USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume II > Part 68
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the evils growing out of the system of slavery, and the fear- ful responsibility the national government was under for its continuance and extension. He died September 19th, 1856, just as the principles for which he had labored were made the foundation of that great political party which has carried them on to such glorious fruition. He was a man inspired with lofty moral purposes and great earnestness of spirit- honored, respected, and beloved. Endowed by nature with intellectual and moral power, of great sprightliness and vigor, the hallowing influences of a pious New England home gave direction and development to these, so as to form a character of great firmness, strength, and energy. His attributes of mind and heart gained for him general respect and confi- dence and a widespread influence, especially in the com- mercial and political circles in which he moved. He always sought to regulate his life by the principles and laws of Christian morality. These he carried with him into all the scenes of life-in public and in private, into business, into pol- itics, into the halls of legislation-so that his course was ever marked by integrity of purpose, regard for the rights of others, pity for the unfortunate, and sympathy for the oppressed. As a business man his promptness, honesty, candor, and public spirit rendered him generally popular. He was a bright example of success in business, not only based upon, but growing out of, the "justice, mercy, and truth " of the law of God. His labors and sacrifices, in every cause to which he devoted himself, were earnest and generous. The same sensitive regard to propriety which forbade all ostentatious displays of his benevolence while living still forbids a parade of his benefactions, public and private, bestowed for humane and philanthropic purposes. It is enough to say that they were numerous and liberal-springing from steady principle rather than occasional impulse, and so shaped as to show a thoughtful regard to the best interests of the recipient. As a public speaker he possessed more than an ordinary share of dignity and power. Urged to the platform in middle life, against all the habits of his youth, in opposition to all his tastes, led only by a sense of duty, he rose to a good degree of eminence as an orator. He had industriously gathered up large stores of historic lore, and of legal knowledge, which a vigorous understanding and memory had assorted, labeled, and stored away for ready use. He had also a large acquaint- ance with men. He was gifted with ready utterance, and an earnestness of spirit which lifted him at once into forgetful- ness of all embarrassments, and gave him eloquence and power. His whole public life was marked by great decision of character. Whether standing alone in the State Senate, advocating and voting for measures, since popular, but for which no other voice was then raised and no other vote was given, or severing all political ties to associate with the de- spised few who dared to brave the popular sentiment on the question of slavery, or conducting a commercial scheme, amid the crashing of failing enterprises and dismal prophesy- ing of disaster to the projects which he conducted-as in the case of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal -- he steadily pur- sued his aim, unmoved by popular clamor, fearless among the fearful, until energy and perseverance carried him tri- umphantly through. To him, more than all others, Akron is indebted for that canal, an enterprise which so materially aided the then growing village in developing her commercial interests. In private his life was as gentle and loving, as in public it was firm and unbending. The tenderness and de- votion of a husband and father were blended with the sterner
attributes which his public life revealed, in forming a char- acter of more than usual symmetery. He lived and died a Christian gentleman. As he approached life's solemn close, his faith and hope grew constantly brighter. All dread of death was taken away. He felt that his work on earth was done, and he longed to pass away and be at rest. After the names of kindred and friends had been uttered, one by one, with fond affection, the last word that lingered on his lips, as he passed away, was the name of Jesus. Thus lived and died a man honored by all, mourned by all, and whose life others may well emulate. Of his family of eight children, the eldest, Hon. Henry W. King, was born in Westfield, Massa- chusetts, September 24th, 1815, and came with his parents to Warren in 1817. He was graduated at Washington (now Trinity) College, Hartford, Connecticut, August 4th, 1836; commenced the practice of law, at Akron, in 1839; and in 1850 was elected Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Schools. He was actively interested in the Akron school laws, and while in health was identified with all the public enterprises for promoting the prosperity of Akron. Oc- tober 20th, 1842, he was married to Mary, daughter of Dr. E. Crosby, of Akron. He died in Akron, November 20th, 1857, leaving his wife and two children-Henry C. King, who sub- sequently died at the hospital on Arlington Heights, while in service, August 11th, 1864, and Julia Huntington, who married H. D. Fisher, of Chicago. The names of the re- maining seven children were: Julia A., who married Charles Brown, Esq., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, February 14th, 1842-he was a merchant of that city, and died at Aiken, South Carolina, where he had gone for his health, October 3d, 1880-Mrs. Brown, who still survives him, is now (1883) a resident of Akron, Ohio ; Susan H., who died June 17th, 1839; Leicester Jr., who is now (1883) in the auditor's office, Washington, D. C .; David L., whose sketch we give; Helen D., married May Ist, 1862, James Atkins, Esq., a lawyer, now of Savannah, Georgia; Hezekiah H., a resident of Savannah, Georgia ; and Catherine H., who married, September 19th, 1855, W. K. Pendleton, D. D., president of Bethany College, Bethany, West Virginia.
