USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 39
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afterward married William Hartshorne, a merchant of Balti- more, and a native of Virginia, born at Hartshorne's Mills, near Alexandria. James and William Wilson, brothers of Margaretta E. Wilson, participated in the defense of Balti- more, one at North Point, the other at Fort McHenry, during the war of 1812. Not long after the peace of 1814, the family removed West and South, some to Cincinnati, others to New Orleans. Mrs. Johnston, the wife of the Rev. Samuel John- ston, died in Cincinnati, in October, 1873, in her eighty-fourth year. Their children were, an infant, that died soon after its birth; Sarah Hallam Johnston, who married Mr. Henry D. Huntington, of Cincinnati, and died December 23d, 1871; Mary Elizabeth Johnston, who married Mr. William C. Huntington, and died January, 1857, and William H. John- ston, paymaster in the United States army. " After laboring earnestly, faithfully, and consistently as minister of the church in Cincinnati for fifteen years, the Rev. Samuel Johnston died May 22d, 1833. A tablet is erected to his memory in the chancel of the church.
GANO, DANIEL, was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, near the mouth of the Little Miami river, May 29th, 1794, and died at Cincinnati, August 17th, 1873. His family was of French Huguenot descent. His grandfather, Rev. John Gano, was a Baptist minister of distinction, who organized the first Baptist church in the city of New York, and became its pastor in 1762. A native of New Jersey, he served as a brigade chaplain in the revolutionary army, and died at Frankfort, Kentucky, of which one of his sons was a founder, August 10th, 1804. His fourth surviving son, John S. Gano, father of Daniel, was one of the original settlers of 1788, of Columbia, Ohio, and, being a topographical engineer, com- manded an advance party and surveyed the route for the march of General St. Clair's army into the Indian country, and was present at St. Clair's defeat, November 4th, 1791. He also commanded a company of one hundred and thirty- two men that marched to the battle-field during the following winter, buried the dead, and brought back over a thousand stand of arms, with several cannon, etc., which had been left behind in the retreat. He took an active part in the war of 1812, and held commissions, as captain, major, brigadier, and major-general of the 1st division of Ohio militia, from Decem- ber Ist, 1803, until 1818, when he removed to Covington, Kentucky, of which he was then principal proprietor. He was the first prothonotary of Hamilton county, and served as clerk of the county court, from its organization until his removal to Kentucky. He died at his home in Covington, January Ist, 1822. The mother of Daniel Gano was a daugh- ter of William Goforth, the first judge appointed for Hamil- ton County. During Daniel's infancy, his parents removed from Columbia to Cincinnati, where one of the first schools he attended was kept by Edward Harragan, of Fort Wash- ington. When he was but thirteen years old he rode eleven hundred miles on horseback, through the wilderness and across the mountains, to Providence, Rhode Island, accom- panied by his uncle, Dr. Stephen Gano, then pastor of the first Baptist church of that place, who had organized the first church of that denomination in the Miami purchase, at Columbia, in 1790. At Providence, Daniel entered Brown University, but soon abandoning the college, returned to Cincinnati and entered his father's office as assistant clerk, shortly afterward becoming his deputy. He retained this position until 1818, when his father resigned, and he was ap-
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pointed clerk instead, continuing to hold this office until 1856, except during a few months when General W. H. Harrison held the clerkship. At the date above named, he retired from the position, having, with the exception noted, fulfilled its duties forty-five years. At the age of eighteen, Mr. Gano was commissioned, by the governor of Ohio, as aide to the major-general, after which he was reappointed and held his commission, with the rank of major, under Major-General James Findlay, who succeeded his father, until the death of the general. He assisted in preparing, mustering, and paying detachments of men during the war of 1812. His life was a busy and useful one, and few of its early citizens did more than he toward building up and improving Cincinnati, or contributed more to its material prosperity. By his individual exertions and influence, he secured the location of the Miami canal, and procuring plans from New York, had the first five canal-boats built and equipped, operating them by agents. He was one of the originators, in 1827, of the first agricultural society in Hamilton county, and bestowed much attention on agricultural and horticultural experiments and advancement. He was also actively interested in the im- provement of all kinds of stock, and published an illustrated treatise on " Blooded Horses in the West," in 1831. Among interesting incidents of his life in Cincinnati, was an enter- tainment given by Major Gano, at his house, to General La- fayette, during the latter's visit to the city in 1824, at which Lafayette revived his recollections of