USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 17
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of the department of the Pacific coast. Previous to the first appointment, a court of inquiry had fully vindicated his con- duct throughout the war, but the country failed to do him justice. The rank of brevet major-general was conferred up- on him March 13th, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services at Cedar Mountain. In June following, he was assigned to the department of California, where he still remains. General McDowell is a man of large, well-developed frame, of excel- lent presence, and fine address. His general bearing is re- served and cold, but among his friends, and in the freedom of the social circle, no man can be more winning. He is married and has a family, and still enjoys the respect of his superiors.
BALDWIN, J. WILLIAM, lawyer, Columbus, Ohio, was born at New Haven, Connecticut, April 30th, 1822, and was graduated at Yale College, August, 1842. After gradua- tion he continued to attend the law school connected with said college, until September, 1843, when he came to Ohio, and, having read law for one year, under the direction of Samuel Brush and Matthew J. Gilbert, attorneys, of Colum- bus, Ohio, was admitted to the bar, by. the Supreme Court of Ohio, at its September term, 1844, in Wayne County, Ohio. He immediately commenced the practice, at Columbus, Ohio, and has continued therein ever since, with the exception of a short period, in which he served as Judge of the Superior Court, of Franklin County, Ohio, by appointment of Gov- ernor Brough, after the resignation of Judge Mathews. In August, 1846, he married Margaret Hoge, a daughter of the venerable Dr. James Hoge, the pioneer minister of Presby- terianism in Central Ohio. One child only was born unto Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, a daughter, Clara, who was married in 1870, to William J. McComb, of Columbus, Ohio.
UNDERWOOD, JOHN C., the founder of the Cincin- nati News Journal, was born in Georgetown, D. C., on the 12th of September, 1840, and is the oldest son of the late Judge Joseph R. Underwood, of Kentucky, by his second wife. William Thomas Underwood, the first of the family in America, came from England, and landed in Virginia, in 1680. He married a Taylor, and his son, Thomas, who also married a Taylor, was father to John, who married Frances Rogers, of the revolutionary family by that name. His old- est son, Joseph Rogers Underwood, father of the subject of this sketch, was brought to Kentucky by his uncle, Edmund Rogers, when quite a boy, and lived an eventful life of a soldier, jurist, and statesman, and died at the ripe old age of eighty-five years. Both Thomas and John Underwood served Virginia, in the House of Burgesses and in the Legislature, for many years. Joseph R. Underwood studied law under Robert Wickliffe, at Lexington, Kentucky, and upon the call for volunteers, in 1813, at the age of twenty-two, enlisted in the army, and became lieutenant of his company. Lieuten- ant Underwood was at Dudley's defeat, near the present city of Toledo, Ohio ; was severely wounded by a rifle ball, which remained in his body through life, and when surrendered to the Indians, with the remnant of Dudley's command, was compelled to run the gauntlet, on the banks of the Maumee River, some twelve miles above Toledo. He succeeded in getting through the gauntlet lines of Indians without much additional injury, and reached the old fort in possession of the British, where he lay wounded and bleeding during the Indian massacre of the helpless prisoners. His life was
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saved by the intercession of the British, and he was taken to and held a prisoner of war at Sandusky. He was finally paroled, and, purchasing a row boat, and gathering together a few of the daring men of his command, whom he in- vited to accompany him, made his way from Sandusky, through the chain of small streams to the Ohio River, and finally reached his home in Kentucky. His after life was too eventful to mention here further than to state that he served his country in the State Legislature, as member and Speaker; on the Appellate Bench of Kentucky; as Member of Congress, and in the United States Senate, for the ag- gregate period of fifty years; and died, as he lived, a man of sound judgment, of expansive and liberal views, fearless, upright, benevolent, honored, and beloved by all who knew him, whether in public or private life. He was twice married, his second wife being a daughter of Colonel John Cox, of the war of 1812, and at the time of the nuptials, mayor of George- town, D. C. From this union sprang John Cox Underwood, born on the heights of Georgetown, at his grandfather Cox's residence, while his father was attending Congress. At the close of the session he was taken to Kentucky, and received his early education in the various schools of Bowling Green. When fourteen years old, he was sent to the high school at Jacksonville, Illinois, where he remained two years. He was then sent to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, New York, a college of civil engineering and general sciences. After a course of four years, he graduated, with distinction, as a civil engineer. At the beginning of the late civil war he espoused the cause of the Southern people, and served the South, mainly as a military engineer, in Virginia. But
on coming West, after the battle of Chancellorsville, he was
taken sick with typhoid fever, and fell within the federal
lines, upon the retreat of General Bragg from Tullahoma,
