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BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
chairman of the Democratic State Convention in 1881. The high esteem and regard which has always been manifested for him by the Democratic party is evidenced by the fact that he has frequently been called upon to present the names of suitable candidates at State Conventions. It was in 1882 that he presented the names of James W. Newman as candidate for Secretary of State; General Thomas Ewing, when nominated for Governor, in 1879; and General Durbin Ward, as candidate for nomination at the convention of 1883. All of his speeches on these occasions were listened to with attention, and have been regarded by those who heard them as models of true eloquence, taste, and style. Mr. Powell served in the late war about nine months, having been com- missioned as a lieutenant by Governor Brough. He has also been actively engaged in the best business enterprises of the city. He was one of the organizers and for several years a director of the Deposit Banking Company. He was also one of the organizers of the Delaware Chair Company, and is still a partner in the same, which is one of the largest and most successful manufacturing enterprises in the State. Mr. Powell is a man of fine, commanding appearance, and one who by nature as well as by culture is a perfect gentleman. He is scrupulously conscientious in all his dealings and re- lations; possessing the coolest judgment, and never allowing any thing which may arise in the trial of a case to unman him, and never arriving at conclusions without due consid- eration. These qualities, combined with his unquestioned honesty, candor, and fairness, bring conviction from a jury and carry weight with the court. His personal character is strong and true, attaching to him all who come in close con- tact with him. Brilliant and sturdy as he is in intellect, the qualities of his heart are by no means undeveloped. He is the kindliest of men-a true husband, a loving father, a de- voted son, and the most steadfast of friends. When duty demands or love requires, no act or service on his part is a sacrifice. His social qualities are of the highest order, and add zest to any company of which he is a part. A keen sense of the ridiculous, a subtle wit, a deep sympathy with suffering or oppression, and a most abundant supply of the " humblest harmonist of earth," make his society courted by all. Mr. Powell is enterprising and liberal, and takes an active part in all commendable social enterprises. He is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a liberal supporter of the same. The regard and esteem in which he is held is attested by his large practice, and by the honors which have been conferred upon him. Mr. Powell married Miss Eliza Thomson, the only daughter of the late Bishop Edward Thomson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who for many years was president of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity, at Delaware. Four children are the fruit of this union-Edward T., Marie, Cornelia, and Raymond, all of whom are now living.
HART, JOHN BABINGER, one of the leading mer- chants of Cincinnati, is a son of the late William and Catharine (Babinger) Hart. His father came to Ohio in 1820, and purchased a farm near the mouth of the Little Miami River, and upon the banks of the Ohio. The old block-houses, the first church in the Symmes's purchase, and many of the rude dwellings of the pioneers, which constituted the original settlement at Columbia, made by Major Benjamin Stites and party, in 1788, stood upon the site of the Hart farm. A sister of the elder Hart married Athan Stites, a
direct descendant of the adventurous major, and is now the owner of the same. The old brick mansion, having sup- planted the log-house, and ivy-mantled with historic and family associations, stands yet, overlooking the beautiful rivers that have their confluence almost beneath its threshold, and com- manding a scene of great natural loveliness. Mr. Hart abandoned farming as an occupation, and removed to Cin- cinnati in 1832. He engaged at once in the boot and shoe business, upon the north side of Fifth Street, where now. stands the new United States Custom House. His store was long designated and made memorable by the sign of the big "Red Boot." He died in 1860, aged fifty-six years. Mrs. Hart was the daughter of Abraham Babinger, also a wealthy and greatly respected citizen of Cincinnati in his day, and who, at one time owned the ground, in part, now occupied by the new Custom House. She died in 1881, in her sixty- ninth year. Mr. Hart, the subject of this sketch, was born July 13th, 1850, at the Hart homestead, upon West Seventh Street, in Cincinnati. He acquired his education in the common and high schools of that city. In 1869 he went to Europe, and remained there eighteen months, spending his time about equally in England, France, Germany, and Italy, in the pursuit of learning as well as pleasure, taking advan- tage of the opportunities thus sought and found to add to his education. He corresponded with the press of his native city during his absence, contributing articles upon the "Coli- seum," "Vesuvius," "Westminster," the "Catacombs of Paris," etc. Upon his return, in 1872, he engaged in busi- ness in St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained one year, as superintendent of the Anchor Flouring Mills, of which the celebrated H. C. Yaeger was proprietor, in connection with a number of other large mills in the Western States. He re- turned to Cincinnati, and commenced business in his own name, in 