USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 58
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
"Western Singl Fut Co
Vany Lowly Hours
5II
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
yer. In 1847, he was elected a State representative, and continued an active member of the Whig party, until it came to an end by the defeat of General Scott in 1852; during that campaign he was chairman of the Whig State central com- mittee of Ohio. Being from boyhood an earnest opponent of slavery, he was prepared to take an active part in the formation of the Republican party, whose raison d'etre was opposition to the extension and perpetuation of slavery. As a speaker and a writer on behalf of the Republican party, Mr. Perry has stood in the front rank of a by no means small number of able leaders. While sacrificing nothing in mat- ters of opinion, his courteous and dignified bearing as an influential political leader secured for him the respect of men of all parties during the most exciting struggles the country has witnessed. In September, 1870, Mr. Perry was nomin- ated by the Republicans of the first Congressional district of Ohio as their candidate for Congress, and was elected. In the preceding election, this district had gone democratic by three hundred majority. It may fairly be claimed that Mr. Perry's high standing in his party, and in the community, had much to do with the success of his party at this election. During the session which commenced March 4th, 1871, Mr. Perry took part in the debate which grew out of the presenta- tion of the message of the President upon the subject of the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment, and attracted the favorable attention of his fellow-members, and not least, that of his political opponents. Mr. Perry was placed upon the committee appointed to consider the question of civil service reform, which grew out of the recommendations of the President upon that subject in his message to Congress in December, 1870. In support of resolutions previously offered by him in the direction of civil service reform, Mr. Perry, in 1872, addressed the house in a prepared speech, which was well received by his fellow-members and the public. In the further discussions of the measures proposed to effect a re- form in the civil service, Mr. Perry took an active part. Soon after the close of the session, he made known his inten- tion not to be a candidate for reelection, and at the same time, without giving reasons for the step, tendered his resig- nation of the unexpired portion of his term. Perhaps a con- tinuation of public service under favoring circumstances would not have been declined. To borrow Mr. Perry's lan- guage to the writer: "The party organization, and the aims of persons who controlled it at the time, while they did not involve personal unfriendliness to me, left me without reason- able prospect of usefulness of a grade commensurate with the difficulties incident to maintaining my position in a contested district." In the hotly contested political campaigns afterward entered into by the Republicans, no leader came forward more readily to do battle than did Mr. Perry ; that he did much to help win victories will be unhesitatingly conceded. He was a member of the convention which re-nominated President Lin- coln at Baltimore, in 1864, and represented the Ohio delega- tion in the committee on resolutions. During the contest which followed, Mr. Perry, on many occasions, by well directed efforts gave valuable assistance to the national cause. The delivery of his addresses was largely attended; they were afterward published and widely circulated as campaign documents. Independently of his legal and political reputa- tion, Mr. Perry has, by his purely literary efforts, proved that, possibly, literature has been a loser by his successes in more conspicuous fields. In his eulogy on the "Life and Charac- ter of John Quincy Adams," delivered before the citizens of
Columbus, April, 1848; in his series of articles on the life and career of the younger Pitt, published in the Knickerbocker Magazine, of 1854, and other published orations and ad- dresses, it will be seen that Mr. Perry possesses no ordinary literary ability. Clearness, forcibleness, originality, verging at times upon quaintness, enlivened by flashes of keen wit and an avoidance of common-place expressions, may be taken as some of the characteristics of Mr. Perry's style as a speaker and a writer. From the Western Reserve college and the Marietta college, he has received the degree of Doctor of Laws. Important judicial positions have been offered to, and declined by him. From what has been told, as well as from what has not been told of Mr. Perry's public career, it may justly be inferred that while there was no unwillingness on the part of his political associates to see him share the honors which he often helped to win, yet it is, nevertheless, apparent that his standing and influence owe nothing to official position or to party arrangement. During the opening years of the civil war, Mr. Perry rendered valu- able services to the government of the State, and public acknowledgment was made of them by Governor Dennison, in his annual message. In the defense of Cincinnati when threatened with invasion, Mr. Perry gave valuable assistance to General Horatio Wright, at that time in command of this district, and his name was given to one of the works thrown up for the defense of the city. In the Presidential contest which ended in the election of Mr. Hayes, Mr. Perry took a very active part; being placed at the head of the Republican electoral ticket, he addressed large political meetings in different parts of the State, and his reported speeches were widely distributed. Mr. Perry has been appointed by the Superior court of Cincinnati, one of the five members com- posing the trustees of the Sinking Fund. In 1843, he married Miss Elizabeth Williams, daughter of Micajah T. Williams, Esq. Their children living, are Mary, wife of Her- bert Jenney, Esq .; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Herman J. Groes- beck, eldest son of Hon. William S. Groesbeck; Nelson Williams, and Edith Strong.
