USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 25
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career terminated with his retirement from the Supreme Bench, whence he returned to the practice of his profession, to which he was earnestly and devotedly attached. In 1870 he was retained by the contestants in the celebrated " Alex- ander Campbell Will Case," in the Brooke County (West Virginia) Court, at Wellsburg, in which Judge Jeremiah Black, of Pennsylvania, and the late President Garfield were op- posing counsel. Judge Kennon made especial effort in prep- aration for this case, unduly taxing his mind, and during the excitement incidental to the discussion of a proposed ad- journment of the case by Judge Black, Judge Kennon was stricken with paralysis, from which he never wholly recov- ered. As a sagacious statesman, a profound jurist, and an eminent lawyer, Judge Kennon stood pre-eminently at the head of his contemporaries-a bar of such ability that they rendered the St. Clairsville bar famous. His genius stamped its impress upon his time, and his work is embodied in the fundamental law of his State. Hi's personal integrity was so absolute that no breath of suspicion ever sullied it ; he had no tracks to cover, or opinions or motives to conceal. June 15th, 1825, he was married to Mary Ellis, who at this writing (1882) still survives him. The Hon. Wilson S. Kennon is the sole representative of his father's family. He served in the Ohio Legislature, was appointed by Governor Tod Secretary of State, and was a paymaster in the late war for the Union, with rank of major. He is a lawyer by profession, and has acquired exceptional prominence as a jury lawyer, possess- ing the declamatory powers which so eminently distinguished his father. He was a member of the firm of Okey, Sayler & Kennon for five years, and was Prosecuting Attorney of the county six years. In 1871 he came back to his father's residence, and looked after the estates. Judge Kennon died in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
TOD, DAVID, lawyer, and twentieth governor elected by the people of Ohio, was born at Youngstown, Mahoning county, Ohio, February 21st, 1805, and died at Brier Hill, Ohio, November 13th, 1868. His father, George Tod, lawyer and jurist, a native of Connecticut, born in 1774, came to Ohio in 1800, and settled on the Western Reserve with many others of the early pioneers of the State. Ohio was then a territory, under the government of General St. Clair, and in the first year of his residence he was chosen by the governor to act as territorial secretary. Ohio having been admitted as a State he was, in 1803, elected as one of the judges of the supreme court, and held that office seven years in succession. He was afterward reëlected to the same position, but resigned his seat on the bench at the breaking out of the war with Great Britain in 1812, and tendered his services to the gov- ernor. He was commissioned a major, and afterward pro- moted to the colonelcy of the 19th regiment of the army. He displayed marked bravery and coolness in several engage- ments, especially at Sackett's harbor and Fort Meigs. At the close of the war he resigned his commission and returned to Trumbull county, where, after a short time, he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the old third circuit, which included all of northern Ohio. He remained on the common pleas bench fourteen years, and retired in 1829. After that time he devoted himself to his legal practice, and to the management of the Brier Hill farm, where he died in the old log homestead, in 1841, at the age of sixty-seven, uni- versally regretted. He bore the reputation of being a kind, generous citizen, beloved by all his neighbors. Coming to
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Ohio when it was but a wilderness, and when the people were poor and the salaries of officials were small, he was unable to lay up property for his family, or to provide for his children receiving more than ordinary education. His wife, Sallie Tod, was a beautiful woman, a kind and excellent wife and mother, who was beloved by her acquaintances, and almost worshipped by her children. His sister was the wife of Gen- eral Ingersoll, of Connecticut: David Tod, the subject of this notice, was reared a farmer boy on his father's home- stead at Brier Hill, and had but few advantages of education beyond what could be obtained from the common schools of that period. His principal education was subsequently ob- tained at his own expense at the old Burton Academy, in Geauga county. He studied law in the office of Colonel Roswell Stone, at Warren, Trumbull county ; was admitted to the bar in 1827, at the age of twenty-two, when he was in debt for his board and tuition about $1,000. He commenced practice in company with the Hon. Matthew Birchard, who was afterward made judge of the court of common pleas, and in 1841 supreme judge. He soon became eminent as a great jury lawyer and advocate, and acquired a large practice ; he was a man of fine presence, winning manners, deep-toned, musical voice; genial, social, amusing and attractive, his social qualities made him very popular. His practice soon enabled him to discharge his debts, and also to repurchase and save the old Brier Hill homestead, that had become in- volved. This he preserved as a home for his parents, adding to it, after his father's death, a new house in place of the old log cabin. His