his host's grandfather, Rev. John Gano, mentioned above, whom he had known in the Revolutionary army. Major Gano was the last survivor of seven - including Judge Jacob Burnet and Rev. Timothy Flint, who presided over the seven days' debate between Alexander Campbell and Robert Owen, on the " Evidences of Christianity, etc.," held at Cincinnati, April 13th, 1829, which created great interest at the time. Many years before his death, he became interested in Dr. Samuel Thompson's botanical system of medicine, and, as an amateur practitioner, did much important service during the cholera season of 1832. He gave some attention also to animal magnetism, and, later, to spiritualism. An earnest advocate of freedom, he at one time liberated three families of slaves, and it may be said, was always disposed to favor reforms and aid in pro- gressive movements of all kinds. Major Gano married Rebecca Hunt Lawrence, daughter of Benjamin Lawrence, at Cincinnati, September 25th, 1816; issue, six children, only two of whom survived their father : Stephen and Henrietta G., wife of Henry A. Chittenden.
LONG, HON. ALEXANDER, lawyer, was born in Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, December 24th, 1816. His great-grandfather, Joseph Long, emigrated from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1751, intermarried in Baltimore, Maryland, with Mary Spear, and afterward settled on a farm on the Little Brandywine, in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was the father of seven children. His grandfather, Alex- ander Long, for whom he was named, was the oldest child, and was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, October 3d, 1757. He intermarried with Sarah Graham, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, for a time, and also in the war of 1812. The battle of Brandywine, which took place September 10th, 1777, was within a few miles of the old homestead. He removed from Chester County to Washington County, from whence, after a residence of a few years, he removed, in 1806, to Beaver County, in the same State, and settled on a
farm adjoining the town of New Castle. He was the father of two children, Joseph Long and Arthur Graham Long. He received a pension for his services in the war, and died in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Arthur Graham Long, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, December 6th, 1789, and intermarried with Catharine Thompson, who became the mother of six children, Alexander being the eldest. His father, Arthur G. Long, was a pioneer in the mercantile business in Western Pennsylvania, having opened the first store and sold the first dry goods and groceries in Greenville, in 1815. In the year 1823 his father removed from Greenville back to the old farm adjoining the town (now city) of New Castle, where he engaged in the distilling business, the manufacture of woolen goods, and farming. It was there the subject of this sketch received his elementary education, in the common schools of his section, as they then existed and were conducted in Western Pennsylvania, and in the then town of New Castle, which was afterward supplemented by an academic course at Cary's Academy, afterward the Farmers' College, at College Hill, Hamilton County, Ohio. On leaving the academy he en- gaged in teaching school, and continued to teach for a period of nearly eight years. His inclination was to study medicine, and he did commence it; but at the request and in com- pliance with the wishes of his father, he gave it up, and entered upon the study of the law, under the late Thomas J. Gallagher, and was admitted to the bar in 1846. In 1848 he was elected, with George E. Pugh, to the Ohio Legislature, and voted for the repeal of what was then known as the "black laws of Ohio," and for the election of the late Chief- justice Salmon P. Chase to the Senate of the United States. This brought down the censure of a portion of his party upon himself, Mr. Pugh, and their colleagues, but they again submitted themselves as candidates for popular indorsement and re-election, to a convention of their party, in 1849. They were nominated and re-elected. In January, 1851, he entered actively into the practice of the law, and has pur- sued it successfully as a profession, in Cincinnati, since that time. In 1860 he was nominated for the House of Repre- sentatives in Congress, from the Second Congressional Dis- trict in Hamilton County. This was a very great compliment, in view of the distinguished character and attainments of the only Democrat who had represented the district before. This nomination, however, was at the time when the revolution in public opinion brought the Republican party into power by the elevation of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, and Mr. Long was defeated, with his party, in the election. In 1862, at the next congressional election, he was again hon- ored by his party with the nomination, and was elected by a flattering vote over John A. Gurley. He took his seat in the House of Representatives in December, 1863, entering it as a new member with General James A. Garfield, and was appointed a member of and served upon the Committee of Claims. The civil war was then raging, public opinion was greatly excited, conservative views were generally condemned, and those who held or expressed them were suspected of a want of fidelity to the government. During the first four months of the session Mr. Long remained a silent member on the floor, but was always in his seat and a close observer of events and the business and proceedings of the House. At the end of that time he delivered a carefully prepared speech in opposition to the war and the manner of its prose- cution, in which he distinctly avowed that he spoke for him-