Tennessee. He was held prisoner for the remainder of the war, spending the greater portion of his prison existence in McLean Barracks, Cincinnati, and Fort Warren, Boston Har- bor, Massachusetts. Through the interposition of Hon. Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, a warm friend of his father, he was paroled by President Lincoln, just prior to his assassina- tion, and, returning to Kentucky, he began the practice of his
profession. He contributed largely to the improvements in his section of the State-constructing bridges, public works, build- ings, etc. He was engineer in charge of the public works of Warren County for several years after the close of the war, and was city engineer of Bowling Green, Kentucky, from 1868 to 1875, inclusive, and did much toward improving both city and county. He was member of the City Council from 1869 to 1870, and was Mayor for the two years following, and during his executive terin caused many permanent im- provements to be made, which remain as lasting monuments of his engineering skill and activity. In 1872 he was elected Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and afterward became Representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge, which position he still holds. In the reorganization of the Democratic party, in Kentucky, after the war, he took an active part-serving as chairman of his County Committee, and as member of the State Executive Committee. In 1875 he was nominated for Lieutenant-governor of Kentucky, by
the Democratic party, receiving over two-thirds of the vote
marked success while presiding over that body by his dig- nity, his knowledge of parliamentary law, strict impartiality, uniform urbanity, and courteous bearing. His attempt to free the State from the growing evil of bribery by adequate punishment, during the legislative session of 1876, deserved and received general indorsement throughout the Common- wealth. On a tie vote in the Kentucky Senate, he vetoed the "Whipping-post Bill," which act alone should recom- mend him to humanitarians and denote him a man of broad and liberal views. He was Lieutenant-governor four years, and received from over thirty counties a large instructed vote for the Democratic nomination for the office of Gov- ernor, but withdrew from the canvass before the convention was held. He established the Kentucky Intelligencer, a semi-weekly newspaper, at Bowling Green, Kentucky, and in his management developed journalistic ability. After con- ducting that paper about one year, he consolidated it with the Louisville Post, and moved the paper to Louisville. He was manager of the Evening Post for ten months, and by his enterprise, energy, and business activity materially aided in placing that paper upon its present prosperous basis. He sold out his interest in the Post, and, adopting journalism as a profession, determined upon establishing such a daily paper in Cincinnati as would wisely and fearlessly represent and ad- vocate the principles and interests of the Democratic party of Ohio and the nation. He came to Cincinnati about the Ist of August, 1881, and began the organization of a company. He met with encouragement among a number of leading Dem- ocrats of that city, who felt the necessity for such a paper, as a party organ. After his constant and daily exertions for over fifteen months, the organization of a stock company was finally consummated, and the Cincinnati Daily News began its career, with J. C. Underwood as its general manager, on December 2d, 1882. The advent of this paper was of a most auspicious and promising character, so far as popular sentiment was concerned; but without the facilities of the Western Associ- ated Press dispatches, it was compelled to resort to "specials" for most of its news. This department was handled with such skill as to rival the powerful and widely extended organization from whose privileges it was debarred. It was not long, however, before these obstacles were removed, by Governor Underwood's securing the long coveted Associated Press franchise, through the purchase of the Morning Journal, and the Gazette franchise. He then coupled the name Jour- nal with the original name News ; and thus, on the Ist of May, 1883, the Cincinnati News Journal came into existence. He made his paper a success from the beginning, and it was not long before it was recognized as one of the leading Democratic organs in Ohio. During the municipal elec- tion of Cincinnati, in the spring of 1883, its power was largely felt; and in the State election, the following October, its influence in shaping results culminating in the nomination of a member of its board of directors, by the Democratic party, for the office of Governor, is well known, and the power it exercised in securing the triumphant election of its candidate, George Hoadly, is now a matter of history, None the less was its activity marked in the political cam- paign for the speakership of the Forty-eighth Congress. Gov- ernor Underwood, entertaining low tariff views, and being a neighbor and friend of Mr. Carlisle, warmly espoused his cause, and the News Journal consequently advocated his nomination by the Democratic House, as the most eminently
of the convention on the first ballot, and after a most active canvass was elected by a majority of more than forty thou- sand votes over his opponent. As Speaker of the Senate, although without previous legislative experience, he achieved |qualified and suitable person for speaker. This act became