political life began in the days of Andrew Jackson, whom he strongly admired and supported for the Presidency, although his father had always acted with the whig party. Under Jackson's administration he was ap- pointed postmaster at Warren, holding the position until 1838, when he was elected by the democrats State senator, in the strong whig county of Trumbull, which position he filled with great ability, and to the entire satisfaction of his democratic friends. He continued the practice of law until 1844, when he moved to Brier Hill, his old home, and there opened the Brier Hill coal mine. He at the same time started the pro- ject of developing the coal fields and introducing coal into the Cleveland and lake markets by way of the Pennsylvania canal, a canal which owed its existence largely to his efforts, and of which he remained a director until his death. He was the pioneer in opening the coal trade and shipments upon the canal from his Brier Hill and Girard mines, thus laying the foundation of his own after-wealth and stimulating the coal and iron business of the Mahoning valley. He was largely interested in the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad from the commencement of the work of construction until his death, and became president of the company after the death of Jacob Perkins, its first president. He had the satisfaction of seeing the stock of the company advance under his presi- dency from thirty per cent. to above par, and also to see the wealth and prosperity created by it in his native town and the Mahoning valley. In 1844 he was nominated by the demo- crats for governor, and although the State was strongly whig he was defeated by but a very small majority. In 1847 he was tendered by President Polk, unsolicited, the appointment of minister to the court of Brazil, with which our relations had become very unsatisfactory in consequence of the injudicious course of the previous minister, Henry A. Wise. He started in June, 1847, with his wife and young children, and re- mained in Brazil about four years and a half. During his
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stay he not only succeeded in reestablishing friendly relations between the two governments, but also in procuring the set- tlement of a claim that had been thirty years in dispute, by which he was enabled to collect and remit to Washington about $300,000. On leaving Brazil he took with him a special commendation from the Emperor to the President as a testi- mony of the esteem in which he was held. He also received an elegant silver tray memorial from the United States citi- zens residing at Rio de Janeiro, in acknowledgment of his uniform kindness, courtesy, and liberality to his countrymen who stood in need of aid or advice in a strange land. On his return to his Ohio home, he had a magnificent reception from his neighbors and employés. The next five years were mainly devoted to looking after his coal interests, and work- ing for the success of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad. In 1860 he was a delegate to the National democratic con- vention at Charleston, going there strongly attached to Stephen A .. Douglas. He was made first vice president, Caleb Cushing being president of the convention. He stoutly resisted the demands of the pro-slavery Southern delegates, and bade defiance to their threats of secession, and when they adjourned to Baltimore, and the Southern delegates mostly withdrew, Caleb Cushing going with them, he as- sumed the chair, and the nomination of Douglas was made by the remaining members. He earnestly engaged in support of Douglas, and labored zealously in his behalf, but when Lincoln was elected and secession was threatened, he deter- inined to stand by Lincoln's administration and the Federal government. When all attempts at peace failed, and Fort Sumter was fired upon, he was among the first public men in the State to advocate and engage in the vigorous prose- cution of the war until rebellion was completely crushed out of existence. He subscribed largely to the war fund of his township, and in addition furnished company B, of the 19th Ohio regiment, with their first uniforms, and he continued from time to time during the war to contribute largely of his means and aid in all suitable ways. In the fall of 1861, the Union men of Ohio, including all the republicans and most of the genuine war democrats, agreed to unite for the support of the country. At a State convention, called in this spirit, he was nominated for governor, and in October he was elected by over 55,000 majority. The two years of his term, 1862 and 1863, were the two years of the war when the hard- est work fell upon the governor of Ohio. Distress and dis- couragement prevailed, Ohio was threatened with invasion and devastation by the rebels, large numbers of troops were called for, and the work of sending forward and caring for such bodies of men was not yet properly organized. He bent all his energies to the task before him, and his wise ar- rangements for raising and forwarding regiments, his judg- ment in selecting officers, his thoughtful care for the men at the front and the sick and wounded in the rear, and the kindness and attention shown the wives, dependents, and friends of the soldiers, endeared him to all. He made so few requests of the President and Secretary of War that those he did make were promptly attended to, and President Lincoln said, "Governor Tod aided him more and troubled him less than any other governor." When he retired from the execu- tive office the Ohio legislature passed a joint resolution of thanks, in which, after recounting the various ways in which he had rendered valuable service to the State and endeared himself to its people, they closed by saying that "his official discharge of duty will remain a proud monument to his