1874, at No. 98 West Fifth Street, in a store about one-fourth the size of his present establishment, and just two squares west, on the same street, of the point occupied by his father, from 1832 to the time of his death, and for several years afterward by his executors. The son is therefore the successor of his successful father, and in continuing the same business, constitutes his the oldest boot and shoe establish- ment in that city. "Hart's shoe store " has been a business phrase in that city for more than fifty years. His business has steadily grown under his skillful management. In the midst of sleepless competition he achieved and maintains the lead. A rare judge of human nature, he comprehends the wants as well as the tastes of his customers and the general public ; and therefore he was among the first, if not the first, merchant in his specialty who conceived the idea of accompanying each article purchased in his store with a present. As a business man Mr. Hart has met with great success for one of his years, and the cause therefor may be readily understood-he is a thinking man. His words are few, his self-command superb, his observation that of a strategist. Hence, in the arena of trade and traffic, his re- peated triumphs, and his leadership. But Mr. Hart does not devote all his time and thoughts and energies to business. He joined the Methodist Church while yet a youth, influenced thereto by the preaching of Rev. Granville Moody, D. D., when in charge of old Morris Chapel. He is now a mem- ber of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, and one of its trustees. He helped, to the extent of his ability, in its erection, in 1869-70, experiencing an unspeakable pleasure in doing so as its sacred walls and shapely spire went up,
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just across the street from the place of his birth. For the past four years he has been superintendent of its Sabbath- school, taking a deep interest in the work thus intrusted to him. At a time when the Loveland Camp Meeting Associa- tion was greatly embarrassed by an indebtedness of twenty- four thousand dollars, he was elected its president, and served as such two years, and as trustee four. He addressed him- self with characteristic zeal and determination to the task of liquidating that debt. Upon personal application to such gentlemen as Mr. William Glenn, Joseph F. Larkin, Esq., Hon. John K. Green, Joseph L. Hall, Esq., Mr. William Graveson, and others whose confidence he enjoyed, most lib- eral subscriptions were made, and the raising of that amount assured. His administration was crowned with complete suc- cess. This fixed the future of that enterprise, which has for its object both the temporal and eternal happiness of his fellow-men. Mr. Hart has a summer cottage-"Edgewood"- in that sylvan village. Its shaded lawn slopes westwardly toward the pleasant waters of the Miami River, upon whose banks his father toiled as a pioneer some sixty years ago. He was for a while a director of the Metropolitan National Bank, of his native city, and is now one of the board of directors of the Cincinnati National Bank, and is a strong Republican as to political affiliations. He was one of the associate commissioners of the Cincinnati Industrial Exposi- tion for the year 1883. He has acquired considerable repu- tation as a literary gentleman. For four years he was presi- dent of St. Paul's Lyceum. He prepared two lectures, one upon "Queen Victoria," and another upon "Daniel O'Con- nell," which were delivered before Cincinnati audiences, and received with evidences of warm appreciation. His general tastes are much in the direction of literature, but the cares of business preclude any thing more than occasional excursions into its tempting fields. He has but just commenced his career, though already in the advance, which is rapidly bringing that reward which waits on integrity, industry, intelligence, and intrepidity-wealth with peace of mind. The two stores re- quired for the transaction of his business are his in fee simple, and are regarded as a very valuable portion of his increasing estate. Mr. Hart married a cultivated Christian lady, Miss Kate Louise, a daughter of Joseph L. Hall, Esq., founder and president of the celebrated Hall's Safe and Lock Company. The wedding occurred April 27th, 1875, in St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. C. H. Payne, D. D., LL. D., president of the Ohio Wesleyan University, officiating. They have three sons-Joseph Hall, born March 18th, 1876; John Babinger, born July 24th, 1878; Ridgaway, born March 5th, 1880. Mr. Hart owes much of his suc- cess in life to the companionship of a dutiful and noble wife. A ray of light thrown across his threshold would reveal as happy a fireside as man could wish-three bright children, in their midst as a gentle queen she reigns, abound- ing with all the graces that adorn the Christian wife and mother, while in her Church and social circles her name is loved because it is the synonym of goodness, charity, and truth. Mr. and Mrs. Hart reside in their own delightful home, designed and built by them, on Seventh Street, not far removed from the old homestead, worthy successors of parents whose memory is still cherished in that community. While shrewd and able, and a tactician in commercial trans- actions, he commands the respect of his competitors; for his honorable record as a business man is the counterpart of his well-known Christian character. The former is the
rising superstructure; the latter its foundation, which was laid for him by pious parents in the days of his childhood.