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self alone, and was alone responsible for what he said. This speech was published throughout the country, both North and South, and was the subject of much comment and criticism by the press. On the day following its delivery, Schuyler Colfax, who was at the time Speaker of the House of Representatives, left the speaker's chair, came down upon the floor, and introduced a preamble and resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Long, and made a speech in support thereof. Thereupon a protracted discussion ensued upon the merits of the speech and the freedom of debate, which occupied the attention of the House to the exclusion of all other business for five days, when the resolution for expulsion was withdrawn and one of censure substituted therefor, which was finally adopted by a majority of eleven votes. A second resolution, that the Speaker should read the resolution of censure to Mr. Long during the session of the House, was laid upon the table, by a majority of two votes, and there the matter ended. (Congressional Globe, Part II; Ist session 38th Congress, 1863-4; pages 1499 to 1635, inclusive.) Mr. Long was a dele- gate to the Chicago National Democratic Convention in the following August, 1864, and made a speech in the Convention against the nomination of General Mcclellan and in support of a resolution to appoint a large committee of that body to wait on President Lincoln, and propose to him to stop the flow of fraternal blood until the people, by their choice of candidates, should signify their pleasure about the continu- ance of hostilities. That step, although highly philanthropic, was not favored by the convention. There will always be a diversity of sentiment upon these propositions, but there has never been any upon the kind feeling which prompted them, nor upon the participation of Mr. Long. He has not suffered any loss of credit in his public or private character for the in- dependent and manly part he took throughout the whole strug- gle of the sections from 1860 to 1865. Indeed, he may be said to have risen in the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citi- zens, and stands higher now than at any previous time. The patience, firmness, sagacity, and statesmanship he mani- fested in his one term in Congress make up a record of which, on the whole, he will never be ashamed. Mr. Long has always pursued the legal profession, since he came to the bar, with the closest attention. His diligence is very re- markable, and his standing among lawyers, judges, and clients proves that he has been amply rewarded for his fidelity to his honorable and arduous calling. Success in every thing connected with it has crowned his career with all its rewards. Mr. Long's opposition to the war sprung from his early studies of the federal system. He was an admirer of John C. Calhoun, and a believer in Thomas Jef- ferson's doctrine of State sovereignty. He made no con- cealment of his aversion to the war, going even to the length of doubting its constitutionality, and condemning altogether the policy of the proposed coercion of the Southern States by the North. He thought that State rights could not be safely confided to federal custody, but would soon disappear if there were no remedy for State wrongs. He held it to be a mistake to suppose that the true Union was endangered by the strength of the States and the weakness of the federal government, but he held the contrary was correct. These opinions he retains, and leaves to the decision of future times. Mr. Long was always an admirer of the late Chief- justice Chase, and advocated his nomination by the National Democratic Convention, in New York, in 1868. He opposed the nomination of Horace Greeley by the Democratic party
in 1872, but was a warm friend and supporter of Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, and was selected as chairman of the Ohio delegation in the Cincinnati National Democratic Convention in 1880. In 1865 the State sovereignty wing of the Demo- cratic party in Ohio nominated him for governor, but that branch of the party being without an organization, he re- ceived, comparatively, but few votes. He has devoted much time and labor in the advancement of the interests of the Masonic fraternity in Cincinnati. He has made the tour of Europe and the British Isles, and traveled in California. He is identified with and takes an active interest in the public charities and public schools of the city. He has served successively for a number of years as a member of the Board of Education, president of the Board of Examiners, trustee and treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library, trustee of the Commercial Hospital, and is at present a member of the Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati Uni- versity, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Medical College.
