USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 14
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him to persevere in its completion. He made the first daguerreotype picture (a landscape) taken in the United States, and himself constructed the instrument and apparatus to take it in December, 1839, besides making in 1840 the first daguerreotype likeness ever taken anywhere without requir- ing the rays of the sun to fall directly upon the sitter's face- in other words, in the shade. The artificial propagation of fish was also first successfully practiced in this country by him in 1853. He was a skillful surgeon, an artist of such promise that, had he exclusively followed that profession, he would probably have won renown, and was a diligent student of natural history and other kindred sciences. Professor J. P. Kirtland was his first and only preceptor in natural history and was his intimate friend and associate for more than forty years. He was a man of great versatility and undoubtedly of some genius as an artist. A remarkable constitution, and an even, genial temperament, enabled him to perform an un- usual amount of work requiring endurance and patience. He married Miss Mary M. Chittenden, his third wife, in 1846, by whom he has one daughter. His first and second wives were sisters, and daughters of Dr. Elijah Flower, his medical pre- ceptor. He had two children by his second wife, one son, Dr. Wilmot H. Garlick, and one daughter.
BUSH, PHILO PARSONS, engineer and manufac- turer, Canton, Ohio, was born March 15th, 1836, in East Hampton, Connecticut. He belongs to a family of mechanics who trace their lineage back to the early settlers of America. Through his mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Strong, he comes from Puritan stock, and is connected with one of the most numerous families of New England. He has a chair that was brought across the Atlantic, which was formerly in the possession of his great-great-grandmother. He was the ninth in a family of ten children, five of whom are living. At the age of twelve, on account of the death of his mother and consequent breaking up of the family, he went into a brass-moulding shop in Westerly, Rhode Island, where he remained one year, His early education in the school was very limited, but his industrial training in the shop was very practical and thorough. From Westerly he went to New London, Connecticut, where he engaged to work in a ma- chine shop, and continued there until he was twenty-two years old. His next employment was in the steel dies manu- factory, at New Haven, where he remained until the break- ing out of the Rebellion. In 1861, he enlisted in the three- months' service under Colonel (afterward General) Terry, and was in the first battle of Bull Run. At the expiration of his term of service he went home, where he remained until, in June of 1862, he re-enlisted for three years as principal musician of the 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. He participated in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. During the engagement at Antietam he was permanently injured in the back by being struck with a rail knocked off a fence by a shell. By an order of the War Department, issued in the latter part of 1863, mustering out all principal musicians, he was released from the service, when he returned home and engaged in the manufacture of machinery with his brother. After some three and a half years of successful and increasing prosperity, his brother became financially involved, and the whole concern was seized by his brother's creditors and put into the hands of the sheriff for sale. Our subject, however, by his financial standing and good management succeeded in effecting a
satisfactory arrangement with all parties, so that the manu- factory was not sacrificed and the business was not retarded. In about a year all the liabilities were liquidated and a larger building was occupied. Having occasion to visit Canton, Ohio, such representations were made to him with reference to the superiority of the location there as a manufacturing center, that he decided to remove and there establish a machine shop. A board of directors having been appointed and promises of ample support furnished, he, in 1871, removed to that city a considerable part of his machinery, bringing also a few of his best workmen. Buildings having been erected and machinery put in place, the new enterprise called "The Canton Steam Engine Works " was started with every prospect of success. Within a year, a force of seventy men were employed. Soon, however, financial complications began to assume threatening proportions. As superintendent of the works, no blame could be attached to Mr. Bush, because the energy and efficient management of the works were above all question. Difficulties of a serious nature, not necessary to mention here, compelled an assignment of the property and a readjustment of the business. Mr. Bush pre- served his financial standing among his creditors so com- pletely that he was able to begin business again with a seriously reduced capital, but with the same energy and confidence that has always characterized him. He is now the sole proprietor of the Novelty Iron Works, and is carry- ing on a large and constantly increasing business. He has invented several pieces of machinery connected with his works, having the inventive talent; but he has rather sought to confine his attention exclusively to the necessary demands of a reliable trade. He is an honest, conscientious business man, and in all the successes and reverses of his business career he has preserved an unblemished character, and enjoys the respect of the community as a citizen of liberality and intelligence. He is a Republican in political faith, and as a soldier takes a prominent part in the great popular reunions of his comrades. On the 30th of January, 1857, he married Miss Melissa Godfrey, of New London, Connecticut, who has borne him five children, three of whom are yet living. Of these, Alfred L. and Frederick W. are employed as workmen in their father's manufactory, and the youngest, Philo P., is attending the public schools. In 1869, Mrs. Bush died, and before his removal to Ohio, in 1871, Mr. Bush married, on the 6th of February of that year, Mrs. Sarah Adams, daugh- ter of Samuel Jeffery, an old sea captain, of New London, Connecticut, who has borne him one child, living.
