USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 32
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MORGAN, THOMAS REES, SEN., inventor and manufacturer, Alliance, Ohio, was born in Wales, March 31st, 1834. His parents, Rees Morgan and Margaret (Lewis) Mor- gan, were natives of Wales, living at Penydarran, Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, where they reared a family of six
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children, Thomas R. being the youngest son. He was sent to school until eight years of age, and then placed at work by his father, who was a coal-mining contractor, in the mines, first as door-boy and subsequently as teamster. At this early age his father found him so efficient and reliable that he gave him a trustworthy position, formerly filled only by persons of much maturer years. At ten and a half years of age he was fearfully mangled by an accident in the mines, and pro- nounced incurable by his surgeons ; but his youth and strong vitality, together with the watchful, earnest care of his devoted mother, brought him safely through, with the loss, however, of his left leg below the knee. Being thus disabled, the mining company, whose favor the father and son had enlisted by long and faithful service, urged that young Thomas be given an education, volunteering to help him through. Ac- cordingly, at the age of eleven, he was placed in one of the best schools in the vicinity, one in which many eminent scientists and scholars received their training. This school was taught by Taliesin Williams, the father of Edward Will- iams, Esq., President of the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, and late Mayor of Middleboro, and general manager of Bolckow & Vaughan's Iron and Steel Works, one of the largest in the world. While in this school young Morgan evinced a special aptitude for mathematics, which was his favorite study, making such rapid strides in that branch as to surpass many of his older associates. At a very early age he gave evidence of a rare mechanical and inventive talent, and when about fourteen, at his own solicitation, though in opposition to the designs of his parents, he was permitted to leave school to learn the machinist's trade. To this he de- voted his faithful attention for five years, in the Penydarran Iron Works, of his native town. He was then employed for several years as a machinist in the Dowlais Iron Works, in the same place, at that time one of the largest establish- ments of the kind in the world. Subsequently, after short periods spent in the iron works of Llaniddel and Cardiff, he became a leading workman in the Dowlais establishment, and so remained for nearly three years. He was then called to more desirable positions, respectively in the iron works in Blaenavon, Pontypool, and the machine shops in Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, having charge of the last-named works for five years, and there making for himself an enviable reputa- tion as a workman of superior skill and reliability. Being well aware of the opening resources of America, and its advantages of personal liberty, he decided, against friendly solicitations to remain in his native country, to leave it and come to the United States. Arriving in 1865, with his family, he located at Pittston, Pennsylvania, where he found employ- ment in the shops of the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Rail- road, and then in the Cambria Iron Works, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, receiving the highest wages of any machinist in the works. He then removed to Pittsburg, where he was successively engaged as foreman in the machine shops of the Alleghany Valley Railway ; as machinist in the Atlas Works, of that city; as superintendent of Messrs. Smith & Porter's machine shops ; and finally as master mechanic in the Atlas Works, where he remained for nearly two years. After this he engaged for himself in Pittsburg, in February, 1868, in the manufacture of steam hammers and other special machinery, and so continued for three years, with an increasing business. In August, 1871, he removed his business to Alliance, Ohio, where he has continued on an enlarged and constantly in- creasing scale, up to the present time. Here he has gathered 15 --- B
