USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 45
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and active administration of the Cincinnati and Newport Iron and Pipe Company. This he organized and managed to a point of the highest prosperity, casting from sixty to one hundred tons per diem, furnishing cast iron water and gas pipes to the largest cities in the West, among which was a line of forty-six inch pipe to Cincinnati, the largest ever cast west of the Allegheny Mountains. The establishment is to- day one of the marked industries of the Ohio Valley. In January, 1882, Mr. Hearne resigned the presidency of the City National Bank and the Iron and Pipe Company, to accept the presidency of the Third National Bank, of Cin- cinnati, Ohio, which he now holds. The history of the Third National Bank, of Cincinnati, is a story of unvarying success, of conservative management, exceptionally large returns to stockholders, with the universal confidence of the people. It was organized in 1863, with a capital of three hundred thou- sand dollars. In 1871 the corporation purchased the Ohio Valley Bank, an institution of good business and excellent record. The capital of the Third National was thereupon in- creased to eight hundred thousand dollars, and until June 30th, 1882, when its charter expired by limitation, its business, under the direction of the lamented Oliver Perin, and for a year or so under the presidency of George Wilshire, Esq., was managed most skillfully and successfully, earning during that period over two million dollars; paying twelve per cent, never passing a dividend, and accumulating a surplus of six hundred thousand dollars. In December, 1881, Mr. Wilshire desiring to retire from the presidency, the attention of the friends and stock- holders of the bank was directed to Mr. Hearne, who was not a stockholder in the institution, but whose career as a business man and whose exceptional success as a banker were known to all. Mr. Hearne was chosen president, and very shortly afterward, the charter having expired, the bank was reorganized, with a capital of one million six hundred thousand dollars, and a surplus of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and began its new career under auspices which promise a patronage, popularity, and success equaled only by its past history. The brief story of Jonathan D. Hearne's life-highly honorable in itself-is of great value to the youth of the country, as illustrating what a manly courage, an honest, earnest purpose, patient labor and industry, and, above all, a Christian life, may accomplish.
MARQUIS, WILLIAM VANCE, merchant, of Belle- fontaine, was born at Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, May 1st, 1828. The family is descended from an Irish an- cestry, and settled in this country, originally, in Frederick County, Virginia. Several of the family have been honored ministers of the Presbyterian Church, and among the most distinguished was the Rev. Thomas Marquis, commonly known as "the silver-tongued Marquis," who was settled over the Cross Creek Church (so-called), in Washington County, Pennsylvania, for more than thirty years. Thomas Marquis, the great-grandfather, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war. His father, John Marquis, moved his family from the above county to Belmont County, Ohio, when quite young, and eventually settled in Logan County, Ohio, in 1832, and became a prominent merchant in Bellefontaine. The present Mr. Marquis, who was named after Major William Vance, who appears prominently in the history of the Pres- byterian Church in Western Pennsylvania, after being edu- cated at the public schools, and while yet a youth, entered his father's store as a clerk, and was thus engaged until his
NOV.Marquis
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father's death, which occurred in 1848, after which the busi- ness was closed up. In 1853 he was appointed, by President Pierce, postmaster of Bellefontaine, and held the office until 1861. In 1862 he engaged in the hardware trade, under the firm name of Scarf & Marquis, and so continued for some eight years, when Mr. Marquis succeeded to the entire busi- ness, and has continued it to the present time. In company with Judge William Lawrence, and some others, in 1871, he assisted in organizing the Bellefontaine National Bank, Mr. Marquis being made vice-president, which office he still holds. He is also president of the Western Mutual Protection and Relief Association, which has its home office in Bellefontaine. Among many positions of minor importance, he has for many years been a member of the City School Board of Education, and also prominently identified with very many movements of a public nature, looking toward the prosperity and growth of the town, in some of which he was especially zealous and active. As a Democrat he has taken a leading position in the party politics of the day, and in 1878 was by them nominated as Member of Congress for his, the Fourth, District. In 1876 he was sent to represent his party of the Eighth District in the session of the Convention, at St. Louis, that placed in nomi- nation the Presidential candidate for that canvass. On the 12th of November, 1860, he married Miss Annie M. Sterritt, of Logan County, Ohio, an intelligent and accomplished lady, who died in August, 1868. Mr. Marquis again married March 31st, 1880, Mrs. Helen M. Guy, a native of Pennsylvania, but at the time a resident of Bellefontaine. The lady, however, was spared to be his companion but a short time, as she died February 25th, 1881, leaving an infant daughter, Helen May, born January 30th, 1881. On May 3d, 1883, Mr. Marquis was married to Miss Adelaide G., daughter of the late Abram Swift, of Avondale, near Cincinnati, Ohio. Social in his nature, yet unassuming, with a natural activity of temperament and physique, Mr. Marquis has made his business a fine success, by laying the foundations of integrity and thoroughness at the outset of his career in life, and by pursuing such a business course, he has merited and won the esteem and friendship of all who have been brought in public or business relations with him. Mr. Marquis has for many years been an honored member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Free and Accepted Masons' organization, passing to the higher degrees in the latter order.