ASHLEY, JAMES M., legislator, lawyer, and editor, Toledo, Ohio, was born in Pennsylvania, November 14th, 1824. His father was a clergyman traveling on circuit in the frontier settlements of western Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and southern Ohio, and there being but few schools in those settlements, his education was wholly due to his mother, a woman of culture and ability. At fifteen years of age he set out to seek his own livelihood. After a short trial, first as cabin-boy then as steward on Western steamers, he entered a printing office in Portsmouth, Ohio, and in time passed from the composing room and became the editor and proprie- tor of the Portsmouth Democrat, and subsequently was con- nected with the Portsmouth Daily Dispatch, displaying much ability as an editor. The financial success of the paper was not great, its politics being democratic, whilst those of an over- whelming majority of the people of that section of the State
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were whig. Turning his attention from journalism to the law, he entered the law office of C. O. Tracy, and in 1849 was admitted to the bar. Instead of practicing his profession, he engaged in boat-building, but was only moderately success- ful. In 1851, he removed to Toledo, and opened a drug store, meeting with success until 1857, when he was burned out without insurance. He had early turned his attention to politics, his views being generally in accordance with the principles of the democratic party, except on the question of slavery. Careful study and personal observation in the South had led him to take advanced grounds in favor of the aboli- tion of slavery, which for a time alienated him from the dem- ocratic party. He was a member of the Pittsburgh conven- tion which gave the republican party a compact organization, and soon became one of the leading spirits in that movement. In 1856, he was a delegate to the Republican National con- vention that nominated John C. Fremont for the Presidency, and in 1858 was himself nominated as the republican candi- date for Congress in his district, and was elected. In Con- gress he opposed the demands of the slavery interest with ability and energy, taking a leading part in the exciting debates of 1859-60, and warning the Southern members that, should they make good their threats of secession, it would become the duty of the Nation to crush out rebellion and maintain the Union. At the expiration of his term he was renominated by unanimous vote and reëlected by an in- creased majority. The rebellion broke out almost immedi- ately after, and he took a prominent part in Congress in urging forward every possible measure needed for a vigorous prosecution of the war. Among the more important meas- ures introduced or advocated in the house by him, was that of minority representation, a bill being reported by him look- ing to the introduction of that principle in the territorial gov- ernments, and his speech on the subject was the first in that direction made in Congress. In connection with Hon. Lot M. Morrill, of Maine, he drew up and had charge of the bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and also had charge of the Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. He made several speeches on the sub- ject which attracted general attention. During the extra ses- sion of July, 1861, he prepared the first measure for the reconstruction of the Southern States presented to Congress, and, as chairman of the committee on territories, reported it to the house March 12th, 1862. The bill was tabled, on motion of Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio, by a vote of sixty-five yeas to fifty-six nays, and the subject was not again revived at that session, but the ideas contained in the bill and the line of policy it outlined, were embodied in the reconstruction measures finally adopted and carried into effect. In 1865, he crossed the continent and delivered an address in San Francisco, which received general and emphatic approbation on account of its ability and statesmanlike views. His last prepared speech in Congress was delivered February 13th, 1869, in support of a proposition to limit the powers of the President and supreme court, and this was considered his finest effort. He insisted on placing an impassable barrier between the judiciary and political office. After serving five terms in Congress, he was renominated for a sixth term by the republicans, but was defeated. President Grant subse- quently appointed him governor of Montana Territory, which position he filled with signal ability and success. Returning to Toledo, he was engaged as attorney for important rail- roads. In the Presidential campaign of 1872, he took a lead- c-7
ing part in the movement that nominated Horace Greeley, which he held to represent the principles of mercy, forgive- ness and reconciliation, on which alone, he claimed, reunion and peace could be secured. After that campaign he re- mained in Toledo, practicing law. In his many years of public life, he has achieved the reputation of being one of the finest speakers and ablest public men in Ohio. He married in 1851, Miss Emma J. Smith, of Kentucky.