around him scores of trained machinists and draughtsmen, the chief among the latter being his own sons, young men of decidedly rare ability in their department. His establish- ment, formerly known as the "Morgan & Williams Manu- facturing Company," but recently changed to "Morgan's Engineering Works," of which Mr. Morgan is president, gives employment at present to about two hundred trained workmen, the machinery produced being mostly of Mr. Mor- gan's own designing and construction, and being largely covered by patents. The articles manufactured are special- ties, many of them being new productions to meet new wants, including patent steam-hammers for general forging and steel purposes, steam drop-hammers, steam helve-hammers, patent steam and power punching and shearing presses, from the smallest to the largest used in this country ; also machinery for the manufacture of seamless tin-ware, hydraulic and other machinery for Bessemer and open-hearth hydraulic plants, traveling cranes, and a large variety of other special machinery for the shaping of metals into many forms. These produc- tions find a market in the various leading iron and steel works of this country, and some in England. Among their articles of powerful machinery should be mentioned the mammoth guillotine steam-shears, weighing upward of fifty tons, and cutting a steel plate one hundred inches long, and one and a fourth inches thick, as smoothly and easily as a pair of sharp scissors would cut paper. Mr. Morgan is the only one who builds any of this kind of tool in this country, he having already supplied most of the leading plate-mills with it. In ponderous machinery he is the leading manu- facturer in America. Mr. Morgan is a most indefatigable worker, having labored during the past thirty years not less than fifteen hours daily. He has a large and well-selected library, comprising works relating to his business, and also of general literature. He is a member of the American In- stitute of Mining Engineers, the American Society of Mechan- ical Engineers, and the Iron and Steel Institute of Great Britain, and in his department is one of the most advanced and best informed men in America. He treats his employés with more than usual regard, and secures and retains their friendship and co-operation by good counsel and advice. He was for a number of years a member of the Alliance City Council, and is politically a Republican. He was mar- ried July 4th, 1856, to Elizabeth, daughter of John Nicholas, of Cross Inn, of Carmarthenshire, Wales, from which union there have been born thirteen children, six of whom are now living. The sons now employed in the shops are John R. Morgan, chief draughtsman; Thomas R. Morgan, Jr., general superintendent of the works; and William H. Mor- gan, assistant draughtsman.
HILTON, BRICE, of Brunersburgh, a wealthy and public-spirited citizen, was born in Somerset County, Maine, March 13th, 1808. He was the son of Joshua and Hepzibah Hilton, who were born in the same place. The former was born June 17th, 1780, and died August 15th, 1835, the latter July 2d, 1785, and died September 24th, 1850. They were married October Ioth, 1805, and moved to Hamilton County, Ohio, in the fall of 1817, and from that place to Defiance County, in 1822. Joshua Hilton was a miller by trade, but after reaching full age followed farming. Brice Hilton had but a common education. He stayed with his father on the farm until he was eighteen, followed boating on the Maumee River for two years, and then commenced the study of
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medicine, with Dr. John Evans, of Defiance. After com- pleting the course of study he remained in the profession about six months. In May, 1834, he opened a store in Brunersburgh, and continued in that business until 1846, when his health began to fail from confinement indoors. To restore it he sold his store and bought a farm of two hundred acres, near Brunersburgh, on which he moved. In 1854 he bought the Brunersburgh mill property, with two hun- dred acres of land, and built a new grist-mill and saw-mill, which he and his son are now carrying on at the present time. 1n 1842 he bought the Brunersburgh tannery, con- ducting that and a shoe shop for twenty-four years. They were then sold. He bought for an addition to his farm one hundred and sixty acres of school land and three hundred and forty acres of other land. He has been a large stock raiser, and was the first one to bring improved stock to the county. He never allowed himself to be a candidate for office, although he was urged very hard, at various times, for dif- ferent offices, including Member of Congress. He has transacted a good deal of business in settling up estates, and has been instrumental in laying out many new roads in the county. In religious belief he is a Universalist, build- ing the church of that denomination in Brunersburgh with very little help. He is a staunch Republican in politics, but was a Whig until that party gave way to the Republican. Mr. Hilton is a man of sterling integrity, and through a long life of business activity has preserved a fair record and had the regard and esteem of a high circle of acquaintances. He has always been considered the poor man's friend, and in the early settlement of the country placed his means at the dis- posal of those new arrivals who had nearly succumbed to the hardships and discouragements of pioneer life. Kindly and genial in social intercourse, liberal and enterprising in all public matters, correct in his habits, Brice Hilton's name stands out among the early residents of the valley as one worthy of remembrance and honor.