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more noticeable because the Enquirer's open, and Mr. Mc- Lean's personal, advocacy of Mr. Randall for the same po- sition ; and the great victory of Mr. Carlisle was no less a triumph for Governor Underwood and the News Journal. Mr. Underwood managed his paper in a thoroughly honest Democratic manner, and in the general interest of the public. He condemned monopolies and rings of every description, openly advocating measures calculated to benefit the people, and fearlessly denouncing wrong-doing, both local and gen- eral, wherever and whenever discovered. In the contest be- tween Hon. George H. Pendleton, Hon. H. B. Payne, and General Durbin Ward, in January, 1884, for the United States Senate, the News Journal advocated an open and uninfluenced ballot, and preferred the re-election of Mr. Pendleton. Governor Underwood is a man of strong common sense, a forcible speaker, is self-reliant, possesses great determination of character, fearless to a fault, and is energetic to a superlative degree. His ability runs in the executive line, and his ruling traits are his great fairness in all transactions, and the inflexibility of purpose with which he pursues a course when he has determined upon it. In politics he is of the Jeffersonian school; liberal toward those who honestly oppose him, but outspoken and severe on those who simply wear a principle as a cloak for self-advantage. In person he is of large stature, and possesses an easy, frank address, and a pleasing, prepossessing appearance. He mar- ried Miss Drue A. Duncan, of Warren County, Kentucky, on the 16th of May, 1867, and the result of such union is seven children, of whom four are now living.
POPPLETON, HOUSTON H., railroad and corpo- ration attorney, was born near Bellville, Richland County, Ohio, March 19th, 1836. He was the youngest son of the Rev. Samuel Poppleton and Julia A. Poppleton. Samuel Poppleton was born in Vermont, but removed when young to New York, going from there in 1820 to Ohio. He served with distinction in the War of 1812, and after its close became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, being such for nearly fifty years. The subject of this sketch received his early education at the public schools of Bellville, and after- ward, in 1853, entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Del- aware, Ohio. His attendance there not being continuous, he did not graduate until 1858. During the winters, while pursuing his studies at the University, he also taught school, and from 1855 to 1857 had general charge of his father's mercantile business at Richwood, Ohio. In September, 1858, he entered the law office of the Hon. Stevenson Burke at Elyria. With him he remained one year. Having fully made up his mind to adopt the legal profession, he entered the Cincinnati Law College, where he went through the entire course, and graduated April 16th, 1860, being admitted to the bar at Cincinnati the same day. He returned to Elyria, formed a law partnership with Mr. Burke, and com- menced practice May 2d, 1860. Mr. Burke being shortly after elected to the Bench, Mr. Poppleton formed a part- nership with Hon. H. D. Clark. This relation, however, only continued for about two years, and from 1864 he con- tinued in active general practice alone at Elyria, until he was appointed general attorney of the Cleveland, Colum- bus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway Company, with headquarters at Cleveland. From the time of his admis- sion to the bar, Mr. Poppleton gave special attention to railroad and corporation law. He was appointed local at-
torney for Lorain County, in May, 1860, for the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway Company, which position he held until his appointment as general at- torney, and for several years also acted in the capacity of local attorney for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company. Upon his appointment as general at- torney of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indian- apolis Railway Company in November, 1873, he removed to Cleveland, and took charge of the entire legal business of that corporation, and has been eminently successful, not only in protecting and advancing the interests of the company, but in making for himself an enviable reputation as a successful and able lawyer. He is also the general attorney of the Dayton and Union Railroad Company, as well as one of its di- rectors. His experience as a lawyer has been wide and diversified, having been frequently engaged in important cases in half of the counties in the State of Ohio, and also in the courts of New York, Indiana, and Illinois. Mr. Pop- pleton was married February 10th, 1864, at Cincinnati, to Miss Lucina H. Cross. Of the three children born to them, one has died. He resided in Elyria with his family until his re- moval to Cleveland, and while a resident of Lorain County took an active part in business and political matters there, but would never consent to be a candidate for or accept a polit- ical office of any kind. Since becoming a general officer of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway Company, he has practically retired from politics, although retaining his political opinions and exercising them as his judgment dictates. He is a man of sound judgment and quick apprehension, thoroughly acquainted with law in all its bearings, calm in manner, with a reserve force of logic and argument always at his command. Highly adapted for the branch of the legal profession which he has made his spe- cialty, he has by his long experience and uniform success come to be looked upon as one of the leading railroad at- torneys of the country.