MARSH, RICHARD BLACKMORE, M. A., superin- tendent of public schools, Mount Vernon, Knox County, was born August 12th, 1835, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He is a son of Moses Marsh, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, born in 1800, and Hannah Blackmore Marsh, a native of Truro, Nova Scotia, born in 1810. R. B. Marsh was named after his distinguished ancestor, Sir Richard Blackmore, a physician and poet of note in the latter part of the seven- teenth century. Mr. Marsh's early life was spent in New England, from which he removed to Gambier, Ohio, in 1856, and entered the Kenyon Grammar School, then under the charge of Professor H. D. Lathrop. He was poor and friendless, and had a wife and child dependent upon him for support, which rendered his struggle for an education diffi- cult. His design was to study for the ministry of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church. His vacations were spent in build- ing fences, putting in glass, and painting for the college. Parts of his fences in Gambier are yet standing, bearing witness to his early struggles and industry. When he had acquired sufficient education to teach, his spare time was employed in assisting students who had to make extra exer- tion to overtake classes in branches in which they were found deficient. He was a thorough student, intelligent and in- dustrious to a remarkable degree. In 1861 his progress had been of such extent that he was appointed tutor in Kenyon Grammar School, at a salary of five hundred dollars per annum. His success as a teacher and disciplinarian was so marked that he was advised by the bishop and faculty of Kenyon College to devote his life to teaching, and to relinquish his intention of entering the ministry. In 1862, Professor Lathrop resigning, he was appointed principal of Kenyon Grammar School, and became a member of the faculty of Kenyon College. The school at that time was small in numbers-the last year having only seventeen students, but three of whom expected to return. By energy and popularity he succeeded in building up the school to nearly a hundred in number. Notwithstanding his arduous labors and incessant teaching he continued his college studies, and graduated with his class in 1863. He continued as head teacher of the grammar school, kept up the reputation and numbers, and had, for years, been making a salary of two thousand two hundred dollars; but at the close of the school year in 1867, not being satisfied with the appointment of J. Kent Stone to. the presidency of the college, and foreseeing a struggle be- tween the High and the Low Church party, in which the former, with whom he had no sympathy, was likely to gain the ascendancy, he accepted an invitation to superintend the schools of Mount Vernon, at a salary of one thousand five hundred dollars and house rent. In 1866 he received the degree of A. M. in course from Kenyon College. In 1879 he received a life certificate from the State Board of Exam- iners. As a scholar and a teacher Mr. Marsh takes high rank, and for his many qualities of head and heart is held in warm esteem by his professional brethren. The high
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standard of the Mount Vernon schools, the proficiency of the pupils, the discipline maintained, the general healthy happi- ness and progress made by the scholars, all attest and bear evidence of the wisdom, energy, and ability of their superin- tendent. Mr. Marsh has been the recipient of many flattering testimonials from distinguished educators, and from the public press, which amply manifest the high esteem in which he is held as an educator, and also as an elocutionist, to which special study he has devoted much time, and on this subject has lectured at many institutes and normal schools, in several counties of Ohio, and to him personally their suc- cess has been largely attributed. As an elocutionist he is probably unsurpassed in the State of Ohio. From the "His- tory of the Mount Vernon Schools," written by Joseph S. Davis, A. M., we quote the following :
" Richard B. Marsh, the present incumbent, is the fourth, an alumnus of Kenyon College, an accomplished scholar and experienced teacher, who by invitation of the Board of Education took charge of the city public schools in the year 1867. He has ever since superintended and controlled them with uniform success, gradually elevating the standard of scholarship and more than maintaining the deservedly high and enviable reputation of the schools. He has devoted himself with great earnestness to the cause of education, to advance the best interests of our schools, and performed the duties required of the superintendent with scrupulous punctuality and fidelity."