SHANK, HON. JOHN A., a prominent member of the Cincinnati bar, is a native of Greene County, Ohio. His father, Solomon R. Shank, was a Marylander by birth ; his mother, Susannah Glotfelter, was born in Pennsylvania. The father came to Ohio in 1821, the mother in 1818, both settling in Greene County, where they first met, and were married. Three children were born to them, Uriah, Lydia E., and John A. The sister is dead. The brother is a farmer in the same county. Until his nineteenth year John A. remained and worked upon his father's farm, meanwhile attending school. He subsequently took a thorough course at Witten- berg College, Springfield, Ohio, graduating in 1860. Upon the commencement occasion he was awarded the valedictory, owing to his talents and popularity as a speaker. He began his career as principal of seminary and normal institute, at Orangeville, Pennsylvania, where he remained two years, after which he returned to Ohio, and studied law in Dayton, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar, by the Supreme Court of Ohio, in 1863. The following year he began the practice
of his profession in Cincinnati. Except when in public life, he has given his time closely to professional pursuits. In 1871 he was elected to the lower house of the Ohio Legis- lature, and gave himself earnestly and faithfully to the dis- charge of his duties. While there no member surpassed him in the power of debate. Whenever he addressed the house, he commanded the respect and attention of his hearers. Upon the expiration of his term as Representative, he was nominated for the State Senate, by his party, but in common with the rest of his ticket he was defeated. For nine years he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Asylum for Imbecile Youth, and was president of the same for six years, and for a number of years has been upon the Ohio River Improvement Commission, being still secretary of the same. As a Democrat he is popular with his party. His name has been mentioned in connection with other im- portant offices frequently, notably that of the congressional nomination, in the Second District of Ohio; Lieutenant-gov- ernor of the State, etc. Mr. Shank was brought up in the faith of the Lutheran Church, but is not a member thereof, or of any other Church, though believing in and conforming to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. In 1863 he married Miss Mattie E. Shaffer, a daughter of the late David Shaffer, who was one of the wealthy and enterprising citizens of Spring- field, Ohio. They reside in a delightful home in Avondale, one of the most beautiful suburbs of Cincinnati. To them one son has been given, Guy, born September 14th, 1871, and a daughter, Grace, who died in early childhood. Held in high esteem by his neighbors and the community at large, standing high at the bar as an able and eloquent lawyer, straightforward and upright in his intercourse with the world, of studious habits and remarkable for his general intelligence, he is a representative of that younger class of citizens in Olio who adorn the bar, the bench, the pulpit, and the press. Mr. Shank has a fine reputation as an extemporaneous speaker. His love for the platform-cacoethes loquendi-manifested it- self at an early period in his life. From a mother possessed of fine sensibilities, a lover of the beautiful and sentimental in poetry and prose, and who at her death left a repertory of choice selections culled from the fields of literature, he inherited kindred tastes and talents, and his ambition to excel as a public speaker. It has been his ruling passion. It im- pelled him to leave the farm for the college, to leave the professor's chair for the forum. Possessed of a graceful though impassioned delivery, a fervid imagination, a glowing earnestness, and a rhetorical flow of language, he is gifted in no ordinary degree with the power of "winning, moulding, wielding, fettering, bending the hearts " of those who hear him, either at the bar or in the popular assembly. Ardently pursuing his chosen profession, he has realized corresponding success. Devoted to the home circle, he derives therefrom both motive and inspiration to maintain the honor of his name while achieving eminence as a lawyer, reputation as a public speaker, and honors as a citizen of his State and nation.