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memory and a rich legacy to his children." After leaving the executive office at Columbus, he retired to his home at Brier Hill for rest, and devoted the remainder of his life to the interests of his family, his estate, coal and iron works, and the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company, of which he was president. On the retirement of Salmon P. Chase from the office of Secretary of the Treasury, President Lincoln, without any previous intimation to him or solicita- tion from him, tendered him that cabinet position, but his private affairs required his whole attention, and the honorable position was gratefully declined. In 1868 he was nominated and elected by the republicans one of the Presidential electors for the State at large, but his sudden death on the 13th No- vember, 1868, prevented his meeting the electoral college at Columbus, and casting his vote for General Grant. At the meeting of the electoral college on December Ist, resolutions of respect were adopted, and a public eulogy upon his life and character was delivered, at the request of the college, by Hon. Samuel Galloway. He had great native talent and ability ; was a most excellent judge of men and things prac- tically ; a man of warm heart and generous deeds. He was a self-educated, self-made man, and he proved himself to be equal to any position to which he was called.
YOUNG, EDMOND STAFFORD, a distinguished law- yer, of Dayton, comes of New England parentage, and of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, Dr. Hugh Murray Young, arrived from Ireland at an early day, was a prominent physician in Connecticut, and died there in 1815, at the age of seventy-three. His father, George Murray Young, and his mother, Sibel Green, the one of Connecticut and the other of New Hampshire nativity, moved to Ohio with their four children, of whom Edmond S. was the oldest, and in 1835 settled at Newark. The father at first turned his atten- tion to mercantile pursuits, but being educated for a journalist and espousing the cause of reform, became one of the editors of the Organ and Messenger, a paper published in Cincin- nati, and the recognized exponent and representative of the Sons of Temperance, of which fraternity (numbering at the time thirty thousand members) he was the Grand Worthy Patriarch. In 1851 he moved from Cincinnati to Dayton, of which city he was elected Mayor, and at the time of his death (which occurred in 1878) held the position of United States Commissioner. Professor Young, of Poughkeepsie, New York, was his brother. Edmond Stafford Young was born at Lyme, New Hampshire, February 28th, 1827. His boyhood and early youth were passed in Newark, Ohio, and in the schools of that city he received his primary education. He commenced his collegiate course at Granville College, and having completed his sophomore year at that institution, entered Farmers' College, where he graduated, with honors, at the age of twenty. Choosing for a profession the law, he prosecuted his studies under the direction of W. J. McKinney, a leading attorney and counselor of Dayton ; graduated at the Cincinnati Law School ; was duly admitted to the bar ; and, at Dayton, in 1853, began the battle of life. For thirty years Mr. Young has been an active, industrious, and suc- cessful lawyer, and has enjoyed a large and lucrative prac- tice. During his long professional career he has had at different times, as law partners G. W. Brown, D. A. Hauk, O. M. Gottshall, and lastly George R. Young. Though always taking a lively interest in public affairs, and withal a consistent adherent of the Republican party, still he is not a
politician in the common acceptation of the term. He is independent and fearless in the assertion of his opinion, has never sought office, and has invariably opposed every move- ment of his party friends to place him in nomination for political distinction. An ardent advocate of the Union, he gave Mr. Lincoln's administration unwavering support, and while filling the office of Commissioner of the Draft encour- aged and looked after the welfare of Montgomery County soldiers, and saw that they were properly forwarded to their respective camps. In September, 1856, he was married to Sarah B. Dechert, daughter of Elijah P. Dechert, an eminent attorney, of Reading, Pennsylvania, and granddaughter of Judge Robert Porter, son of General Andrew Porter, of Revolu- tionary fame. Mr. Young has had four children-one daughter and three sons, the youngest of whom died in infancy. The oldest son, George R. Young, a promising lawyer of Dayton, is associated with his father, under the law firm of Young & Young. Possessed of splendid physique and energetic vigor, Mr. Young has been capable of unremitting toil, and of hold- ing his own against the strongest, while the temperate habits of his life, the integrity and justness of his nature, and his frank and genial disposition has secured for him the respect and esteem of the members of the bar generally and of the society in which he lives.