STRONG, LUTHER M., Common Pleas Judge, of Kenton, Ohio, was born near Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, June 23d, 1838. He is a son Jesse and Sarah (Myers) Strong, both natives of Frederick County, Maryland. His father came to Ohio first in 1814, but returned shortly after to his native State, where, in 1827, he was married. In 1830 he emigrated to Ohio with his family, and settled in Seneca County, where he lived until his death, which occurred March 19th, 1876. He was one of the pioneer farmers of that county. His wife died at Kenton, November 24th, 1868, while on a visit to her son. They had a family of fourteen children, nine of whom are still living. Luther M. spent his youth upon his father's farm, having access to the country schools (during the winter terms chiefly) until he was nine- teen years old, from which time he became a teacher during the winter seasons, and during the spring and fall months attended the academy at Republic, Ohio. He left his studies at the academy at the breaking out of the Rebellion, and raised Company G of the 49th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, of which he became captain. About the Ist of September, 1861, the regiment proceeded to Louisville, and thence to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. This regiment, with about two thousand other troops, became the nucleus of what was afterward the Army of the Cumberland. Captain Strong
5 12
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
remained constantly at the front with his command during all the trying scenes through which that army passed, par- ticipating in the battles of Shiloh, Lawrenceburg, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Mission Ridge. At the battle of Chickamauga he was for a time in command of his regiment, and received special mention by his brigade and division commanders for coolness and gallantry dis- played during that terrible engagement. After the battle of Mission Ridge he was appointed major of his regi- ment, and in that capacity took part in all the battles and continued skirmishes of the Atlanta campaign, among which were the battles of Buzzard Roost, Resaca, Dallas or Pick- et's Mills, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, and Jonesborough. Soon after the last-named battle and the fall of Atlanta, he became the senior officer and commander of his regiment, and was thereupon commissioned lieutenant-colonel. He commanded his regiment during the Hood campaign upon Nashville, and took part in the battles of Columbia, Franklin, and Nashville. At the bloody charge at Picket's Mills, Georgia, May 27th, 1864, Major Strong bore a most heroic part. The attack was upon the enemy's works in column, four lines deep, the 49th Ohio forming a part of the third. It was but a few minutes when the first and second ranks had been mown down by the enemy, and the 49th Ohio be- came the advance of the column. While urging his men to follow him, waving his sword high in air, the only way of command he could make, as no voice could be heard amid the deafening roar of musketry and artillery, and while within a few feet of the enemy's works, Major Strong was shot through the right shoulder. This charge, although called by the reports " an affair," was, in fact, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. One-half of the men of the 49th Ohio were killed or wounded, and the division of which that regiment was a part lost in killed and wounded in a single charge about fifteen hundred men. But it is men- tioned by the general commanding only as "an affair," and the survivors only know the gallantry and persistency of the attack, and the terrible carnage of the "affair " at Picket's Mills. Again, while leading his regiment in the charge on the second day of the battle of Nashville, December 16th, 1864, Colonel Strong was severely wounded in the left arm by a minie-ball, which cut off the bones of the forearm. This was the last charge the regiment ever made, and prac- tically the final engagement of the Army of the Cumberland. This ended Colonel Strong's military career, which was one of loyalty, gallant daring, and well-merited promotions. With but one exception, there was not an engagement in which his regiment participated throughout the entire war in which he did not take part. After the close of the war Colonel Strong commenced the study of law in the office of Lee & Brewer, at Tiffin, Ohio. On the 3d of January, 1867, he was admitted to the bar, by the Supreme Court of Ohio, and at once located at Kenton, Ohio, where he has since remained in the active practice of his profession, in which he has been very successful; and has, by his unaided struggles, industry, and sterling qualities of mind and heart, built for himself a reputation for worth, ability, and integrity that commands the confidence and esteem of all men. He has been all his life a zealous Republican, and has for years taken an active and influential part in politics. In 1879 he was elected to the State Senate, and re-elected again in 1881. The circumstances connected with his re-election rendered it a most flattering compliment on the part of his constituents. Never in the