KING, DAVID L., manufacturer, of Akron, Summit County, Ohio, and president of the King Varnish Company, one of Akron's many important industrial enterprises, was born in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, December 24th, 1825. His parents, Leicester, whose sketch we give, and Julia Anne (Huntington) King, were both natives of New England, their ancestors being among the early settlers, many of whom are known to fame. He graduated in the scientific course at Bethany College, Virginia, in 1843, and studied law at Dane Law School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He came to Akron in 1846, where he at once entered upon the study of law in the office of King & Tayler. He was admitted to the bar in Cleveland, in 1848, and in 1851 established his residence there, practicing his profession with success until 1856, when he returned to Akron, and there continued in practice. In 1867 he abandoned his profession, and accepted the offices of secretary and treasurer in the Akron Sewer Pipe Company, then the largest institution of the kind in the world engaged in the manufacture of vitrified sewer pipe. Rapid success fol- lowed his management of the company, occupying for the time his whole attention. The completion of the Atlantic and Great Western (now the New York, Pennsylvania and
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Ohio) Railway, in 1864, gave a great impetus to the manu- facturing interests of Akron, and to Mr. King's intelligent activity and financial ability is largely due the advanced position as a manufacturing point of which Akron is so justly proud. He was largely instrumental in raising funds to establish many of these important manufacturing industries. He was prominent in securing the extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for which object three hundred thousand dollars was subscribed. In 1874 he was elected president of the Valley Railroad Company, of which road he was one of the earliest and strongest promoters. As early as 1869, largely through his instrumentality, a charter was obtained for tlie Akron and Canton Railway, which developed into the larger and more important Valley Railway, running from Cleveland to a junction with the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad, near Zoar, Ohio. This company was duly incorporated August 21st 1871, and Mr. King was elected vice-president. To him, for its conception, prosecution, and completion, the people are largely indebted. This road has developed into a very important railroad, opening up, as it does, immense coal-fields, and adding most materially to the prosperity of the country through which it passes-most notably Akron, Canton, and Cleveland. The stockholders were divided between the three cities. For the five years, from 1874 to 1879, that he was president of the corporation, he carried the road through all its financial difficulties and vicissitudes, until it was placed on a sure and prosperous footing, when, on account of failing health, he resigned the presidency in favor of J. H. Wade, Esq., of Cleveland-he still remaining one of the directors of the company and on the executive committee. The King Varnish Company is a new and extensive enterprise, which Mr. King has personally placed on a substantial footing, giving it for such purpose his time and attention for a period. Large and thoroughly equipped buildings have been erected, thereby adding an- other to the many of Akron's important manufacturing in- dustries. On the death of his father, in 1856, Mr. King assumed the management of his vast real estate interests, pursuing a policy in the disposal of lands which materially aided the interests of the growing city. The land which Judge King and General Perkins bought and platted is now (1883) cov- ered with a vast city, many immense manufactories; is a great railroad center, and has a population of twenty-five thousand-on every hand are evidences of successful and prosperous industry. These results have been produced in an almost unlimited measure by the wise foresight, manage- ment, and generous disposing of the property by Mr. D. L. King and his father ; also in their active interest and con- stant endeavor to promote in every way the prosperity of the city. Mr. D. L. King, in religious faith, is an Episcopalian, is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of which he has been for nearly twenty-five years the senior warden, and for sixteen years an active superintendent of its Sunday-school ; and is ever found a prominent worker in all charitable and benevolent enterprises. He is a man honored, respected, esteemed, and beloved. He was married May Ist, 1849, to Miss Bettie Washington Steele, of Charleston, Virginia, a grand-niece of General Washington. To them were born Ellen Lewis, Bettie Steele, Howell Steele, Susan Huntington, and Martha Perkins. Ellen Lewis was married January 19th, 1870, to David R. Paige, of Akron, and died December 20th, 1878. Bettie Steele was married December 10th, 1873, to John Gilbert Raymond, of Akron.