PERIN, OLIVER, banker and manufacturer, of Cincin- nati (deceased), was born at Perin's Mills, Clermont County, Ohio, December 24th, 1821. His parents were Samuel and Mary (Simkins) Perin. Young Perin's boyhood and youth were passed on the farm. He entered Woodward College, Cincinnati, at the age of seventeen, where he completed his education. The great aim of his young life seemed to be to get away from the monotonous and irksome life of the country ; and believing, as he often expressed it, "there was something better for him," he was desirous of entering upon active commercial life and business pursuits in the great city. The following editorial, which appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial, at the time of his death, details his active career:
"Mr. Perin suddenly passed away November 29th, 1880, in his fifty-ninth year, and had passed nearly twoscore years in active business life in this city, coming here before he had attained his majority. He was cut out from the first for a successful business career, and found his mission without the waste of a single month. He became a partner in the com- mission house of Robert Cohoon, on the west side of Walnut Street, between Front and Second, and there he remained for several years. After the death of Mr. Cohoon he associ- ated himself with Mr John Gould, and embarked in business, the firm name being Perin & Gould, and their place of busi- ness at 88 and 90 West Front Street, between Vine and Race. This partnership was maintained until the Ist of July, 1880, when Mr. Gould retired from the firm, and the style was changed to Nelson Perin & Co. About 1855 Mr. Perin con- nected himself with Mr. William Monypenny at Lockbourne, Ohio, and at almost the same time with Thomas and James W. Gaff in the distilling business, which by the time of the break- ing out of the war had reached colossal proportions. Subse- quently, too, he united with James W. Gaff in the purchase of · the wholesale hardware business of Tyler Davidson, and or- ganized the Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Co. In his capacity as a hardware manufacturer Mr. Perin at one time employed the labor of the inmates of the workhouse. Failing to agree upon the terms of a renewal, after the expiration of his contract, he went to Jeffersonville, Indiana, the seat of the Southern Indiana Penitentiary, and contracted for the labor of the convicts. The company now employs three hundred and fifty of the inmates of that institu- tion. To other responsible positions he added, about
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fourteen years ago, that of president of the Third National Bank, and held it up to the hour of his death. Mr. Perin, at the time of his death, was actively interested in the follow- ing well known business houses of this city: The Perin & Gaff Manufacturing Company ; Nelson Perin & Co .; The Mill Creek Distilling Company; the Cincinnati Abattoir and Warehouse Company ; and The Cincinnati Packing Company. He was also largely interested in The Common Carrier Com- pany, Cincinnati Gas Company, and Cincinnati Street Railway Company. . Mr. Perin was a man of great understanding, and mastered the details of a vast and multiform business with singular ease, saying 'yes' and 'no,' in the most im- portant affairs, with the rapidity, clearness, and aptness char- acteristic of the most distinguished ability. He was a man of extraordinary endowments, and if we should attempt to describe him in a word, we should say he was a man of in- tegrity. To this and his rare intelligence was added the courage that goes into enterprise. His practical mind sifted the fantastic from the real, and gathered, in their season, the golden harvests that spring from the solid ground when it is well tended."
He was prominently connected with almost every public business enterprise which looked to the permanent develop- ment of the city interest. He had no religious connection, but was in full sympathy with all moral enterprises. He was a Democrat in early life, and upon the outbreak of the Re- bellion he heartily espoused his country's cause, and gave liberally to its support. He was married January 2d, 1851, to Miss Mary Jane Nelson, daughter of Sacker Nelson, a pioneer Methodist, of Revolutionary stock. Six sons and one daughter were born to them; two of the former (Nelson and Frank L.) succeeded their father in business, and are prominent in commercial circles. Three (Oliver, Howard, and Edmund S., the latter a graduate of Harvard College) are deceased. The daughter is the wife of George T. Harri- son, an attorney, of Cincinnati.