Mr. Marsh is also an author of some note, his educational work, entitled "Orthography and Reading," is an able and exhaustive treatise of the subject, which has met with warm appreciation from able scholars; a work invaluable to stu- dents and educators, and from the writer's knowledge of it should go into the hands of every teacher especially. An ardent student himself, an erudite scholar, he devotes his life's work to the diffusing of that knowledge and education which elevates man. In himself he combines that highest type of humanity, "a Christian gentleman." Many of his Sabbaths are devoted to preaching the gospel of salvation, and this he does without the hope or receiving of pecuniary reward. In the Masonic order, which also teaches brotherly love, Mr. Marsh stands high. He was for many years Master of Mount Zion Lodge, High Priest of Clinton Chapter,. and is Eminent Commander of Clinton Commandery Knights Templar. Such men as Mr. Marsh impress indelibly their character upon the community in which they live-they im- bue it with their own sentiments. Mr. Marsh was twice married-first to Mary E. Mason, February 5th, 1854, who died December 5th, 1865, leaving two sons and two daugh- ters. His second marriage was to Sylvia M. Lothrop. To them have been born five children-four girls and one boy-all of whom are living.
TAFT, CHARLES PHELPS, lawyer, Cincinnati, was born in that city, December 21st, 1843, and is the eldest son. of Hon. Alphonso Taft, now United States Minister to Vienna. He received his early education in the public schools of Cin- cinnati, spending the last three years in the Woodward High School. He prepared for college at Phillips Academy, An- dover, Massachusetts, entered Yale College in 1860, and graduated in 1864. Having decided upon the law as a pro- fession, he entered the Columbia College Law School, of New York, and graduated in 1866. Shortly after his gradua- tion he engaged in the practice of law, with Sage & Haacke, the firm being known as Sage, Haacke & Taft. In the latter
part of the same year he withdrew from the firm, and went to Berlin, Prussia, where he remained about four months, study- ing German and attending the Berlin University. In March, 1867, he went to Heidelberg, and in December of the same year took the degree of "Juris Utriusque Doctor" at the Uni- versity of Heidelberg. In March, 1868, he went to Paris, France, where he spent another year in the study of the French language and literature, and in attendance at the College de France. In 1869 he spent three months in Italy, and two months in England and Scotland. In November of the same year he returned to Cincinnati, and formed a partnership with General E. F. Noyes, in the practice of law. This firm continued up to 1871, when General Noyes was elected Governor of the State, and he himself elected to the State Legislature. During his term in the Legislature he was Chairman of the Committee on Schools and School Lands, and secured the codification of the school laws, which was a great step in advance, and has proved of great benefit. The school laws of the State had never been codified before, and were scattered about among the statutes in a miscellaneous manner. In 1872 Mr. Taft was nominated, by the Repub- lican party, to succeed Hon. A. F. Perry in Congress, but shared in the defeat of the ticket, it being the year of the Greeley campaign, which proved a Waterloo to the Repub- lican party in Hamilton County. In 1873 Mr. Taft resumed the practice of law, in company witli liis father and brother, Peter R. Taft. The firm continued in the enjoyment of an ex- tensive practice till 1876, when, by the appointment of Judge Taft as Secretary of War, it was dissolved. From that time to the present Mr. Taft has continued to practice alone, though much of his time during the last four years has been occupied with other affairs. In 1879 he bought a controlling interest in the Cincinnati Times, which had, through bad management, lost its influence and patronage, so that at the time Mr. Taft took hold of it there were not to exceed one thousand genuine subscribers to the paper. Mr. Taft at once adopted a new and wise policy in the management, made large expenditures of money in necessary outlays, and labored with unabated zeal for nearly a year, in his efforts to raise it from the depths to which it had sunk. Many thought it a useless undertak- ing and a necessarily losing investment. However, Mr. Taft's efforts were rewarded by a rapid increase of circula- tion, until, at the end of a year, it had reached about twenty thousand. In June, 1880 Mr. Taft made a proposition to the Daily Star, the only other evening paper of that city, to con- solidate the two papers. His proposition was