HIESTAND, EZRA B., physician, of Kenton, Ohio, was born in Fairfield County, Ohio. His parents were Sam- uel and Margaret Ann (Rodabough) Hiestand, the former a native of Shenandoah, Virginia, and the latter of Pennsyl- vania. They were both of German extraction, and people of exemplary Christian character. The father was a preacher in the United Brethren Church, and was, in 1819, elected Presiding Elder of the Miami Conference. In 1833 be was elected Bishop for Ohio, and served his Church in that capacity until his death, in 1837, at the age of fifty-six. He was an eloquent preacher, both in English and German, and a man of considerable ability. The doctor's boyhood was spent upon a farm and attending district schools. His father having died when he was but seven years old, his widowed mother endeavored to give him, with the other children, a good education. He was placed in a select school, taught by Professor Samuel Weaver, where he remained until he had completed a collegiate course of study. In 1845 he began studying medicine, under the direction of Drs. H. P. Eaton and D. W. Cass, of Cannonsburg, Ohio. In 1847-8 he attended a course of lectures in Cincinnati, and in 1850-1 took another course of lectures at Columbus, at the close of which he graduated in medicine. Soon after he formed a partnership with Dr. George W. Edgerly (formerly of Day- ton), at Ansonia. Here he continued practicing until 1856. Wishing to pursue the study of medicine further, he attended, during the years 1856 and 1857, Starling Medical College, at Columbus. He next removed to Cannonsburg, Ohio, where he formed a new partnership with Dr. E. P. Leslie. In 1862-3 Dr. Hiestand again attended a course of lectures at Starling College, and then located in practice at Ada, Ohio, in company with Dr. J. H. Williams, late surgeon of the United States Army. During the winter of 1864-5 he took another special course of lectures at Chicago, and continued in the successful practice of his profession at Ada until 1870, when, leaving his practice in charge of Dr. Sturgeon, he went to New York, and entered the Bellevue Medical College, where he took a thorough course of study, and received an honorary degree in medicine and surgery. The same winter he attended a private course in surgery in the Bellevue Hospital surgical wards, and out-door clinics, under the instruction of Dr. Frank H. Hamilton. In 1874 he removed to Kenton, Ohio, where he still continues to practice, having been in the mean- time associated with several physicians, though, since 1879, his son, Howard E., has been his only partner. In 1880-I the doctor again renewed his medical knowledge and ex- plored still further the mysteries of the science by attending the various medical schools, clinics, and private operations in surgery, and studying other branches of his profession that seemed to him of the greatest benefit to himself and his patients. He also took a private course in gynecology and in the Women's Hospital, under the instruction of Professor M. A. Pallen, also taking a series of private lessons on the eye and ear with Professor W. F. Mittendorf, both of New York. There are few physicians in the country who have been so zealous in the study, experiment, and investigation of the medical science as has Dr. Hiestand. He has spent years of time and a small fortune in satisfying his ambition in this direction. He has, indeed, been a student all his life, and is undoubtedly one of the most thoroughly read physi- cians in Ohio. For years past he has had a very extensive and lucrative practice, and were he not a man of great physical endurance, its demands upon his energies must
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needs break him down. He has not heretofore mingled much among the medical fraternity in conventions and asso- ciations; indeed, he has had little time to do so, but it is hoped that he will see fit to give to the world the benefits of his many years' study and experience. He was married in 1856 to Miss Haddassah A. Harris, daughter of Colonel Nehemiah and Ann Harris. Mr. Harris was a nephew of Andrew Poe, the great Indian hunter, and his wife was a sister of Dr. William H. McGuffey, the well-known educator and author. Two children, Howard Edwin and Annie Margrette, have been born of this union.