LEHMAN, JOHN H., Superintendent of Public In- struction, Canton, Stark County, was born in Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, May 17th, 1846. He is the son of Abraham E. and Mary (Hackman) Lehman. His father was a miller in Lancaster. Until the age of fourteen he attended the com- mon schools of his native town, and then removed to Canton, Ohio, where he attended the high school, and taught district
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schools in the neighborhood of Canton for some five years. Being of a studious nature, and applying himself in a thorough manner, he made great progress. So great was his success that the appreciation of it was shown by his being elected principal of one of the Canton schools in 1869. That position he held for seven years, and in 1876 he was elected to the position he has held ever since, that of Superintendent of the Canton Schools. This position he has held with honor and efficiency, giving the highest satisfaction to the members of the Board of Education. He has been re-elected each time without, we believe, one dissentient vote. The schools during this period have increased in number and general efficiency. The attendance of pupils has nearly doubled- the present enrollment (1883) being about 3,400. There has been a steady improvement in punctuality, in the character of the training, and a very satisfactory general condition per- vading the schools, the pupils coming well up to the average
in their studies. He has introduced many new and improved practical features, and made a number of beneficial changes for the general good. In the primary grades he has intro- duced the eclectic system of reading, and the advance made by the children has been phenomenal. Also in the language course, in practical language, he has met with the same happy result. In the high school he has lessened somewhat the higher mathematics which had previously been in vogue, and which in reality belonged to the college course rather than the high school, and has substituted therefor literature, science, and the study of the constitution of the federal gov- ernment, as being of more practical utility. He entered upon his profession from choice, his strong inclination being to im- part knowledge to others. To this fact, no doubt, must be largely attributed his success as a teacher and a superintend- ent, it being a work in which his heart is engaged. He has been for a number of years a member of the County Teachers' Association, of which he has been chairman, secretary of committee, and president for fourteen years. He has also been president of the Northeastern Ohio Teachers' Associa- tion, and vice-president of the State Association, and is a member of the executive committee of the State Association. He is a member of the Evangelical (English) Lutheran Church, and has been for fifteen years a member of the Church council. He is also a teacher in the Sabbath-school. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Lehman was married August 3Ist, 1865, to Emma J., daughter of Adam Oberlin, a farmer, near Canton. They have had born to them two daughters and one son-Ella O., Eva E., and Fred H. The eldest daughter, Miss Ella O., graduated at Canton high school commencement of 1883. Strict yet kind in his rule, the discipline of the schools is well maintained, and he secures the hearty co-operation of his fellow-laborers. The general deportment, intelligence, progress, and cheerfulness of the scholars under his care, testify to his wise and benign influ- ence. He enjoys the confidence and respect of the com- munity at large.