accepted, and the consolidation was effected, the Times controlling ninety- five out of the one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of capital. The paper has since been known as the Times- Star, in which Mr. Taft still retains a controlling interest, and dictates its management. Mr. Taft is also vice- president and stockholder in the Volksblatt Company, the most prosperous German newspaper in the country. He has been identified for several years with numerous public enterprises and interests, among which might be mentioned the Zoological Garden of Cincinnati, of which he was one of the founders and for several years one of its directors. He was also treasurer of the May Festival Association for several years, and has borne his part in securing to it its great success. He has always taken a great interest in edu- cation, and has been for years a member of the Union Board of High Schools, and at one time president of the same. Mr. Taft was married December 4th, 1873, to Miss Annie Sinton,
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daughter of David and Jane (Ellison) Sinton, of Cincinnati. Four children, all living, have been born of this union, viz. : Jane Ellison, David Sinton, Annie Louise, and Charles Howard.
BROWN, JOSEPH H., of Youngstown, coal operator and iron manufacturer, was born July 24th, 1810, in Glamor- ganshire, South Wales. When six years old he was brought to the United States by his father, John Brown, an iron manufacturer, who settled in 1816 at Ellicott's Mills, in Maryland, where he and his brother-in-law built the iron and nail mills, which were afterward converted into copper mills, and a few years later again made into iron mills. Here Joseph H. Brown learned thoroughly the business of iron-making, and at the age of eighteen removed to Frank- lin County, Pennsylvania, where he was connected with the Montalto Iron Works. After three years he removed to Antietam, Maryland, and in 1833 engaged in making iron at that place. Two years afterward he returned for a few months to Franklin county, going from thence to Harrisburg, where, as superintendent, he took entire charge of an iron mill, which proved a profitable venture. In 1839, he re- moved to Newcastle, Lawrence county, where he laid the foundation and superintended the construction of the first iron mill in the place, for James D. White. The death of Mr. White embarrassed the enterprise. He leased the mill and ran it successfully until its sale to Messrs. Crawford & Ritter. He then purchased an interest, and a partnership was formed under the name of A. L. Crawford & Co., he having the practical management of the work. The partnership con- tinued nearly four years, and proved very successful. At the end of that time he resolved on the erection of another mill in the same town, and in connection with Joseph Higgs and Edward Thomas erected the extensive works afterward owned by Rice, Brown & Berger. These works were among the largest in the State, thoroughly appointed, and containing the latest improvements in plant and machinery. When completed, they were entirely free from debt, but re- quiring additional capital to carry them on and increase their capacity, he admitted three more partners, reorganizing the firm as McCormick, Peebles, Brown & Co. In the new ar- rangement he retained full control of the mechanical depart- ments, but gave the financial control into the hands of his partners. After some time he found that while he was work- ing the mills at good profit, errors in the financial manage- ment were dissipating the profits and capital. He therefore disposed of his entire interest in the firm for the nominal sum of $1, and after sixteen years unintermitting labor to build up a reasonable fortune, found himself entirely stripped of all his hard earnings, and compelled to begin the struggle anew. He retained his superintendence of the works until the firm failed, three years afterward, when the establishment was sold for a small sum. On the closing of these works he re- moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where in 1855, in connection with William Bonnell and Richard and Thomas Brown, he formed a copartnership under the firm name of Brown, Bon- nell & Co., and purchased a large iron mill that had been allowed to become a mere wreck. With nothing but charac- ter and credit as capital-these being sufficient where he was so well known as in Youngstown-he went vigorously to work, and in time brought the works up to the condition of being among the largest and finest in the State. These works manufacture all kinds of merchant iron, sheets, plates, nails, spikes, and pig, finding markets at the East and
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