history of that senatorial district had a senator been given the office for a second term, until it had become an estab- lished custom. However, Colonel Strong was renominated without his solicitation and during his absence, and was elected by the largest majority ever received by a candidate for that office in that district. The standing Republican ma- jority in the district was about eight hundred, while Colonel Strong's majority in 1879 was over sixteen hundred, and in 1881 about two thousand. During both terms in the Senate he took a prominent part in all the proceedings of that body. On the 19th of April, 1883, he was appointed by Governor Charles Foster, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the judicial district in which he lives, in which capacity he is still serving, and is the nominee of his party to become his own successor upon the expiration of the term for which he was appointed. During the short time he has presided as judge he has given universal satisfaction to the bar of the district, and has proved himself eminently fitted for the position. , He is a man of excellent habits, and socially a most agreeable gentleman to meet. Judge Strong was married February 14th, 1865, to Miss Mary Milliman, daughter of Hiram and Sally Milliman, and a native of Tompkins County, New York. Of this union two sons and one daughter have been born, all of whom are still living.
STILWELL, WELLINGTON, Judge, of Millersburgh, Holmes County, Ohio, was born in Richland Township, Holmes County, May 25th, 1848. His father was A. I. Stil- well, a native of New York State, and his mother, Helen (Boyd) Stilwell, of New Jersey. He was brought up on a farm, and became inured to its hardy life. His education was ac- quired in the common schools, and an academy (where he spent four years), supporting himself during his academical course by teaching between the sessions. At the early age of fourteen he chose law for a profession, and in April, 1866, en- tered upon its study in the office of Critchfield & Uhl, of Mil- lersburgh. After diligently pursuing his studies under such competent direction, he attended a course of lectures at the Michigan State University, Ann Arbor. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1868, and immediately commenced a practice which eventually placed him at the head of the bar in Holmes County. Starting in life with no advantages whatever, he became the architect of his own fortune, and by dint of hard labor and persistent study soon carved out for himself an enviable career. In the trial of causes he was always forcible and firm, and yet observed all those rules of propriety that characterize the conscientious practitioner, and that indicate the most delicate sense of honor. He never failed to adhere rigidly to the requirements of legal ethics. No temptation could swerve him from the line of strictest integrity. Never mercenary in his practice, money could not induce him to engage in a case regardless of its merits ; but in him the cause of virtue ever found a champion. Mr. Stilwell served as school examiner from 1868 to 1872, and then resigned. He was elected Representative from Holmes County in 1869, and re-elected in 1871. Although the youngest member in the House, he met the highest expectations of his friends, was faithful to his constituents, and made a brilliant record as a legislator. A prominent State paper said of him :
"He is one of the best debaters in the House-being a ready, off-hand speaker, who has always language at com- mand in which to clothe his thoughts. His speeches are ex- ceedingly forcible, going to the bottom of the subject; and
Western Biogl Pub, Co,
513
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
being an industrious, hard-working member, who, from ex- perience in searching for authorities, is ever provided with an abundance of facts for argument and illustration, he is listened to with the greatest attention. His votes are never given without mature deliberation; and when the expenditure of money is involved, the subject first receives the severest scrutiny from him. No speculation ever received his sup- port ; no intriguer ever dared approach him, except with fair and honorable arguments for or against a measure."