THOMAN, LEROY DE LANO, son of Jacob S. and Mary Ann Thoman, was born at Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, on the thirty-first day of July, 1851. His father, Jacob S., was of Swiss parentage, and spent most of his life as a merchant and farmer in Springfield Township, Mahoning County, O. He moved with his family to Indiana in 1862. He died in 1878, and is buried at Columbia City, Indi- ana. His mother was a daughter of Rev. Henry Sonne- decker, one of the pioneer ministers of the German Re- formed Church of Ohio. She was born at Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, in 1824, and is now living at Logansport, Indiana. She is a woman of great strength of character, and devotedly attached to her family and Church. Leroy D. re- ceived a common-school education, and attended Spring- field Academy, at South Whitley, Indiana, for three terms. He began life for himself as a school-teacher in Whitley County, Indiana, in the winter of 1866 and 1867, and after- ward filled the position of superintendent of the schools of Piper City, Illinois, with great credit, for about three years. Of an ambitious, energetic temperament, school-teaching was but the means of enabling him to enter the profession of the law, for which his natural tastes and abilities, as well as his address and talent as a speaker, so eminently fitted him. He studied law with Hon. J. W. Adair, at Columbia City, Indiana, and was admitted to practice in the courts of that State in 1872. Shortly after his admission to the bar he was appointed assistant prosecuting attorncy for the Ninth Judi- cial District of Indiana, which position he held until the February following, when he resigned and removed to Youngstown, Ohio, which he made his permanent home. Here he began the practice of his profession; and, by those qualities of head and heart which have since made him so popular in public life, he quickly formed a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and drew to himself an exten- sive clientage. Youngstown being the only large town in Mahoning County, and containing fully one-half of the pop- ulation of the county, in 1873 began seriously to agitate for the removal of the county-seat from Canfield to Youngs- town. The issue of county-seat removal quickly obliterated all party lines, and on the ticket of the removal party, in October, 1875, just two years after locating in Youngstown, L. D. Thoman was elected Probate Judge of Mahoning County, he being then but twenty-four years of age. Though called to judicial position at so early an age, so successfully did he discharge the duties of his office that he was elected to a second term in 1878, as a Democrat, being the only successful candidate of his party, and polling eleven hun- dred and forty-nine votes more than his party strength. In this election he showed so great strength with the people, and in the conduct of his campaign developed such power as a political speaker, that he stepped at once into a position of prominence in State politics: In 1880 he was the candi- date of his party for Representative in Congress for the Sev- enteenth District of Ohio, and, though running against hope- less majorities, maintained his reputation for popular strength won in county campaigns. He was prominently mentioned for Governor of Ohio in 1881, and received a complimentary vote for the position in the Democratic State Convention of that year. In April, 1881, he purchased a half-interest in the Youngstown Vindicator, the Democratic paper of his county,
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of which he continued part proprietor and editor, with John H. Clarke, until August, 1882. The Vindicator began the se- rious advocacy of reform of the civil service early in the summer of 1881, it being at that time the only Democratic paper espousing the cause in Ohio. By a series of carefully considered articles, it attracted attention to the subject and won to its advocacy many Democratic papers in the State. In the Democratic State Convention of 1882 Judge Thoman championed the cause, and secured a plank in the platform of his party favoring the reform. Thus he became, when the logic of the elections of 1882 was recognized in the passing by Congress of the bill for the reformn of the civil service, most naturally and properly the man for the President to select to represent his party on the Civil Service Reform Commission, the position which he now occupies. Judge Thoman was mar- ried, on March 29, 1876, to Miss Mary E. Cripps, of Youngs- town, who died December 4, 1876. She was the niece of James Cartwright, a prominent iron manufacturer, and an accomplished lady. A man of fine appearance, pleasing address, and a fluent talker, Judge Thoman occupied from the first a prominent position in the social life of Youngs- town, being particularly prominent in Masonic circles and in those of Odd-fellowship. He is Past Master of Western Star Lodge, No. 21, Free and Accepted Masons; a member of St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar, and a Scottish Rite Mason, 32º. He has been a prominent member, for many years, of many social and musical clubs of the city.