STRIBLEY, GEORGE, extensive shoe manufacturer, of Cincinnati, was born April 6th, 1824, in St. Columb, county of Cornwall, England. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Robarts) Stribley. His father was a miller and a practical mechanic. After obtaining a fair education at a private school young Stribley apprenticed himself to learn the shoemaker's trade, at which he worked for several years. Endowed with superior ability, coupled with an ambitious and independent spirit, he could not reconcile himself to his lot as cast for him in his native home. He realized how cir- cumscribed were the possibilities of a young tradesman in England, and began to consider how he might better his condition and future prospects. After taking a survey of the comparative advantages offered in the various countries to which the people from Great Britain were then emigrating, he finally decided upon the United States as the one which offered the greatest inducements, and furnished a sphere of action consonant with his ambitions and capabilities. He took ship from England on the 27th of August, 1847, and reached Cincinnati in November of the same year, that being his point of destination. He spent two years as em- ployé, when he was enabled, in 1849 to establish a business of his own-the foundation of his present mammoth factory. Machine-made shoes were then unknown, and every part of the work was done by hand. Mr. Stribley's business grew rapidly, and he was soon compelled to increase his capacity in order to meet the demands of his trade. By the year 1862 he had upward of fifty men in his employ. A shoe manu- factory employing that many workmen was in that day con- sidered a very large institution. In the year 1862 sewing- machines for the manufacture of shoes were invented, and Mr. Stribley was among the first to adopt them. Indeed, he was the pioneer in adopting and using machinery in the manufacture of shoes west of Philadelphia, and used the first sewing-machine for fitting the uppers of shoes. He used the first Mckay sole sewing-machine, and was the first to apply steam power for the operation of shoe manufacturing machinery west of the Alleghanies. In order to establish a factory on an extensive scale, he took as partner, in 1864, Mr. James Rowe, a gentleman of considerable means. This partnership was continued for some years, since which Mr. Stribley has been associated with several gentlemen. Mr. Stribley had inherited from his father great mechanical talent, which peculiarly adapted him for his business, by enabling him to invent, introduce, and operate all kinds of machinery and improved methods of manufacture. He soon discovered that his own knowledge of the business was of much more value to the enterprise than the capital of other men. Con- sequently, he dissolved his partnership, and established him- self as sole proprietor. His industry grew to such proportions that he was compelled, in 1878, to erect a large building for
a factory. It is seven stories high (the highest in Cincinnati), one hundred and sixty-eight feet deep, with a front of thirty-six feet. The factory occupies the seven stories and basement, aggregating 48,384 square feet of floor. There are now em- ployed upward of seven hundred hands, male and female, in the institution. He has an extensive trade throughout the South, West, and North, amounting annually to about one million dollars, exceeding that of any other shoe factory in Ohio. In order to shift a portion of the responsibility attend- ing this extensive industry, Mr. Stribley took as partners, in January, 1882, Mr. E. P. Rogers, his son-in-law, and Mr. H. W. Andrews. Mr. Stribley is a man of great energy and executive ability-the very forces that have raised him from the journeyman's bench to the head of one of the largest institutions in Cincinnati. His strict sense of honor, purity of life, and benevolent impulses render him almost reverenced by his employés. He is a man of great independence in thought and action, and his whole course in life-socially, politically, and in business-has been characterized by his sterling individuality. He has never, except in one instance, accepted any public or municipal office, and that was upon the organization of the first board of aldermen in Cincinnati, when he was elected a member of that body, and as such represented his ward for three years. During the war he allied himself with the Republican party, but since that time has stood upon independent grounds politically. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order, and a 32° Mason in the Scottish Rite, and also a member in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and their Encampment. He is pres- ident of the Shoe Manufacturers' Association, of Cincinnati, and also president of a Board of Arbitration, established to settle all controverted questions between shoe manufacturers and their workmen. In these capacities he has shown great wisdom, by his course in all disputed matters, and has never failed in adjusting such difficulties with entire satisfaction to all concerned. In 1875 Mr. Stribley visited Europe, and took an extended tour through his native country and Scot- land, and made a brief visit to the Continent. He is a man of large and massive frame, and of striking presence. He was married in Cincinnati March 13th, 1851, to Miss Mary Logan, a lady of Scotch birth. She died November 6th, 1852, six days after giving birth to their first child, who is the present wife of E. P. Rogers. He was married the second time September 16th, 1853, to Miss Amelia Deacon, a lady whom he had known in England, who afterward came to this country. She died suddenly, in London, England, July, 1883, shortly after arriving there in company with her husband and daughter, intending to make a tour of Europe. Of this mar- riage five children are now living.