MCCOLLUM, EPHRAIM J., M. D., physician and surgeon, Tiffin, Seneca County, was born in Richland County, Ohio, in June, 1825. His parents were John and Sarah (Bar- ber) McCollum. Ephraim J. was the third in a family of five children, and was born on his father's farm. When five years of age, his father died, and he was taken by his grand- father McCollum, who was a farmer, in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. There he attended school, and later worked on the farm during the summer months. In 1842 he taught school, which he continued to do for four years. In 1846 he began the study of medicine, with Dr. William Marr, of Washington, Pennsylvania. In 1847-8 he attended lectures at Jefferson College, Philadelphia. In 1849 he commenced the practice of his chosen profession, in Mccutchenville, Ohio, where he continued for three years. In 1852-3 he again attended a course of lectures at Jefferson Medical Col- lege, and was graduated therefrom in March, 1853. The same month he was married to Margaret Marr, a sister of Dr. Marr, with whom he had studied. He immediately lo- cated himself in Tiffin, Ohio, which has ever since been his residence. In 1854, during the cholera epidemic in Tiffin, the Doctor became a victim, but fortunately recovered. The time was a trying one, for in the little town of three thousand population from ten to fifteen were dying every day. The Doctor is one of the oldest physicians in, Tiffin. His practice has been large, successful, and remunerative. On the open-
Thein, Fit'
ryraved by Samuel
H. H. Pappleton
Meses Kelly
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BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
ing of the Chicago Division of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road he received the appointment as surgeon for that road, as well as of the Northwestern Ohio Railroad (now the Toledo Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad). These positions he has held for many years. He is now health officer of the city of Tiffin, and examiner for some fourteen life insurance companies, doing business in Tiffin ; president of the County Medical Society ; and a member of the Northwestern Medical Society, the Ohio State Medical Society, and the American Medical Society. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since about twenty-five years of age. His son, Leon, born in 1856, studied with him, took two courses in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, lowa, where he graduated, and settled in the practice of medicine at Lodi, Seneca County. The Doctor, by both parents, is of Scotch descent. His grandfather, Ephraim McCollum, who was born in the United States, was the son of a Scotchman. On his mother's side he can trace his ancestry in Scotland back to the time of Queen Elizabeth. These records, in the pos- session of the Doctor, are of remarkable interest. His ma- ternal grandmother was a Kennedy, one of the descendants of Roland de Garrick, who was himself a direct descendant of the old Scottish kings. The authentic record says: "In early part of fourteenth century the descendants of Roland de Garrick adopted the name of Kennedy as a surname." Scotch history is full of mention of members of this family. James Kennedy, Archbishop of St. Andrews, was cousin to James the Second, of Scotland, and was one of the most powerful statesmen of Scotland, of his time. We find men- tion of high Church dignitaries, great generals, and statesmen. One of the women of the family stands out conspicuous in his- tory, from the fact that she was one of the two ladies in waiting who were allowed to attend the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, at her execution. The Kennedys, though at first some- what divided, early threw their influence in favor of the re- formed religion. In 1538 Alexander Kennedy, a finely edu- cated young gentleman, was burned at the stake, in Glasgow, for writing a poetical satire against the Franciscan friars. Branches of the Kennedy family migrated to Ireland, and from thence, at a later date, to America. In America, as in Scotland, they have become staunch Presbyterians in religious faith.