RICE, HARVEY, LL. D., lawyer and author, was born at Conway, Massachusetts, June 11th, 1800. When seventeen years old he requested his father, who was a farmer, to give him his freedom and allow him to acquire a liberal education as best he could by his own efforts. This he achieved, and graduated from Williams College, in 1824, with honor. From college he went directly to Cleveland, Ohio, a stranger and without influential friends there or else-
where to aid his efforts for advancement. When he landed at Cleveland he owned nothing but the clothes he wore and three dollars in his pocket. At that time Cleveland contained but four hundred inhabitants. He soon became employed in teaching a classical school in the old academy on St. Clair Street, and about the same time commenced the study of law, under the direction of Reuben Wood, then a promi- nent member of the Cleveland bar. At the expiration of two years he was admitted to practice, and entered into co- partnership with his former instructor, which continued until Mr. Wood was elected to the bench. In 1829 he was elected justice of the peace, and in 1830 elected to represent his district in the State Legislature. Soon after, without solicita- tion on his part, he was appointed an agent for the sale of the Western Reserve school-lands, a tract of fifty six thousand acres, situated in the Virginia Military District. He opened a land office at Millersburg, in Holmes County, for the sales, and in the course of three years sold all the lands, and paid the avails, nearly one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, into the State treasury, as a school fund for the exclusive benefit of educating the children of the Western Reserve, the interest of which is now annually paid by the State for that purpose. In 1833 he returned to Cleveland, and was appointed Clerk of the Common Pleas and Supreme Courts, an office in which he faithfully served for seven years, and in 1834 and 1836 was nominated, by the Democratic Conven- tion as a candidate for Congress, and received the united support of the party, though without expectation of success, as the Democrats were largely in the minority. He was the first Democrat ever sent to the Legislature from Cuyahoga County, and while serving in that body was considered one of its ablest and most influential members. He was ap- pointed by the House one of the Select Committee for Re- vising the Statutes of the State, and while in that capacity introduced and advocated with acknowledged ability many new provisions, which still retain their place upon the statute book. In the fall of 1851 he was put in nomination for the State Senate, and was elected by a majority exceeding seven hundred votes. The General Assembly to which he was then returned was the first that convened under the new constitution. Upon this body devolved the responsibility of reconstructing the Statutes of the State, and adapting them to the requisition of the constitution, so as to secure to the people the practical benefits of the great reforms which had been achieved by its adoption. He contributed quite as much as any other member to the important legislation of the two sessions held by that General Assembly. It was said of him that he was always at his post. The degree of influence which he exercised as a legislator was such as few have the good fortune to wield. Among the variety of measures which engaged his attention, he took a prominent part in procuring the passage of the act which authorized the establishment of two additional lunatic asylums in the State. His course in relation to the subject of common schools attracted public attention throughout the State, and called forth from the press commendations of a very complimentary character. Another bill of scarcely less importance than the school bill was intro- duced into the Senate by him, which had for its object the establishment of a "State Reform School," expressly de- signed for juvenile offenders. The bill, at a subsequent session, resulted in establishing the present Reform Farm School at Lancaster. The services which he rendered the State in the founding of a new system for the public schools,
Yours Sincerely' Harvey en Rice
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and in the promotion of her educational interests, earned for him the honor of having been the father of the present school system of Ohio. While a member of the city council, in 1857, he took the lead in establishing the Cleveland In- dustrial School, was chairman of the committee that put it into successful operation, and was active in extending its use- fulness. In the same year he originated the project, and in- troduced the resolution into council, authorizing the erection ` of the Perry Monument, which now graces the public park of the city. The cost of the monument, by the terms of the resolution, was made to depend on the voluntary subscrip- tions of the citizens. He was appointed chairman of the monument committee, and after three years of persevering effort, succeeded in carrying the object of the resolution into effect. The monument was inaugurated with imposing cere- monies on the Ioth of September, 1860, the anniversary of Perry's victory on Lake Erie. Mr. Bancroft, the historian, delivered the inaugural address. As carefully estimated, not less than one hundred thousand people attended the inaugu- ration. In carrying out the programme, the battle of Lake Erie was reproduced in a mock fight on the lake in front of the city. It was a proud day for Cleveland. Both the monu- ment and the inauguration were pronounced a perfect success. In 1861, being elected to the board of education, he was ap- pointed president of the board, and during his term of office rendered essential service in promoting the educational in- terests of the city. In 1862 he was appointed by the governor