RAWSON, BASS, M. D., of Findlay, Hancock county, born April 17th, 1799, in the town of Orange, Franklin county, Massachusetts, was the son of Lemuel Rawson, a tanner, who carried on his trade in Warwick, Massachusetts, until about 1812, when he devoted his attention to agriculture for a number of years. In 1836, he removed to Bath, Sum- mit county, Ohio, but subsequently died at the residence of his son, Dr. L. Q. Rawson, at Fremont. Dr. Bass Rawson is one of five brothers who removed from Massachusetts at an early day and settled in Ohio, four of them being physicians. He is a member of the sixth generation of the Rawson fam- ily, in direct descent from Edward Rawson, who left England in 1636, and became secretary of the Massachusetts colony from 1650 to 1686. His mother, Sarah Rawson, whose maiden name was Barrows, of Warwick, Massachusetts, was left an orphan at an early age. In his boyhood, Dr. Rawson worked on a farm and attended a country school. From the farm, he went to learn the trade of a hatter, and worked at it until he was about twenty years of age, but his health some- what failing him, he determined to relinquish it and engage in the study of medicine. To this end, he entered an academy at New Salem, Massachusetts, which he attended for several terms. In the meantime, he taught school for the purpose of earning money to defray the necessary expense of his education. At the age of twenty-five, he married and emigrated to Ravenna, Ohio, where he remained a few
months. He then removed to Otsego county, New York, and located at Richfield. Here he again taught school. Previous to his leaving Massachusetts, he had studied medi- cine for a few months, but on his return to the East, he took up the study seriously, with the intention of qualifying him- self as a physician. Dr. Thomas, of Richfield, became his preceptor. In the winter of 1826-27, he attended medical lectures at Dartmouth college, New Hampshire, and at the close of the collegiate term, returned to his father's house at New Salem, and continued the reading of medicine with Dr. Brooks, of Orange. In June, 1828, he removed to Ohio, and practiced a little more than a year with his brother, Dr. Sec- retay, who resided in Medina county. In September, 1829, he removed to Findlay, where he settled permanently in the practice of his profession. He was the first practicing physi- cian that had arrived in the town, and was cordially wel- comed by its inhabitants. It had been but recently settled, and the first sale of lots occurred about a week after his arrival. Twelve white families only resided within its limits, the Indians being more numerous than the whites. Here he has practiced without cessation for nearly fifty years. Al- though he has virtually retired from the active practice of his . profession, some of his old patients still desire his attendance upon them and his professional advice; consequently, he still visits and prescribes occasionally. Dr. Rawson for a long time enjoyed a large and successful practice. The re- ' sult of which, and his judicious investments in real estate, is that he is in possession of a competency.in his old age. He has been a member and supporter of the Presbyterian church for more than forty years. On May 3d, 1824, he was mar- ried to Amanda Blackmer, of Greenwich, Massachusetts, who died in 1874. Their only daughter, Harriet E. Amanda, was married to Dr. William D. Carlin, of Findlay, a surgeon in the army, who died in the service in 1862. Mrs. Carlln died in Findlay, in 1870, leaving three children : Dr. Cass R., of Findlay; William L., member of Hancock County bar; and S. Amanda, married to C. T. Dondore, of Missouri.
BENNDORF, KARL FRIEDRICH, is vice-president of the Cincinnati National Bank, and vice-president and manager of the Farmers' Insurance Company, of that city. He was born in Altenburg, Germany, April 9th, 1841. He is a liberally educated gentleman, having begun his studies in Prince Frederick College, and bringing to the acquisition of learning that energy and industry that characterize his after years in the pursuits of business. His embarkation to the United States at the age of sixteen years was a character- istic move. It was made to thwart the purposes of a well- disposed uncle, who desired that he should devote himself to the study of the ministry. Not feeling that to be his call- ing, and having the profession of law ultimately in view, he determined to emigrate to the United States, which he accord- ingly did in 1857. From that year to 1860 he applied him- self for a livelihood to the trade of wood engraver and de- signer. In 1860 he began the study of the law, at New Haven, Connecticut. While thus engaged the war for the Union broke out, and from patriotic impulses-a love of country so soon formed-he enlisted as a private in Company B, First Connecticut Cavalry, and soon thereafter was promoted to corporal. He went to the front with his command, served with it in the Shenandoah Valley, taking part in several battles and skirmishes, notably Whartonville, McDowell, . Cross Keys, and Harrisonburg. In 1862 he was appointed