SMITH, SAMUEL B., adjutant-general of the State of Ohio, was born in Troy, in this State, September 4th, 1836. He is the second son of Thomas J. S. and Jane (Bacon) Smith, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Ohio, and of English ancestry. His maternal grandfather, Henry Bacon, was one of the earliest settlers in the State; was a leading lawyer, of great prominence in public affairs, and a wise and judicious counselor in the ranks of his (the whig) party. The father of Samuel B. Smith practiced law for many years at Dayton, Ohio, and in it was associated with his son, our sub- ject, for several years, so remaining at his death, in 1868. His father removed from Troy to Dayton when Samuel B. was quite young, so that the greater part of his life was spent in the latter place. He read law in the office of his father, and in 1860 was regularly admitted to the bar; but the civil war coming on soon, he laid aside his law books and took up the equipments of warfare. He entered the Federal serv- ice as first lieutenant of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later was captain and finally major of the 93d Ohio, in which capacity he was serving at the close of the war. After being mustered out of the military service he returned to Dayton, and in 1866 entered regularly upon the practice of law, which continued till he was appointed assistant adjutant- general, January 12th, 1880. Mr. Smith is eminently quali- fied for the position which he holds. From his youth he has always manifested more than ordinary interest in military matters, and his long service during the war in an official capacity, as well as being colonel of the 4th Ohio National Guard, has qualified him in an exceptional degree for the du- ties of his office. During the threatened riot in the State, in 1877, his command was called into requisition, a part of the regiment (4th Ohio) going to Newark, and afterwards to Co- lumbus. Happily, however, their service was not needed in active conflict. The individual or corporate interests that have engaged the attention of General Smith have been principally those of railroads. For many years he was in- terested in the construction and extension of railroads. He was at different periods both vice-president and president of the Dayton, Covington and Toledo Railroad Company. After the resignation of Adjutant-general Gibson, under whom Mr. Smith served as assistant adjutant-general, he was promoted to the adjutant-generalcy, his commission dating March 2d, 1881. General Smith is recognized as a faithful and
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efficient official. He lends attention to detail, and is giving character to his position. Socially, he is quiet, self-possessed, and dignified, and yet affable and courteous. No ill-will of any kind attaches to him, and it is believed that his public life as adjutant-general of the State will reflect great credit on himself, as well as the author of his appointment. June 13th, 1871, he was married to Eliza J. Stoddard, only daugh- ter of the late Henry Stoddard, of Dayton, Ohio.
MCALPIN, GEORGE WASHINGTON, wholesale dry goods merchant, of Cincinnati, was born in that city, July 4th, 1827, which date will account for his receiving the distinguished name he bears. Andrew McAlpin, his father, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, having been born in that city in 1793. He came to Cincinnati in 1817, and the year following married Miss Margaret Merrie, a lady of Scotch parentage, born in Philadelphia in 1798. She came with her parents to Cincinnati as early as 1804. Andrew McAlpin was for many years a manufacturer of furniture and an ex- tensive dealer in all kinds of wood, both native and imported. He was also a hardware merchant in Cincinnati for nearly an equal length of time. He died an esteemed citizen in 1863, while his widow, the mother of our subject, survived him thirteen years, dying at the ripe age of seventy-eight. George W. received his education at Woodward College, with a supplementary course at the Cincinnati College. In 1842, when fifteen years of age, he entered the wholesale dry goods store of Mr. John Taylor, afterward Taylor & Ellis, in whose employ he remained till 1850. Eight years' experience in the business, in all its departments, gave him a most thorough knowledge of mercantile and commercial trade, and at the same time demonstrated to his employers his great personal worth and business qualifications. In 1850 he was received as partner in the firm, which then became known as John W. Ellis & Co. It was afterward succeeded by Ellis, McAlpin & Co., then McAlpin, Polk & Heberd, then McAlpin, Polk & Co., and lastly George W. McAlpin & Co., under which name the business is at present con- ducted, on Fourth Street, in the large and elegant store erected for that purpose. Mr. McAlpin's life has been ex- clusively and thoroughly a business one, as he has never allowed