USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 34
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
426
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
knowledge of which he was neither in the possession, nor had the means of obtaining. He therefore rapidly accumulated legal books, until his collection of modern and useful works and reports became known throughout the country, as being one of the largest and best private law libraries in the world, comprising upwards of eight thousand volumes. It contains a complete set of all the English reports, except a few vol- umes of criminal reports; all the Irish reports, except one or two odd volumes, and all the American reports that have is- sued from the press. A republican in politics, he has been only prominent for the interest he has taken in endeavors to elcct good men to public office. The only position of a political character he ever accepted was that of Park Com- missioner of Cincinnati. During the war of Secession, he was an uncompromising unionist, and was exceedingly active in support of the National government, by his labors to raise men and means for the prosecution of the war. Three sub- stitutes were furnished by him, and at his own expense on the last call. He is a liberal friend to charitable and benevolent purposes and institutions. Socially, he is hospitable and entertaining, and surrounded in his domestic circle by an at- mosphere of refinement and elegance, not surpassed in the West. As a lover of books, he has collected a large miscel- laneous library, comprising the best standard historical and literary works, and works of art, by the leading European authors. He has made seven trips to Europe, and traveled over the greater part of that continent, making his point of departure either from London or Paris. He married Miss Mary Clarke, daughter of Major Nathan Clarke, of the United States army, a highly accomplished lady, under whose super- vision his family have been educated in a very superior manner. Eleven children have been born to them, seven of whom are living.
FLICKINGER, CHARLES ANDREW, was born in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, August 28th, 1836. His par- ents, John Jacob and Caroline (Glasser) Flickinger, were na- tives of Bavaria, and were married in October, 1835, having two children born to them, the subject of our sketch and Elizabeth, who was born October 5th, 1841, and is now the wife of Adam Minsel. Mr. Flickinger had a strong love for the land of his birth, with all of its associations from his child- hood, yet he realized the advantages of a republic, with its glorious free institutions, where his children would have equal chances with others to rise to high positions. Entertaining these views, he bade good-by to the father-land and started for the United States with his wife and two children, traveling in an emigrant wagon to Havre-de-Grace, and thence by a new three-masted ship, named Emerald, to New York, arriv- ing in the spring of 1844. He immediately started for the West, going to Albany by steamer, to Buffalo by rail, to Toledo by steamer, and from there to Defiance, Ohio, by canal- boat, arriving June Ist, 1844. He bought a farm in Rich- land, where he lived seven years, and then moved to De- fiance, where he remained until his death, March 9th, 1861. His widow married John Grass and survives her second hus- band, who died in the spring of 1874. Charles A. Flickinger attended the district school while living in Richland, and afterwards the school in Defiance when his father moved to the latter place. He spent three years at this school, work- ing during vacation for one dollar and a half to two dollars per week to get money to buy books and clothing. On leav- ing school he entered his father's grocery, and conducted the
1
business until he became of age, when his father deeded to him all of his property, both real and personal. In the fol- lowing year, 1858, he erected the brick building now used by the Defiance fire department, and entered into a general store business, dealing in dry goods, boots and shoes, hats and caps, groceries, and queensware. In the fall of 1863 he associated with him in business Enos Blair, his brother-in- law, under the firm name of Flickinger & Blair. In 1874, he erected what is called the Stone-front Building, the hand- somest block in the city. His firm occupies a part of it with a general line of dry goods, and also another store with, clothing, gentlemen's furnishing goods, hats and caps, and boots and shoes. He started with the smallest stock in the city, and is now at the head of the largest houses there. He attained the position, not by sheer luck or by some happy chance, but by hard, honest work. In 1863, when the national guards, of which he was a member, were called out by Governor ·Tod, for one hundred days, he furnished a man at fifty dol- lars per month, until discharged. Although not a professor of religion he is a regular attendant at the Presbyterian Church with his wife, who is a member. The churches find in him a ready helper in pecuniary matters. He is also one of the foremost men in Defiance to further the interest of manufacturing and railroad enterprises, helping and donating liberally. Early in life he became a champion of the aboli- tion of slavery. He was the first young German of Defiance