When the resolution to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment was under consideration, he made the speech on the Demo- cratic side, which was pronounced one of the most able, logical, and eloquent efforts ever heard within the walls of the House. He was but twenty-two years of age at this time. In 1874, on a popular vote, he was the choice of Holmes County for Congress, although in convention he did not receive the nomination. In 1880 he was a candidate for elector on the Democratic ticket, and received the highest number of votes, with one exception, of the twenty-two can- didates upon the ticket. His county nominated him in 1882 for Common Pleas Judge. At the District Convention, in ac- cepting the nomination, he said:
" In the position which you have assigned me on the ticket I recognize grave responsibilities as consequent upon my election. The duties of a judge, called upon as he is to pass upon the rights of his fellow-men under a multitude of circumstances involving civil relations as citizens-often life and liberty, as well as property-are laborious; calling for industry to investigate, patience, discretion, and, above all, the highest integrity-that he may aim only at justice as de- lineated by law; that justice may be his guiding star, turning neither to the right or left, dispensing justice with an even hand, without fear, favor, or affection-forgetting friendships as well as enmities, should the last exist, in his desire to make every citizen equal before the law."
In the primary elections he carried thirteen out of fourteen townships in his own county ; in Coshocton County received one thousand majority over his competitor; and in the Dis- trict Convention, embracing the two above mentioned counties and Wayne, his nomination was made unanimous. In the election he received the highest majority ever given in the district-in Wayne County running over fourteen hundred ahead of his ticket. Mr. Stilwell is the youngest member upon the bench in Ohio. As a Judge he is fearless and just. In the sentencing of criminals he never loses sight of the fact that it is the certainty of punishment rather than its severity that is most beneficial to society. In his civil ad- ministration, his greatest delight is to see the controversies between litigants harmoniously adjusted. Wherever he has held court so far his decisions have been received with great favor. Calm in his demeanor, quick in his perceptions, and impartial in his decisions, his legal contemporaries predict for him a brilliant future. Being a master in stenography, he is able to take full notes of important testimony and authorities quoted. He is an Odd Fellow, also a prominent Mason, having taken all of the degrees, inclusive of Knight Templar. Politically, he is a Democrat, fearless, unflinching, and pro- gressive. Being of irreproachable character, high toned, sober, studious, and an excellent speaker, he is called upon to take prominent part in the advocacy of the principles of his party. He was chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of Holmes County in 1873. May 24th, 1868, he was married to Miss E. L. Harris, daughter of Jesse A. Harris. They have two daughters. Their home is a fine brick structure, tastefully arranged and admirably located, and furnishing the finest and most extended views of any
residence in Millersburgh. Mr. Stilwell has three brothers- all prominent and promising legal gentlemen-and two sisters: Hon. Byron Stilwell, of Ashland County, who served two years as Prosecuting Attorney, and has represented his county in the Legislature; A. H. Stilwell, for three terms Prosecuting Attorney of Coshocton County ; T. N. Stilwell, attorney-at-law, Millersburgh; Lilly H., wife of J. L. Camp- bell, banker, Shreve, Ohio; and Florence V., who married
R. Almack, of Richland Township, Holmes County. Phys- ically, the Judge is of prepossessing appearance, with an intellectual countenance, clear, penetrating eye, and manly bearing. Socially, he is genial, frank, and firm in his attach- ments. As a citizen, he is greatly respected and beloved. In his family he is kind and indulgent, finding his greatest happiness at his home.