HEARNE, JONATHAN D., was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, on the 7th of August, 1829. His father, Cannon Hearne, was a native of that county, born in 1798; was a millwright, and enjoyed the distinction of having built, in conjunction with his brothers William and Burton, the first inclined-wheel grist and saw-mills in the West. They were descended from a hardy race of pioneers, braving the perils of the West, meeting the dangers which in that day were everywhere encountered, and thoroughly imbued with the courageous and manly spirit which eminently characterized the pioneers of "the dark and bloody ground." This spirit they had inherited from an ancestry of earnest men, the eldest of whom known to the family, namely William Hearne, came to America, from England, in 1681, after a brief sojourn in the Island of St. Thomas, and settled in the then province of Maryland. Cannon Hearne was a man of vigorous intellect, strong and active. He filled acceptably, for many years, the office of justice of the peace-no mean distinction in that day-and in that sparsely populated country, and in the absence of medical advisers, he was authority in sickness, a very Samaritan to the poor and afflicted. He died in 1839, honored and respected by his neighbors. The family is a numerous one, and has made its mark by the integrity, sagacity, and intelligence of its several members. The grandfather, Clement Hearne, was born in Sussex County, Delaware, where he married Keziah Cannon, with whom he came to Kentucky, in 1795, and settled near the present little city of Cynthiana. Here he purchased a small tract of land, and after "clearing up" a part of it, and building a comfortable but rude house, in which he lived but two or three years, he sold it at $2.50 per acre, and again pur- chased at $1.75 an acre, near the present town of Leesburg, but within the boundary of the famous county of Bourbon. On this farm the pioneer grew to old age, dying in 1851, having reared a family of seven children. Jonathan D.
Hearne, the subject of this sketch, was the third child of Cannon Hearne and Sallie Owen, his wife. Jonathan was but ten years of age when his father died, the mother dying very soon thereafter. Although the father had by frugality and industry become the owner of a small farm, the children thus left in tender years met, in large measure, the trials which were inseparable from orphanage among the pioneers. The fatherless boy spent two years under the roof of his grandfather, and at thirteen years of age began in earnest the work of self-sustaining labor. Working on a farm for the means of clothing himself and paying for a plain country school education, he alternated between a sub-clerkship in a country store and farm labor until he was about seventeen years of age, when he apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, landing finally in Lexington, Kentucky, with a well known old mechanic there, always meeting the approval of his master as a faithful and capable workman. With a strong penchant for mercantile life, we find him, in 1849, the chief salesman and sort of man-of-all-work in the store of Richard E. Mason, in North Middletown, Bourbon County, Kentucky. In this position he soon demonstrated his business capacity, and meriting, won, the good opinion of the customers of the store, attracting at the same time the notice and sympathy of two of his maternal uncles, gentlemen well-to-do in the world, who very shortly added to his little patrimony (trifling enough in itself) a sum which enabled him to purchase the stock of his employer, and to embark in business on his own account. His business grew rapidly, until he became the largest and most prosperous tradesman in the village, thus becoming, at less than twenty-one years of age, the leading merchant and marked man of business in the community in which he lived. In March, 1852, he was married to Emily Duke Meyers, daughter of Isaac and Caroline Meyers, of Garrard County, Kentucky, a union which has contributed not a little to the life of influence and success of the husband. It is related of Mr. Hearne that a few years after he em- barked in business he built a business house-rather an im- posing structure for the time and place-and this while living with his young family in a very humble home. He was urged by friends first to build a handsome residence, but with great good sense he replied: "I may hope to make my handsome store build for my good wife a nice house, but I do not clearly see how I could make a nice house build the handsome store." In 1857 he removed to Paris, the county seat of Bourbon County, the center of a wealthy trade, and here, until the breaking out of the civil war, he did a large and lucrative business. In nothing