county to espouse the republican cause; and although he re- ceived taunts and jeers from every side, yet he stood firm in the position he had taken. He has voted for every republican President. His love for liberty, the equal rights of all men, and the advancement of moral principles, led him to make choice of this party. He could not be prompted by selfish motives with the hope of gain, or being honored with office, as his county always gives a large majority for the opposi- tion. He takes an active part in campaign work each fall. In 1880 he took the stump for General James A. Garfield, and delivered from two to three speeches each week. He is a great thorn in the sides of the democracy. At the Re- publican State Convention held on the 7th day of June, 1882, at Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Flickinger was nominated by ac- clamation a member of the Board of Public Works, there being five candidates for the position. Mr. Flickinger led in the balloting from the start, and when Hamilton County changed her vote, casting forty out of her fifty-seven for Flickinger, it was the signal for a general change in favor of that candidate, and finally, when nearly all the delegates had gone over to Flickinger, the names of the other candi- dates were withdrawn, and upon motion of Mr. Frederick Steigleman, of the Hamilton County Delegation, the Defiance candidate was nominated by acclamation. But in the ever- memorable general election in October of the same year Mr. Flickinger, together with nearly every other candidate on the Republican ticket, was defeated, and returned to his home to resume the duties of his large mercantile business. He was married March 28th, 1861, to Eliza, daughter of William M. and Selinda Blair. They have had born to them two children-Alva C., January 4th, 1862; and Karl A., November 7th, 1863. Both sons are now students at the University of Wooster, Ohio. Mr. Flickinger is a man of high character, of gracious manners, and sterling disposition. His name stands high. He has read and observed much, and as an aid to his studies has gathered a fine library of books.
Ca Hellinger
427
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
CARSON, ENOCH TERRY, of Cincinnati, was born in Green Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, September 18th, 1822. His parents were William J. and Margaret (Terry) Carson. His father was a native of New Jersey, and came to Cincinnati in '1804. He was a farmer in Green Township, and for twenty-eight years filled the office of magistrate. He died in 1846. Mr. Carson's mother was a daughter of Mr. William Terry, a pioneer, who came to Cincinnati as early as 1791. He was a wagon boy at St. Clair's defeat, and being obliged to give up his horses to the soldiers, had to escape himself on foot. Enoch's education was limited, as he had only country school advantages. His time was spent at home on the farm until he was twenty-three years of age. During the three succeeding years he was employed as keeper of a toll- gate on the Harrison Pike. In November, 1848, he went to Cincinnati, having been appointed deputy Sheriff of Hamil- ton County, a position he held for a period of eight years, and, with the exception of one interruption, continuously. The interruption was in consequence of a change in party succession to office. In the interim he became connected with the Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, which was then being completed (1850-51), and was the first depot master at the Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, in Cincinnati. As a matter of historical interest in connection with that road, we note the fact that Mr. Carson put the first locomotive on the track, and was the first man to ride over the road on a loco- motive, from Carthage to Cumminsville, in 1851. The labor of getting the locomotive on the track was concluded at about twelve o'clock, Sunday night, and the steam-whistle was first heard in Mill Creek valley. In passing through the farms Mr. Carson was obliged to stop every few rods and remove the fences, which still obstructed the road. In 1852 Mr. Carson left the railroad business, and returned to the Sheriff's office, where he remained till the close of 1860. In 1856 he was the nominee for Sheriff on the Republican ticket, the first ever put in the field by that party in Hamilton County, and shared in its general defeat. Besides attending to his duties in the Sheriff's office, he engaged, in 1858, in the mercantile trade, which was continued successfully up to 1868, when he retired. In 1861 he was appointed surveyor of the port of Cincinnati, and held the office till July, 1865. In 1866 he crossed the ocean, and took a tour of two years through the European countries. Upon his return, in 1868, he engaged in real estate business, which he carried on very extensively for several years, and in 1871 became interested in merchandising again, but in consequence of the panic the following year was obliged to succumb, though not until 1878. In 1870 Mr. Carson was elected member of the State Board of Equalization, with Hon. William S. Groesbeck, and served one term. He also served as Park Commissioner for Cincinnati for two years; and by appointment of Governor Hayes, as Police Commissioner for an equal length of time. In 1872 he was made Fee Commissioner for Hamilton County, and while in that office Mr. Carson drafted the bill by which the fee system of that county was changed. He was also the Superintendent of the Police Department of Cincinnati for about one year and a half, under Mayor Jacob, and was on the commission, in company with Hon. Alphonzo Taft and Hon. William S. Groesbeck, that located the new govern- ment building in Cincinnati. While Mr. Carson has been very active and influential in the promotion of the various public interests of Cincinnati, as the numerous public offices which he has been called to fill will evidence, he has been 16-B