LITTLE, LYMAN, M. D., Cleveland, Ohio, was born at Morristown, Vermont, September 8th, 1811, and died at his home in Cleveland, July 31st, 1883. His parents, David and Lucy Little, of Connecticut, both came of that grand old Puritan stock that has given to the country so many of its noble men and women. They early settled in Morristown, and had a family of eleven children, all of whom arrived at years of maturity. Lyman Little's early boyhood days were passed under the parental roof, and in the enjoyment of the edu- cational advantages offered by a New England district school. After which, having received the full course of instruction there imparted, he received private instruction, and took an academical course under Professor Hasker ; and, still later, had conferred on him an honorary degree by the Castleton Medical College, of Castleton, Vermont. Being by this time a proficient scholar-having been a close student during his various courses, and with a desire to impart knowledge to others -- he engaged in teaching school, but his personal preference soon developed itself into a strong desire for the study of medicine as his profession. With this end in view, he entered upon a close application of his special study, with all the devotion and ardor of a youthful, well-trained mind. In due course he earned and gained his diploma, and entered upon the practice of the pro- fession of his choice. In his profession he was eminently successful and specially devoted for twenty years, most of the time being located at Zanesville, Ohio. He was known as one of the best pathologists of the State, and took high rank among the medical fraternity. During the war of the Rebellion he was commissioned by Governor Tod to special army medical and surgical duty. In this capacity he visited various camps and numerous battle-fields, among them Pittsburg Landing, Murfreesboro, and others. His reports to Governor Tod showed him to be a man eminent as a sur- geon and physician, thoroughly acquainted with all the important detail of the sanitary, surgical, and medical re- quirements of the army, in camp or on the field. He was a man of strong mind, a clear, sharp, analytical thinker, inde- pendent in thought and confident in conclusions, of great individuality. Toward secret societies and the holding of public office he always entertained a strong aversion. Open and above-board himself in all his actions, he had no affinity for the former, and for the latter he would never have allowed himself to stoop to seek the popular vote for any public office. His whole life was devoted to scientific reading and study- always studiously avoiding and averse to public notice. Noble and unselfish in character and disposition, he was
514
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
calculated, eminently qualified for, and did make a happy home, a loving husband and father. Dr. Little was twice married : First, September 22d, 1836, to Elizabeth G. Keyes, one of the three daughters of Judge Elnathan Keyes, of Sheldon, Vermont, who removed thither from Hartford, Con- necticut, at an early date, taking with him a number of slaves, whom he freed and settled on farms in his vicinity. He was a man of great influence in the State, and his family the center of social enjoyment and culture. Of this union there was born one daughter, Sarah Keyes Little, who became the wife of John Tod, Esq., of Cleveland, the eldest son of ex-Governor Tod, of Ohio. The second mar- riage was to Cynthia S. Hunt, of Vermont, who still sur- vives him. The memory of Dr. Little is very dear to all who knew him, for he was a man eminently beloved and respected-honored as a physician and as a private gentle- man. His life had been an active and a useful one. Of later years he had abandoned his more active professional life, and was living in a happy comparative retired enjoy- ment of a well-earned competency. Such is the brief record of a man who lived an useful, unostentatious life, filling his sphere most fitly-doing whatever he did conscientiously and well-he leaves an example worthy of emulation.
BEATTY, CHARLES CLINTON, D.D., LL. D., an eminent educator and divine, was born in Princeton, New Jersey, January 4th, 1800; died at Steubenville, Ohio, Octo- ber 18th, 1882. His father was Colonel Erkurius Beatty, an officer of distinction in the war for Independence, and who also filled during his life many important civic positions. Our subject was instructed from his earliest years in the principles of religion and the practice of the duties which they enjoin. His early training was received mainly at the hands of his mother, an exemplary Christian lady, a member of the Presbyterian society, into which body of Christians he was early inducted. That these maternal admonitions did not exert a more potent influence over the conduct of his earlier years was in after life, with him, a matter for serious retro- spect. In this regard the family biographer says : "He also became by choice associated with vicious companions." This course of life, however, was soon rectified, and afterward, in writing about it, he expressed his high sense of obligation to his preceptor, Dr. Green, president of Princeton College, whose good influence supplemented that of his mother in bringing about the desired reformation. He was in posses- sion of exceptional advantages for acquiring an education, first at the academy in Princeton, and later with private tutors in his father's family, preparatory to entering college. His beginning as a student was not auspicious, giving but little promise of the eminent attainments which he ultimately acquired, and he maintained the same indifferent standing through his entire college course at Princeton, graduating September 30th, 1818, without honors. This circumstance was properly attributed to other causes than lack of intel- lectual acumen. Ill-health, outside associations, and indif- ferent application were the principal causes. While yet in college his mind was directed seriously to religious matters, and during the progress of a revival meeting at Newark he was led to make a public profession of religion, and was duly examined for admission to the Church. About this time he made a trip to the West, stopping at Dayton, Ohio, the home of his sister. There he taught a four months' term of school, which he was obliged to suspend, owing to ill-health, which
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.