himself to engage in any outside schemes or public affairs that would divert him from his one chief aim and determination. That his efforts have been crowned with great success financially is but the just reward of honesty, industry, sound judgment, and excellent business qualifica- tions. Under his management the business has grown to gigantic proportions, its annual sales amounting to nearly two million dollars, which exceeds those of any other ex- clusively wholesale dry goods house in the State of Ohio. It is worthy of note that Mr. McAlpin is the oldest wholesale dry goods merchant, in term of years, now in Cincinnati, there not being one of the number, except himself, now in that trade who were engaged in the business when he entered it in 1842. He has not only the prestige of being the oldest, but, also, as a representative of the great mercantile interests of Cincinnati he stands the first in his department. Among the many public institutions and corporations with which he is identified might be mentioned the following : The First National Bank, in which he has been stockholder and di- rector for fifteen years; Lane Theological Seminary, of which he has been trustee for five years; Spring Grove Cemetery, of which he has been director for an equal length
of time; and Cincinnati Orphan Asylum, of which he has been trustee and treasurer for ten years. He has always been a Republican in politics, though taking no part further than the exercise of the ballot, and even then exercising a judicious independence of party when the question of worth in candidates is involved. His religious affiliations are with the Presbyterian denomination, and he is an elder in that Church at Clifton, his place of residence. He has been a member of the city council in that aristocratic and beautiful suburb for fifteen years. In summing up the character of Mr. McAlpin, it can be truly said that as a business man and merchant he stands among the first; as a citizen, hon- orable, useful, and esteemed ; as a Christian gentleman, con- scientious and upright ; and among his fellows he bears the universally attested title of "one of nature's noblemen." He was married July 2d, 1850, to Miss Emily Louisa Spining, of Springfield, Ohio, whose father, Pierson Spining, was for many years a merchant in that city, settling there as early as 1812.
CAMPBELL, JOHN W., was born February 23d, 1782, in Augusta county, Virginia. His parentage was Scotch-Irish, his ancestors having removed in 1612 from Argyleshire, Scotland, into the north part of Ireland, near Londonderry. Their descendants, in 1740, emigrated to America and settled in Augusta county, Virginia. When he was eight years of age John W. Campbell's father removed to Bourbon county, Kentucky. Not being, in early life, of a robust frame, John W. soon found that he was not fitted for the laborious occupa- tion of a farmer ; and as from his earliest years he had mani- fested a strong predilection for the attainment of knowledge, his parents sent him to a Latin school, taught by Rev. J. P. Campbell, a Presbyterian clergyman. While at this school, and living in the family of his teacher, his parents removed to Ohio (1798), whence he followed them as soon as his engagements at school had expired. He afterward studied Latin a short time under the direction of Rev. Mr. Dunlevy, in Ohio. The school was five miles from his home, but the distance was walked most cheerfully, morning and evening, by him, he considering the exercise an important step to the attainment of his cherished hopes of health and knowledge. He was afterward sent to prosecute his studies under Rev. Robert Finley, in Highland county, Ohio. (This gentleman es- tablished the first classical school in Kentucky, at which sev- eral of the most distinguished men of that State were edu- cated.) Having made himself an excellent Latin and Greek · scholar he resolved to study law; and with this view he went to Morgantown, Virginia, to receive the instruction of his uncle, Thomas Willson, who was a lawyer of distinction. Here he studied law until he obtained a license to practice, which he did in 1808, when he was admitted to the bar in Ohio, and fixed his residence at West Union, in Adams county. He was, in a short time, appointed prosecuting attorney for the counties of Adams and Highland, and such was his gentle- manly deportment and attention to business, that he soon ob- tained a profitable practice. In 1811, he married Eleanor, daughter of Colonel Robert Doak, of Augusta county, Virginia. John W. Campbell soon acquired the confidence of the people of his county, which was shown on various occasions by their electing him to the State legislature. In that body he was a useful and influential member. His profession was prose- cuted with success in the recess of the legislature ; and such. was his rise in public esteem, that he was soon considered
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