for many years even more conspicuous in Masonry, and is probably one of the most prominent and best known mem- bers of that order in Ohio. He became a Mason in Novem- ber, 1845, and has been the master of three symbolic lodges, Eminent Commander of Cincinnati Commandery, No. 2, and Grand Commander of Knights Templar of Ohio four years. He became active in Scottish Rite Masonry in 1852, and has held all offices in subordinate bodies; was elected Com- mander-in-chief of Ohio Consistory, 32º, in 1856, and has held the office ever since. He was made an honorary Sov- ereign Grand Inspector General in 1857, and an active mem- ber of the Supreme Council 33º in 1862, and is at present an active member of that high body. He was one of the principal founders and builders of the Scottish Rite in Cin- cinnati, until it has now more fame and renown there than in any other place in the world. Mr. Carson has the finest private collection of works on Masonry and secret societies in the United States, and probably in the world. Nearly all the ceremonials of the high grades have been revised and edited by him in the past twenty years. He is now the Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Correspondence (the literary office of the order) of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Ohio. In 1877 he was one of the found- ers of the Knights Templar and Masonic Mutual Aid Asso- ciation, and has been its president ever since, which position engages most of his time. At the thirty-first annual reunion of Ohio Grand Consistory occurred an incident, an account of which we quote from the Masonic Chronicle :
" During the investiture of the Thirty-first Degree occurred a very impressive scene, which was so illustrative of the char- acter of the Ill. Commander-in-chief as to be well worthy narration. Ill. Bro. Babcock, 33°, called the attention of the crowded cathedral, and announced that the strength of the Rite in Ohio, and largely in America, was due to the . thirty years' labor (we had just seen the 30° conferred) of Ill. Bro. Enoch T. Carson, 33º, Deputy for Ohio, and that without hope of fee or reward ; and that the Ohio Grand Consistory had appropriated, as a token of their love and confidence, the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars to be presented to him, not as a reward, but as an expression of grateful affec- tion. This he gave to Bro. Carson in a check, and with the accompaniment of a touching and beautiful address that re- counted something of his great work. It was done amid various expressions of feeling on the part of the delighted members of the Rite, both by tears and cheers. After his address, Bro. Carson rose and told the great assembly of his love and thanks, alluding to the work he had done and his self-sacrifice, which was more than repaid by the success of the Rite which he so loved. He said that in all these thirty years no officer had taken money from the treasury for per- sonal reward, and he could not create a precedent which should mar his record. He was grateful for what had been done, and in the most touching and tender language he ex- pressed the fact, but he besought the Consistory to cover the money back into the treasury, and let his conscience remain clear. Bro. Colonel De Wolf, of Toledo, School Commissioner for the State of Ohio, in an earnest speech, showed him how impossible this would be as a precedent, for there could never be another founder of the Rite in Ohio more than there could be another Washington as a father of his country. Bro. Gen- eral Robert P. Kennedy, of Bellefontaine, followed with a thrilling speech to the same effect; and Bro. Anderson, of Toledo, in answer to calls from the class, assured Bro. Carson of the earnest desire of all S ... Masons that he should re- ceive it. It was all in vain. The veteran stood as a rock, his face bathed in tears, but crying out: 'It is principle, my brothers! It is principle! I can not mar my record!' We had before us the scene of Zerubbabel before Cyrus, tempted by the golden vessels, and the altar, and the ark of the cov- enant-the conflict between a need and a principle-as the good man, with trembling voice, putting out his hands, as
428
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
though pushing away the temptation, cried: 'I can not take it! I must not take it !' No dry eyes witnessed the scene. A Toledo brother then moved that, since this sum had been set apart and consecrated, and could not be covered back, it be invested at compounding interest, for Bro. Carson's family. This was carried, with three cheers for the hero. This was helped by a speech full of pathos, and yet rousing in its splendid showing of the heroism we had witnessed, from General Kennedy."