Right is always Right Bays Ruwson
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hospital steward in the regular United States Army, was promoted chief steward to medical director of Department of Ohio, and afterward of the Northern Department, serving as such in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Detroit, and until he was finally mustered out, in 1865, at Detroit, at the close of the war. In 1867 he entered the bank of Joseph F. Larkin & Co., as individual bookkeeper, rising in the esteem and confidence of Mr. Larkin during all the time of his employ- ment under him, until 1874. At this time Mr. Benndorf was enjoying a reasonable income from his services. But it did not satisfy his ambition. This alternative was presented- for the time being, a lower salary at another business, with prospects of greater results in the end, dependent upon his energy; or to remain at the same comfortable salary as long "as he chose, with nothing more alluring in prospect than his continuation in a subaltern position. He chose the former, and accordingly originated and was one of the incorporators of the German Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Coving- ton, Kentucky ; was its secretary and manager for three years. His administration was eminently successful. It at- tracted the attention of insurance men of Cincinnati, and in 1878 he was called to take charge of the Farmers' Insurance Company, of that city. His first position there was that of Secretary; in 1882 he was promoted to vice-president and manager, Joseph F. Larkin being the president. Under his management the capital stock was fully paid up, with a sur- plus, and the stock, then at about seventy-five per cent dis- count, advanced to par. At the organization of the Cincin- nati National Bank he became a director, and was elected vice-president, and is serving as such at the present time. He is also a director of the Ohio Valley Coffin Company, of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Mr. Benndorf is a clear-headed, en- ergetic business man, remarkable for his penetration and keen foresight. He is popular and highly esteemed in social and commercial circles. His general collegiate and classical education, his valuable and extended experience, enthusiasm in his specialties-banking and insurance-his integrity, promptitude, affability, and high personal character are attri- butes all recognize who have social or business contact with him. It is safe to predict for him continued success, owing to these prominent traits. He is a member of the Knights Templar, having commenced his career by joining Magnolia Lodge, Columbus, Ohio, in 1864. He is also a member of Garfield Post, Grand Army of the Republic, Covington, Ken- tucky. His political affiliation is with the Republican party. An instance, showing his standing and popularity may be cited : In 1881 he was requested by General Finnell and other leading Republicans, in an open letter, to become a candidate for the Kentucky State Legislature, and which he declined, on account of his determination to adhere strictly to his business, although assured of his election in the event of acceptance. Mr. and Mrs. Benndorf are members of the First Presbyterian Church, of Covington, Kentucky. They reside in that city, in a home made beautiful by the refined taste and pleasing manners of Mrs. Benndorf. She is held in high estimation by the community in which she lives. Her deeds of charity and benevolent work are proverbial among the poor and afflicted. She is a noble Christian woman, the light of her home and a blessing to society. Mr. Benndorf is a self-made man. His character is without reproach. He early evinced his love of his adopted country by volunteering in her defense. He loves his fatherland not less, but America more. Therefore he has chosen this land,
with its liberty, its laws, and institutions as his permanent home. As such he is one of the noblest representatives of citizens of foreign birth that Ohio can boast. While con- versant with the rules and principles of banking to a remark- able extent for his years and experience, his ambition, nev- ertheless, is to take high rank in the department of insurance. This he regards as a growing science, and to its study and practice he is devoting all his ability, with his accustomed zeal, intelligence, and exhaustless energy. And for much of his success in life he feels indebted to the kindly interest, en- couragement, and advice of his friend Joseph F. Larkin, president of the Cincinnati National Bank, and also of the Farmers' Insurance Company, whose biography appears in another part of this volume.
