch, has always taken a deep interest in edu- cational matters. He has been a trustee of the Ohio Univer- sity since 1853, and was elected a member of the Columbus Board of Education in 1874, and re-elected in 1876. His votes and his measures were characterized by prudence and economy, and he was regarded by his fellow-members as a useful and eminently practical man. In 1861, he was elected to represent a large part of the population of Columbus in the city council. He was chairman of two of the most im- portant committees, and discharged his duties with prompt- ness and fidelity. He was re-elected in 1863, and served a second term, rendering important service to that municipal body as a lawyer and as a local legislator. Mr. Wilson was the choice of the democracy as its candidate for State senator in the tenth senatorial district, composed of the counties of Franklin and Pickaway, being nominated by a joint conven- tion of the two counties in the Fall of 1881. He was elected, and is now (June, 1882) a member of the Senate of Ohio. Mr. Wilson is regarded as a liberal-minded man, in politics as well as in religion. He is, however, a steadfast democrat, and, without being obtrusive, advocates his principles with zeal whenever occasion may require it. He is a Presbyterian by faith, and has been a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Columbus, with one or two intervals, for about twenty years. There is no ostentation about Mr. Wilson. He is a plain man, of fine address, and there is no gall or bitterness in his composition. The attribute of always speak- ing well of every body seems, in his case, to be inherited
rather than acquired. As a lawyer he serves his clients, whether rich or poor, with his best abilities, and gives them his estimate of their cause without reservation, and makes pretty much all of them his friends. He is held in high esteem by the courts and by his brother members of the bar. As a business man his reputation is unexceptionable and his honor unquestioned. In and out of office he has always discharged the trusts reposed in him with the strictest integ- rity. As an educator, as an alderman, and as a State sena- tor, Mr. Wilson is the same man in his bearing, and in his intercourse with his fellow-citizens is a sensible and practical man, who does business for the State or the municipality on the principles that he conducts his own.
TEWKSBURY, MOOR RUSSELL, a prominent and highly respected citizen of Portsmouth, Ohio, was born in Bath, New Hampshire, April 27th, 1808. His father, Ezekiel Tewks- bury, was a farmer by occupation and a native of Amherst, Massachusetts, and his mother, Sally Barron, was born in North Haverhill, New Hampshire, a place situated on the State line between New Hampshire and Vermont. Our subject re- mained upon his father's farm until he had attained his ma- jority, and his early advantages in the way of an education were such as could be obtained at the common district schools, and by his own unaided exertions during leisure hours from hard work. Farming was not congenial to his tastes, and accordingly, at the age of twenty-two, he resolved to try his fortune in the new Eldorado of the West. After spending a short time in Michigan, he found that the malarial climate of that peninsula did not agree with him, and in order to improve his condition he removed to Portsmouth, the county-seat of Scioto county, Ohio. This was in 1830. He went almost immediately to Franklin Furnace, situated in the same county, where a cousin was employed, and, being out of funds, chopped wood and was variously employed about the furnace until 1833. In that year he went to Hang- ing Rock, and engaged as river agent for Robert Hamilton (see sketch of Mr. Hamilton elsewhere in this work), who was at that time proprietor of the Pine Grove Furnace. Here Mr. Tewksbury remained for eight years, doing business for the furnace, and attending to the shipping of iron. In the year 1841 he changed his occupation to that of book- keeper for the firm of D. Agnew & Co., proprietors of the Hanging Rock Forge. This concern failed one year later, and the works were sold to Henry Hanna, Mr. Tewksbury re- maining as book-keeper until 1844. His sojourns with these firms resulted in the accumulation of some capital, and in that year, with the money thus saved, he bought an interest in the Jackson Furnace, making his home in Sciotoville, Scioto county, filling the position of river agent for this furnace until Janu- ary, 1853. In September, 1845, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah W. Linn, an orphan, who was the daughter of Andrew and Jane Linn, of Brown county, Ohio. Three chil- dren were born to them, one of whom died in infancy. In the spring of 1851 he removed to Jackson Furnace, and the following June his wife died, leaving two daughters, who grew to womanhood, and were married as follows : Ella S. became the wife of J. N. Murray January 29th, 1867, and died De- cember 4th, 1881, leaving two children, a son and daughter, Albert Linn and Isabelle; Sarah Linn,the second daughter, was united in marriage to John Peebles, of the wholesale firm of Read & Peebles, Portsmouth, November 8th, 1870, and died July 7th, 1881, leaving one daughter, Martha S. Peebles.
M.t. Vents burg
387
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
In January, 1853, Mr. Tewksbury sold his interest in the Jack- son Furnace, and became a resident of Portsmouth, associat- ing himself with the firm of R. Bell & Co., manufacturers of and wholesale dealers in boots and shoes. His relations with this firm lasted about three years, during a part of which time he was also river agent for Madison Furnace. Then followed a respite from active participation in business affairs for a few years, during which time he was engaged in loaning money. May 27th, 1856, he was united in marriage to his present wife, Sarah A. Baird, the accomplished daughter and oldest child of Captain William and Julia Baird, natives of Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania. Her father was a captain on the Ohio river for a great many years, and was very highly respected for his many noble traits of character. He died October 14th, 1851, his wife having departed this life in May of the year 1843. This happy union has been blessed with a family of four children, three daughters and one son, namely : Jennie T., who is married to Frank E. Todd, a business man of Cleveland, Ohio, and Russell Baird, Julia, and Margaret F., who reside at home. The two young ladies are gradu- ates of Glendale Seminary, Glendale, Butler county, Ohio, and are very proficient in the art of painting-the writer having seen some rare and beautiful specimens, executed by their skillful hands. In 1855 Mr. Tewksbury became inter- ested in a private bank in Portsmouth, doing business under the firm name of Means, Hull & Co., which in 1860 sus- pended, and Mr. Tewksbury was detailed to wind up the affairs of the concern. This engaged his attention until about the year 1861. He executed this work with such fairness a ; to win the genuine respect and confidence of all the parties interested. In the year following he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue (John Campbell, of Ironton, col- lector) for the 11th Congressional district of Ohio. This po- sition he held until Andrew Johnson's administration. Then followed again a cessation from business cares until the year 1875, when he was made president and general superin- tendent of the Norton Iron Works, at Ashland, Kentucky, which position he held until 1876, when he retired from active business life, devoting his time to his own private affairs. He was one of the organizers of the Portsmouth National Bank, which received its charter in 1865, and has been a member of its board of directors ever since, with the excep- tion of one year. In politics, he was first an old-line whig, and a great admirer of Henry Clay, voting for that illustrious statesman for the Presidency, and when the republican party was organized he became an ardent believer in its principles. He has never been an office-seeker, and, though often solic- ited, has always declined any such honors. He is a man who is firm in his convictions and singularly free from self- ishness. In his manners and conversation he is modest and unassuming, and is the very embodiment of truth and honor in all of his transactions, public and private. He is a gen- tleman of reserved yet affable manners, and his sterling worth makes him a valuable member of society. Although past the allotted age of man, being now (1882) seventy-four years old, he is still vigorous in mind and body, and there is perhaps no man in Southern Ohio of his years who bears his age better or is more active in his movements than Mr. Tewksbury. In his business relations he has been successful, and now enjoys the fruits of a well-spent life and a pros- perous and honorable business career. Surrounded by his amiable and intelligent family, we predict for him yet many years of joy and comfort.
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.