In politics Mr. Carson has been an active Republican ever since the birth of that party. Prior to that he was a Whig, and cast his first vote for Henry Clay for President. Mr. Carson has been thrice married, has three children still liv- ing, one of whom is the wife of Drausin Wulsin, a prominent lawyer of Cincinnati.
Ross, ABBOTT QUINCY, inventor, and general manager of the United States Steam Stoking Company, was born at Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, August 20th, 1835. His parents were John Wesley Ross and Virginia (Fibbs) Ross. His father died of yellow fever in the South, when he was eleven years of age; his mother died when he was but two. St. Clair Ross, his paternal grandfather, was one of the early settlers of Ross County, then including Highland. Through this latter county Simon Kenton made what is still known as "Kenton's trace." It was then that his grandfather met and became the friend and companion of Kenton in some of his Indian adventures, to the narration of which, as they fell from his lips, young Ross listened with thrilling interest. All the education he received was that afforded by the common schools of his native place, which he attended until fourteen years of age. But there were other agencies at work de- veloping him. He was born upon the banks of the Ohio. There he played and wandered, and sometimes dreamed, as he looked upon its ever-flowing waters, and following them in visions as they journeyed on to the sea. He saw boats, like living things, appear and disappear upon its bosom- saw their revolving wheels, their crowded decks, their labor- ing engines-heard the voice of command ; all these things were making impressions upon his mind, and creating within him aspirations which induced him, at the age of fourteen, to embark upon the Shamrock, as an assistant to its engineer. This was the beginning of a period of twenty-two years spent upon the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and their tribu- taries-from 1850 to 1872. But he was a student, though an apprentice, for he immediately began to study the books and pamphlets at hand, pertaining to engineering, with a zeal and industry which attracted the attention of his superiors, and his rapid promotion soon followed. At the age of eighteen he was chief engineer of the City of Wheeling, of the Union Line, and at a time when unusual responsibility and excitement attended such a position, being the open- ing of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a rival of water transportation. He served in this capacity on different steamers until 1857. At this period a desire possessed him to embark in business as a merchant. He thereupon engaged in the grocery business, at Rockport, Indiana. He failed, owing to his extravagance, inexperience, and the panic of 1857. Every thing was swept from him, and he walked away from the scene of his first business adventure on land. In 1858 he determined to go to Pike's Peak. He set out from Cincinnati on the William Beard, with a steam saw-mill and fourteen cattle, six months' sup- plies, and six men, for the land of gold. At Waverly,
Missouri, the boat ran against an obstruction, and sank to the hurricane deck in three minutes, a total loss, the subject of this sketch being saved from drowning by seizing a bunch of shingles and making his way to shore. Fortunately he met a friend of his former years on shore, whose assistance enabled him once more to return to Cincinnati. He soon after took command of the Hazel Dell, a steamer running between Cincinnati and Evansville. The next boat he com- manded was the Hartford. And then the war came. About this time Captain Ross patented an invention known as a "hot water attachment or apparatus," which, largely through the influence of his personal friend, Senator B. F. Wade, being adopted by the government, upon the gratuitous offer of the invention, was the means of saving property and life in the gun-boat service on the western waters to an incal- culable extent. After the war Congress sought to remunerate Captain Ross for his patriotic services in allowing the use of his invention gratuitously ; but the final passage of a bill introduced by Senator Drake for his indemnity was prevented by the filibustering of one superserviceable member, after it had passed the Senate, and while the ayes and noes were being called in the house, the hour for final adjournment of the Thirty-ninth Congress arriving pending that call. This bill contemplated remuneration to the amount of fifty thou- sand dollars. The consequence was, the next Congress granted him five thousand dollars, while all the testimony was to the effect that property to the extent of seventeen million dollars had been saved by the use of his invention. His next venture was what he terms "the feat of his life," that of building a steamboat on a capital of ten dollars, and that borrowed money. This incident is given as illustrative of the unconquerable will that has never failed him in the midst of the most trying circumstances, the severest losses. He determined to build a steamboat. The way was an after consideration. The friend that lent him the money was Captain Frank Davidson. The hull was furnished by the firm of Herbert & Co., of Portsmouth, Ohio; the cabin, by Horsely & Ehlier, of Cincinnati; the machinery (second hand), by Captain Thomas F. Eckert, of Western Insurance Company ; the outfit by Isham & Fisher; and the painting was done by Riggs & Murray. Such was the confidence of these business men in his integrity and judgment that the boat was built and intrusted to him, they taking as security mortgages and insurance policies for their advances. Be- fore the steamer (named William A. Healy, in honor of his warm personal friend, still living, in Hartford, Connecticut) was entirely finished, she was impressed by the government, owing to the approach of Kirby Smith's Confederate forces upon Cincinnati, and for its use for fifty-two days, Captain Ross was paid ninety-one hundred dollars in cash. With this he paid off the claims against his boat, and had thirty- seven hundred dollars left. He did not bank on that profit long, for only a few days afterward, while negotiating for the purchase of an interest in another boat, he lost the package containing the entire amount out of his pocket, and never recovered a cent of it. But he had "the fee simple of the bark " left. The Healy was his, and shortly afterward he sold it to the government for thirteen thousand dollars, and it was transformed into Gunboat No. 22. He subsequently built the Hartford, the Naugatuck, and the Louisville. He is mentioned in river news of the day as " an old practical engineer, who by his quiet elements has been promoted to the front ranks of his profession, having carefully and without
Western Biogl Pub Co.