CLENDENIN, WILLIAM, M. D., Dean of the Faculty, and professor of Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy, Miami Medical College, is of Scottish lineage, and bears the same name as his father, grandfather, and great-grand- father. His father was a farmer, of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, whom he lost when only two years and four months old. He was left to the care and training of his mother entirely, and whatever of success or use- fulness has been attained by him in after life he attributes to her example and counsels. His early boyhood was divided between work on the farm and irregular attend- ance at school. But at the age of fifteen he was placed in the drug store of Dr. John Gemmil, a friend of the family, residing at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, in whose family he lived, and under whose tuition and kind treatment he added considerable to his scholastic attainments, and was even inspired with the hope of becoming a medical practi- tioner. After four years' service in the store he became a regular medical student, and attended lectures at the Medical College of Ohio, from which he subsequently graduated. Being desirous of practicing in company with one by whose skill and experience he might profit, he connected himself with Dr. R. D. Mussey, who after about two years began to decline professional business, on account of ad- vancing age, and our subject continued to practice in con- nection with the son, Dr. W. H. Mussey, for about five years. In 1856 he was appointed demonstrator of Anatomy in the Miami Medical College, and after filling this chair one year, the Miami and Ohio Medical Colleges being consolidated, he continued to lecture in the same capacity until the Spring of 1859, when he resigned his professorship, and went to Europe for the purpose of enlarging his professional experience, by visiting hospitals and attending lectures. For eighteen months he attended the lectures of Velpeau, Nelaton, Trousseau, Civialle, Malgaigne, Maisonneuve, and other eminent men, at the principal medical school of Paris, having previously studied the French language for that object. He then made the tour of Europe, and before returning attended the lectures of Sir Thomas Watson, John Hilton, Erasmus Wilson, and Sir William Ferguson, at the Royal College of Surgeons, in London. In the Fall of 1860 he resumed practice in Cin- cinnati, but in the Spring of 1861 he was examined before a Regular Army Board and appointed surgeon in the army, and assigned to duty with General Mitchel, then commanding Camp Dennison. Shortly after he was sent to General Rosecrans, in Western Virginia, with whom he served until the spring of 1862, when his chief was re- lieved by General Fremont. The remainder of the doctor's
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military history we condense from others :- After scrving with Fremont during his brief campaign in Virginia, Dr. Clendenin was transferred to Sigel's command, which formed a part of the Grand Army of the Potomac, and par- ticipated in the second battle of Bull Run, after which he was placed in charge of the Emory General Hospital, in Washington, where he remained until the ensuing February, when he reported to General Rosecrans, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and was assigned to duty with General Thomas, as medical director of the Fourteenth Army Corps, in which capacity he served until after the battle of Chickamauga, when Thomas relieved Rosecrans, and the doctor was pro- moted as assistant medical director of the Department of the Cumberland, with head-quarters at Nashville. He had charge of all the hospitals, as well as the transportation of the sick and wounded from Chattanooga to Louisville. He discharged these duties with marked ability, until he was taken sick, in November, 1864, and came home on leave of absence. He reported to the Secretary of War as soon as he was able to resume duty, and was ordered to report to the assistant surgeon-general, at Louisville, by whom he was assigned to duty as Medical Inspector of Hospitals, in which position he remained until July, 1865, when he was ordered to Washington, by telegram from President John- son, who, without solicitation, appointed himn consul to St. Petersburg. But he had recently been appointed to the chair of Principles of Surgery and Surgical Anatomy, in the Miami Medical College, that had been reorganized; and besides this, he was under contract of marriage, and his affianced not wishing to go to Russia, the appointment was not accepted. Illustrative of the cool courage of General Thomas, and his own want of it, the doctor relates the fol- lowing incident: During the second day's fight at Chicka- mauga, General Thomas, accompanied by engineers, mem- bers of his staff, himself, and several orderlies, repaired to a point selected for observation, at the foot of a knoll, on the border of a large meadow, beyond which was a thick piece of woods. The party dismounted, and the chief, having taken his seat upon a log, proceeded to fill his pipe in a very deliberate manner, and was fumbling in his vest pocket for a match, when a rebel shell went hissing over their heads. But the general continued his search for the match in the inside pocket of his coat, without success, and at last said to our subject, who was standing near, "Have you a match, doctor?" "No, general," replied he, but immediately ac- quainted an orderly with the general's want, with better results. The chief was in the act of striking it on the sole of his boot, when another shell burst just beyond them, and threw the dirt over them in a style that indicated that the rebels had gotten their range, and the next shell would probably light in their midst. The pipe was not yet lighted, and the general was provokingly deliberate, and only sus- pended operations on the sole of his boot long enough to look around, and say, "Nobody hurt, I reckon." Perspira- tion was now pouring from the faces of his attendants, for fear another shell would visit them before the general would be ready to start ; but at last, his pipe being in full blast, he mounted his horse-and the doctor assures us that the rest were not slow to follow him out of the range of the rebel batteries. During the winter of 1861 Dr. Clendenin was ordered by General Rosecrans to go down the river as far as Cincinnati, and report as to the number and condition of the sick and wounded. On leaving Cincinnati for head-quarters,
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