GILL, JOHN S., Delaware, Ohio, was born on the 9th of May, 1842, in Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio. He is the only son of Andrew M. Gill and Harriet T. Gill. His father was born on the Gill homestead farm, in Union Town- ship, Union County, Ohio, in 1814, and died on the same farm in 1864. His mother was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and now lives in Milford Center. His grandmother on his father's side was a cousin of Senator Thomas Ewing, of Ohio. The subject of this sketch received all the advantages which could be obtained in the district and select schools of his neighborhood, besides giving all the time he could to general reading and literature. At twenty years of age, in August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, 12Ist Ohio Volunteer In- fantry Regiment, and served till the close of the war, in June, 1865. . He was a non-commissioned officer, and for the last few months of the service was regimental postmaster. He was in every battle and every campaign in which his regiment par- ticipated, from the time of its organization to the close of the war. He was severely wounded at the battle of Chickamauga, under the command of the gallant General Steedman. He
was also with General Sherman in the Atlanta campaign and his march to the sea ; thence through the Carolinas ; also in the battle of Bentonville, the last general engagement of the war. He was also with his regiment at the grand review at Washington City, after the close of the war. After returning home Mr. Gill remained upon his farm for several years, engaged in farming and teaching. In 1874 he entered the law office of Reid & Powell, of Delaware, Olio, as a law student. He was admitted to the bar in 1876, and became a member of the firm of Reid, Powell & Gill in 1878, remain- ing with the firm until the death of the senior member, Col- onel W. P. Reid, in January, 1879. Since that time he has been associated with Messrs. Powell and Kauffman, as the firm of Powell, Gill & Kauffman. Immediately upon his admission Mr. Gill took high rank as an active and reliable practitioner. His great industry, sterling integrity, and active and vigorous mind at once placed him in a commanding po- sition before the public. In connection with his firm, he has been engaged in all the leading cases in Central Ohio, in both the State and federal courts. His business has constantly in- creased, and he now enjoys a large and lucrative practice. He has also been a very active politician, and has been prominent in the councils of the Democratic party for many years. He has been chairman of the executive committees of his county, and secretary of the Democratic State Conven- tion. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church for nearly twenty years, and has been quite prominent in all its work. Mr. Gill stands in the highest rank as an upright, honest, and trustworthy citizen. He has been in sympathy with all movements for the business, social, and moral wel- fare of the people among whom he has lived, and has been unsparing in his labors and means to advance all public in- terests. On the 20th September, 1871, he was married to Frances I. Mitchell, of Union County, Ohio. They have one child, Mason M. Gill, aged ten years.
KELLY, MOSES, lawyer, was born January 21st, 1809, in Groveland, Livingston county, at that time Ontario county, New York, and died August 15th, 1870, at Cleveland, Ohio. His father, Daniel Kelly, a Pennsylvanian, of Scotch-Irish descent, removed to New York in 1797. His mother was of German descent. Until eighteen years old he lived on his father's farm at Groveland, attending school and working on the farm. At that age he commenced preparing for college at Geneseo, under Cornelius C. Felton, afterwards president of Howard University, entered the freshman class at Har- vard in 1829, and graduated with his class in 1833. He studied law for three years in the office of Orlando Hastings, at Rochester, New York, was admitted to practice, and at once removed to Cleveland, where, in 1836, a law partner- ship was formed with the Hon. Thomas Bolton, who had been his college classmate. The law firm of Bolton & Kelly at once obtained a good practice, which was steadily en- larged. In 1839 he was chosen city attorney, and served in that office to general acceptation. He was elected to the city council in 1841, and took an active part in carrying through the measures resulting in the protection of the lake front of the city from destruction by the encroachments of the lake. He was elected by the whigs of Cuyahoga and Geauga counties as State senator for the years 1844 and 1845, and distinguished himself by the bold and independent stand taken on measures of great public importance, and by the lasting effect produced by his action. In opposition to the
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