A 2
429
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
the loss of a life or a serious accident commanded the fol- lowing well known steamers: the Conewago, Hazel Dell, Prairie Rose, Hartford, Delaware, W. A. Healy, Crescent City, Nightingale, Naugatuck, Louisville, and Nicholas Longworth." During the war he was engaged largely in transporting troops and stores upon the Ohio and Mississippi, the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, often at the risk of person and property. Of these hazards he modestly declines to give details, but an account of one adventure we take from the war news of the day:
"The Naugatuck, Captain A. Q. Ross commanding, which passed up this morning from Clarksville, had a hot time in running the rebel batteries that now line the shores of the Cumberland. The Naugatuck left Clarksville on Wednesday night. When she left Rockcastle, about fifty-five miles below Clarksville, and twenty-six miles below Fort Donelson, she was opened on by the rebels with musketry, but sustained no damage. After passing this point the captain aroused the pas- sengers and crew, and placed them on the lower deck, pro- tected by hogsheads of tobacco. The next trouble was expe- rienced at Big Eddy, and at Eddysville the boat was hailed, the persons hailing her stating that they had some passengers to go aboard. The captain replied : 'Aye, aye,' and the pilot called out to wait a moment until he got a little lower, when he would round to. All steam was then applied, and the Nauga- tuck did some tall running ; but immediately the rebels opened with musketry and cannon, and the pilot thinks that about four hundred shots were fired at the first volley. Four shot and shell passed through the boat, one of the latter entering and exploding in the pilot-house, tearing out the sash on both sides, but, singularly enough, doing no injury to the pilot who nobly stood to his post, as also did the captain, bringing her through in triumph, though wonderfully spotted with musket balls. The distance run under fire was six miles, but not an individual on board was injured."
This was in 1864. While in command of the Longworth the following incident occurred, which produced such an effect upon the captain's mind that he shortly after resolved to leave the river service. In 1870 he was running between Louisville and New Orleans, in command of that steamer. Mrs. Ross had signified her desire to accompany him on his next trip to New Orleans, and it was arranged that she should come down from Cincinnati on the United States in time to meet him at Louisville on a given Saturday. Passes were accordingly procured for her and the two children on the United States. Every thing was in readiness for her to start for that boat, when a dispatch was received from her husband to take passage on the Kate Robinson. This was an inferior boat loaded with oil and other combustibles, and the reason for such a change from the elegant United States to that boat seemed utterly unaccountable to Mrs. Ross. The telegram was sent from Louisville under the influence of no presentiment or apprehension, but standing upon the deck of the Longworth, and seeing a messenger half-way up the landing, going on another mission under his orders, the captain suddenly recalled him, went into his office, wrote the telegram, and sent it, without giving the matter a second thought, until after it was too late. He then regretted and re- proached himself for it. It was as though he had ordered his wife to come on a freight and not upon a passenger train. It seemed preposterous. The night was spent in sleeplessness. But when the morning came, and with it the Kate Robinson, safely transporting his wife and children, and when later the news came also that there had been a col- lision and that the United States had burned, and many lives had been lost, it was all plain to him, for as if by a divine thrusting on he had been impelled to send a dispatch
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.