BIRCHARD, SARDIS, merchant, banker, and philan- thropist, was born in Wilmington, Windham county, Ver- mont, January 15th, 1801, and died at Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio, January 21st, 1874. He was the youngest son of Roger and Drusilla (Austin) Birchard. Both of his grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war; one of them having died of a disease contracted during that war. The Birchards were among the first settlers of Norwich, Connecticut. The death of his mother caused the brcaking up of our subject's family, consisting of five children, and Sardis, as the youngest, was taken by his sister Sophia, who had married Rutherford Hayes, and became one of their family, at Dummerston, Vermont, until 1817, when he, with them, removed to Delaware, Ohio. Having, by this time, acquired in the schools of Dummerston a fair English education, after arriving in Ohio, he engaged in the business of his brother-in-law, building, farming, driving, caring for stock; varying such occupations by hunting, and was known to supply not only the family of his brother-in-law, but several other families, with turkeys and venison. Five years after their arrival in Ohio, Rutherford Hayes died, lcaving a widow with three children, and a large unsettled business. Sardis Birchard, then of age, assumed the duties of head of his sister's family, and applied himself diligently to the management of his brother-in-law's estate, and the care of his household. In the summer of 1825, while mowing, he overheated himself, and injured his health to a degree from which he never recovered, and the following winter was confined to his bed with an affection of the lungs that
threatened to terminate his life, but he rallied, and subse- quently made a trip, on horseback, to Vermont, where he remained until the approach of the winter of 1826-27, when he went to Georgia, and there spent the following six months, returning, in the spring, to New York City. There purchas- ing a stock of goods, he accompanied it, when shipped, to Cleveland, with the intention of selling to the laborers on the Erie and Ohio canal. After passing down into the Tuscarawas Valley, he became dissatisfied with the business, disposed of a part of his goods to another trader, and took the remainder to Fort Ball, now Tiffin, where he remained, successfully dealing with the new settlers, until the close of that year, when he removed to Lower Sandusky, and there began business as general storekeeper. Refusing to sell the Indians spirituous liquors, they dealt with him more freely than they otherwise would have done; and having, in this manner, cleared $10,000 in four years, he regarded himself rich enough to retire. But he did not do so. On the con- trary, in 1831, he formed a partnership with Rodolphus Dickinson and Esbon Husted, under the firm name of R. Dickinson & Co., and, the capital being furnished by Mr. Birchard, they soon had in operation one of the largest retail stores north of Columbus and west of Cleveland, their sales amounting, in the first year, to $50,000, principally, as was the custom of the time, on credit. Having purchased for $4,000, with Richard Sears-each owning a half interest, a schooner called the John Richards, they loaded her with wheat, and this cargo was the first ever shipped at any port west of Cleveland. This wheat, grown on the Seneca county ridges, was then in good demand, as of superior quality, and brought fifty cents a bushel. In 1835, Mr. Husted died, and his place in the firm was taken by George Grant, who, since the beginning of the partnership, had been a clerk of the firm. In 1841, Mr. Grant died, and the firm was dissolved, and the business settled by Mr. Birchard. Ten years after- ward, he formed a partnership with Lucius B. Otis, and under the firm name of Birchard & Otis, the first banking house in Fremont was established. On the removal of Judge Otis to Chicago, in 1856, Mr. Birchard formed a partnership with Anson H. Miller and Dr. James W. Wilson, under the firm name of Birchard, Miller & Co., which con- tinued until 1863, when the First National Bank of Fremont was organized, as the second national bank organized in Ohio, and the fifth in the United States, and of which Mr. Birchard was elected the president, holding that position until his death. During the years that intervened between his arriving at manhood and his death, Mr. Birchard was ever conspicuous in, and the ardent promoter of, every good work designed to advance the welfare of the town of his residence. He was connected with the first enterprise that opened river and lake commerce between Fremont and Buffalo. Appropriations by the State for the construction of the Western Reserve and Maumee road had in him an early, untiring, and efficient advocate; and through his efforts, in circulating petitions through the State to influence public opinion, and thus secure favorable legislative action, that work was doubtless completed many years earlier than it otherwise would have been. He next became enlisted in the enterprise of constructing the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad. The chances then were that the northern, and rival route, now known as the Northern Divi- sion, would be constructed first, and a long struggle ensued between the supporters of each route. In connection with
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