ROBINSON, JAMES W., lawyer, of Marysville, Ohio, was born November 28th, 1826, on Darby Creek, Union County, Ohio. His father, John W. Robinson, was a son of the Rev. James Robinson, a Presbyterian clergyman of some celebrity, in Western Pennsylvania, and in the early history of Central Ohio. His mother, Elizabeth Mitchell, was a daughter of Judge David Mitchell, who came to Ohio, and located in Union County, in 1799, and died, after having lived a long life of usefulness, respected and esteemed by all who knew him. John W. Robinson died in 1853. having long been an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He left sur- viving him eight children, of whom seven are still living- David M., a farmer, living on the old homestead ; James W.,
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the subject of this sketch; John W., a farmer, living near Marysville; Colonel A. B., a merchant, lawyer, and late a. member of the Ohio Legislature ; Robert 'N., a farmer, living in Marysville; Martha A., married to William H. Robinson, a hardware merchant, in Marysville; and Emma J., the wife of Hon. Beriah Wilkins, Member of Congress, of the Seven- teenth District of Ohio. James W. Robinson was the second son, and during all his youth was trained to hard work on the farm, and in parts of the winter went to the country school, until about fifteen years of age, when, owing to delicate health, and a love for books, it was decided he would not make much of a farmer, and therefore was sent away to obtain a better education, under an Irish teacher, by the name of Robert Wilson. When in his seventeenth year, he taught a district school, for eight dollars a month. In 1843-4 he rode on horseback four miles daily, to recite Latin to the " preacher;" and in the summer of 1845 matriculated as a sophomore in Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, from which institution he graduated with high honors in a class of seventy- two, in 1848. In the fall of 1848 he taught a select school in Woodstock, Ohio, and cast his vote for General Taylor for President. Subsequently he taught an academy in Marysville, and read law until 1850. He then took a course of lectures in the Cincinnati Law College, in 1850-1, graduated, and was ad- mitted to the bar in April, 1851. He at once formed a part- nership with his preceptor, Otway Curry, who was an able law- yer, and a man distinguished for his poetic and literary talent. In the fall of 1851 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the county, over Jackson C. Doughty, a character of some celebrity of those days. In 1857 he was elected to the Ohio Legislature, and re-elected in 1859, and again in 1864, in which body he took a prominent position, being for a con- siderable part of the time chairman of the Judiciary Com- mittee of the house. During the war he was an ardent sup- porter of the administration of Lincoln, and most of the time a member of the Military Committee of the county. In the fall of 1872 he was elected, over General G. W. Morgan, as a Republican, to the Forty-third Congress, from the Ninth Ohio District, composed of the counties of Union, Hardin, Marion, Morrow, Delaware, and Knox, and in 1874 was unanimously nominated for re-election, but the country, still laboring under the discouragements of the commercial panic, went strongly Democratic, and the Ninth District elected a Democrat. During his short term in Congress Mr. Robinson voted for many important measures, among which were the Civil Rights Bill for the protection of the colored race in the enjoyment of the equal protection of the law, and the act for the Resumption of Specie Payments. As a member of the Committee on Elections, he opposed the seating of George Q. Cannon, as the Mormon delegate from Utah, and made a speech against it. In later years Mr. Robinson, in order to have better health, has traveled a considerable portion of each year, making careful trips through every section of our country, and has not given to his profession the attention of former years, but still, with his partner, L. Piper, he carries on a successful law practice in Marysville. When a young man he united with the Presbyterian Church, and ever since has been a devoted member, having been ordained and in- stalled an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Marysville, November 17th, 1855. He has been an active and useful officer, and a large giver for the support of the Church, and especially for the cause of Church education, being for the last twelve years a member of the Board of Trustees
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