of the State, with the concurrence of the War Department, a commissioner for Cuyahoga County, to conduct the first draft made in the county during the late civil war. In executing this delicate task, he acquitted himself with firmness, integrity, and discretion. While in the discharge of his duties, he found his office one morning suddenly besieged by some five or six hundred excited citizens, who were armed with pistols and other weapons, threatening to demolish the office and destroy the records. They had been instigated to make this demon- stration by false rumors regarding the fairness of the draft. He met the crisis firmly, sent to the military camp on the Heights for a detachment of soldiers-infantry and artillery -- who came to his relief, and dispersed the riotous assemblage. To satisfy the disaffected that all was right and just, he pro- posed that they should appoint a committee of their own to investigate the state of affairs in the draft office. With his aid an elaborate examination was made, and the committee reported that the draft had been conducted fairly and justly in all respects. Two of the committee, who had been ring- leaders in getting up the demonstration, were afterward drafted on the spot. In 1867, wishing to express his regard for the cause of missions, as well as for the college where he graduated, he planned and erected, at his own expense, and with the approval of the college authorities, a beautiful marble monument in Missions Park, at Williamstown, Mas- sachusetts, commemorative of American foreign missions, originated by Samuel J. Mills, an early graduate of the col- lege. At one of the out-door prayer-meetings, in which Mills and others were wont to engage, a storm arose and drove the party to seek shelter under a hay-stack, and while thus protected from the fury of the elements, Mr. Mills sug- gested the idea of a mission to foreign heathen lands as being a religious duty. In this noble and philanthropic thought his associates all concurred, and there, while at the hay-stack, consecrated themselves in solemn prayer to the great work. From this circumstance originated American 21-B
foreign missions. The monument is erected on the spot where the hay-stack stood, is twelve feet in height, and sur- mounted with a marble globe three feet in diameter, and cut in map lines. The face of the monument has the inscription, "The Field is the World," followed with a hay-stack, sculp- tured in bas-relief, and the names of the five young men who held the prayer-meeting, and the date, 1806. The monument was dedicated July 28th, 1867, at the maple grove in the park, and by special request Mr. Rice delivered the dedicatory ad- dress, which was received with a high degree of satisfaction, and afterward published with the other proceedings, in pam- phlet form. In 1869 he visited California, and while there indulged in a newspaper correspondence, which has been collected and published in a volume, entitled " Letters from the Pacific Slope, or First Impressions." In 1871 Williams College conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In his literary career he was widely known as the author of "Mount Vernon and Other Poems." His natural abilities are of a high order. His mind is thoroughly disci- plined and cultivated, and for the comparatively short time he has practiced as a lawyer he has obtained an enviable repu- tation for legal ability, discriminating judgment, and gentle- manly deportment. He is well known as an able contributor to many of the best periodicals of the day, and is a graceful and vigorous writer. In 1875 another volume of which he was the author was published, under the title of "Nature and Culture," and in 1878 he published a volume of "Select Poems." In 1883 he published an illustrated edition of his "Select Poems," and also a work entitled "Pioneers of the Western Reserve." He was twice married-first in 1828, and afterward in 1840.
BURTON, JONATHAN PRESCOTT, Massillon, Stark County, President of the Penn Iron and Coal Company, was born September 30th, 1820, in Penn's Manor, Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather, Jonathan Burton, was a member of the Society of Friends, emigrated from England to America, with William Penn, and settled in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Burton's parents were William and Rosanna (Galbraith.) His father a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother of Ire- land. William Burton was by profession a civil engineer. He built, by contract, several of the public works of Penn- sylvania, among them a part of the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal, and also a part of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad. J. P. Burton, after receiving a thorough education in the school of his native place, at the age of eighteen, went to Trenton, New Jersey. After spending a short period there, he went to New York, and obtained a position in the well known dry goods firm of Lord & Taylor. Later on he formed a partnership and established the firm of Brown & Burton, dry goods merchants, New York City. In 1843 he went to Philadelphia, and embarked in the whole- sale dry goods trade, under the firm name of Burton & Greis. In the course of some four years he became connected with the firm of Davis, Burton & Co., in the French and India importing trade. In this he was engaged for nine years, being most of the time in Europe, superintending the pur- chasing and shipping of goods to this country. In 1857 he withdrew from that business, and became associated with Jacob E. Ridgeway and others, of Philadelphia, in contract- ing upon public works, taking the first contract upon the Northern Pacific Railroad, from Stillwater to St. Paul. He also had the contract for building the Citizens' Passenger
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