in the life of Mr. Hearne was his true character more clearly illustrated than in his course in the late civil war. Born a Southern man ; bound by almost every tie of interest and consanguinity to the slavehold- ers of the South ; with a large business, a rapidly growing future ; prominent in his Church-for he was then an active and influ- ential member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South- he did not hesitate to put them all in the balance with his convictions of duty and the demands of patriotism. He allied himself actively and earnestly with the friends of the Union, and in connection with Hon. Garrett Davis, his friend and neighbor, he obtained and personally superin- tended the shipment of " Lincoln guns"-arms for the friends of the government, that were taken into Bourbon and ad- joining counties. The writer of this sketch well remembers the occasion. It was the first act in the drama which saved Kentucky to the Union, or rather, which gave courage and
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hope to the friends of the Union in Kentucky to save them- selves and the State from the vortex of rebellion. In all
the subsequent struggles, through emancipation, and to this time, Mr. Hearne has been the unyielding friend of the Union and the government. Early in 1861 he sold out his interests in Paris, and after remaining out of business during 1861-2, he removed to Covington, Kentucky, where he very soon en- gaged in the jobbing shoe trade, and subsequently in the shoe manufacturing business in Cincinnati. Calling to his aid all the new machinery and improved methods in his business, he made it highly successful and remunerative. Mr. Hearne has not courted public life. Except, perhaps, a term or two in the city government of Paris, and more recently of Covington, he has not sought or filled public places. He had been for many years a prominent, zealous, and active member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South, when, in September, 1865, the Kentucky Conference of that Church met in Covington, Ken- tucky, the home of Mr. Hearne. The trying times through which the country had passed had engendered animosities which seemed to be especially virulent, and promised to be lasting, in the Church ; and at the conference it became quite apparent that the ostracism of Union men, which pre- vailed largely in some localities in social life, had reached, and promised to display itself in, the Church courts. This was met promptly by the Union ministers and laymen, and under the leadership of that noble old preacher, Rev. John C. Harrison, sustained by Revs. John G. Bruce and Daniel Stevenson and others, men of great firmness of purpose and of conceded beauty of Christian character, on the part of the ministers, and of Jonathan D. Hearne, Hiram Shaw, Sen., Dr. B. P. Tevis, and others on the part of the laymen, the memorable withdrawal of the larger part of the ministers of intellect and power from the Church South took place-an event of great value and interest to the Church and to the country. The consultations were held at the house of Mr. Hearne, where eighteen preachers determined, that to maintain their self-respect and manhood necessitated withdrawal from the Southern Methodist Church, which they did the next day in open conference. The movement was quiet and orderly, yet under the circum- stances and surroundings it was heroic, and it will long be remembered by those who were witnesses of the scenes which marked its consummation. In 1870 Mr. Hearne was elected president of the branch of the Farmers' Bank of Kentucky, at Covington, under peculiarly complimentary and gratifying circumstances. He was not a stockholder, but stock was transferred to him to make him eligible, and he was chosen without solicitation. The bank, under his management, grew in business and public favor. Entering this new field Mr. Hearne studied carefully finance and the banking systems. He soon became an admirer and advocate of the national banking system, seeing in it very superior ad- vantages over the old State bank system, and interested himself in trying to have the Farmers' Bank Nationalize. Failing in this, he retired from the bank, and organized the City National Bank, of Covington, first with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars, subsequently increased to five hundred thousand dollars. This bank became speedily one of the most popular and successful institutions in the State, combining in its stockholders, depositors, and borrowers a class of the best business men of the three cities-Cincin- nati, Covington, and Newport. While yet in the management of the City National Bank he was called to the presidency
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