USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 26
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when he served as clerk in the Cincinnati Weekly Times office, and next as assistant librarian in the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association. While in the latter position he industriously improved his time as a student, having in view a collegiate education. He entered Miami University as junior, and graduated therefrom in 1861. He immedi- ately began the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. G. W. Keely, Oxford, Ohio, attended lectures at the Ohio Dental College of Cincinnati during the Winters, until the Spring of 1863, when the degree of D. D. S. was conferred upon him. He opened an office in that city. He was a member of the firm of Cameron & Wright for a while. In 1870 he was ap- pointed Professor of Mechanical Dentistry and Metallurgy in that college. He continued in active practice until 1872, when he determined to go to Europe with a view of practic- ing his profession in connection with a more thorough and extensive course of study. Dr. Wright established his office at Basle, Switzerland, where he remained ten years in the enthusiastic pursuit of his profession, and during which time his name had become favorably known throughout all the medical circles of Europe. His unremitted study and as- siduous labors in his office and with his pen brought him patrons from both the titled and wealthier classes; and, in consequence, his practice kept pace with his reputation and grew to be large and lucrative. His stay in Europe had some of the advantages of continued foreign travel. He studied the German and French languages, becoming so pro- ficient in the former as to be enabled to converse fluently in it. During his sojourn there he wrote and published a work upon the "Teeth," which was favorably received by the public, and was translated into German. He founded the "American Dental Society of Europe," and was at first its secretary and afterwards its president, and is now an hono- rary member of the same. Its membership consists of rep- resentatives from England, Ireland, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy, and all parts of Germany. In 1882 Dr. Wright re- turned to Cincinnati and opened his office at No. 280 West Seventh Street, where he is now engaged in active prac- tice. He is now Professor of Physiology and Pathology in the Ohio College of Dental Surgery; is President of the Mississippi Valley Dental Association, and is vice-president of the Mad River Dental Society, and also of the Cincinnati Dental Association. He is an active member of the Ameri- can Dental Association, an honorary member of the Ohio State Dental Association, and also of the Odontological So- ciety of New York. In 1881 he was a delegate from Switzer- land to the International Medical Congress which met in London. Dr. Wright is a frequent contributor to the dental press. Perhaps no member of his profession in the State or West, on this account, is more widely or favorably. known for his years. With a trend, and some experience in his youth, for newspaper work, his cacoethes scribendi brings him great pleasure and some profit in thus diversifying his professional labors. This faculty has been utilized in frequently placing upon him the office of secretary in many of the societies with which he is and has been connected. As a writer he has contributed to the Dental Register of the West, Ohio State Dental Journal, Johnston's Dental Miscellany, the Dental Cosmos, of Philadelphia ; the Independent Dental Practitioner, of Buffalo, New York. Dr. Wright's first marriage was to Miss Clara Stevens, of St. Louis, in 1864. She lived only fifteen months thereafter. In 1870 he married Miss Mary J. Tanner, a daughter of Charles O. Tanner, Esq., a prominent and
well-known business man of Cincinnati. They have two children, Nellie-born in Cincinnati; and Jennie, born in Switzerland. Dr. Wright stands among the foremost of his profession though only twenty years in its practice. He rep- resents its most intelligent, progressive characteristics. His duties as professor in the oldest dental college (save one) in the United States requires these characteristics. His official relation to so many societies devoted to the growth and devel- opment of the science of dental surgery attest these qualities. His lectures are versatile, fluent, perspicuous. His contribu- tions to its literature have enriched that field; while his digni- fied deportment, cultivated manners, and polite conversation win him the esteem of all with whom he comes in personal or professional contact.
WINCHELL, GEORGE DUTTON, president of the George D. Winchell Manufacturing Company, of Cincinnati, is the son of Orrin Goodrich and Laura (Cooke) Winchell, and was born October 4th, 1817, at Augusta, Oneida County, New York. A memorial volume, entitled "The Genealogy of the Winchell Family in America," was published in 1869 by Professor Alexander Winchell, LL. D., of the University of Michigan. From this it may be readily learned that among the old families of New England which have won an honorable name, not only in the East, but in all parts of our country, few, if any, are more justly distinguished than that of Winchell, which, originating in Massachusetts, has been widely extended, and embraces in its ranks many who have done honor both to their family and their country. It is fortunate for them that they have found a worthy historian in one now living, who honors the name he bears, and who has produced a work which, while it is exceedingly gratifying to those whom it specially concerns, has a value which should find a permanent place in genealogical and historical libra- ries. Says Daniel Webster : "There may be, and there often is, a regard for ancestry which nourishes only a weak pride ; as there is also a care for posterity which only disguises an habitual avarice, or hides the workings of a low and grovel- ing vanity. But there is also a moral and philosophical re- spect for our ancestors which elevates the character and improves the heart. Next to the sense of religious duty and moral feeling, I hardly know what should bear with stronger obligation on a liberal and enlightened mind than a con- sciousness of alliance with excellence that is departed." To trace these connections of family ties lifts a man out of his isolation and obscurity, and leads him to feel that, however insignificant he may be, yet he is linked by ties more or less intimate with others who are not wholly undistinguished and unknown. The earliest mention of the name of Winchell as a proper appellation is February 13th, 1293, when Robert Winchelsey was elected Archbishop of Canterbury, the tenth in succession from Thomas à Becket. The earldom of Win- chelsea was founded in the South of England, July 12th, 1628. Robert Winchell emigrated from the South of England soon after the settlement of America-one of the Puritans who sought refuge on this continent from the persecutions of Elizabeth-and, it is supposed, came in the Mary and John. He was known to be at Dorchester, Massachusetts, as early as 1634, and removed to Windsor, Connecticut, in 1635. He died January 21st, 1669. The Windsor branch of the Win- chell family was thus founded. They were among the first of our Puritan ancestors to catch the spirit of Western emi- gration ; for soon after founding the colony at Dorchester its
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inhabitants determined to transfer their fortunes to the fertile banks of the Connecticut River. With them Robert set out, October 15th, 1635, and shared with them the privations and exposures incident to that historical exodus through the wil- derness of New England, subsisting upon "acorns, malt, and grains, with what food they could gain by hunting, and such as was given them by the Indians." The lineal descent from Robert Winchell, 1634, to George Dutton Winchell, 1884, is : 2. Nathanael, born in England in 1634, and died at Windsor, Mass., March 8th, 1699. 3. Nathanael, born at Windsor August 7th, 1665, and died at Farmington, Conn., October 4th, 1741. 4. Hezekiah, born at Windsor June 20th, 1697, and died at Kensington December 27th, 1760. 5. Heze- kiah, born at Kensington, March 1st, 1730, and died Oc- tober 22d, 1815. 6. Calvin, born at Kensington, Septem- ber 4th, 1765; married Chloe Goodrich, of Wethersfield, Connecticut; and died May 25th, 1838. 7. Orrin Goodrich, born at Kensington, and married Miss Laura Cooke, of Wallingford, Connecticut. He died at New Haven in 1824, the wife in July, 1818. These were the parents of George D., who is the 1248th lineal descendant of Robert Winchell, and the founder of the 388th family bearing that ancestral name. There were in the United States in 1869, when that book was published, 514 families and 2,960 individuals, di- rect descendants of Robert Winchell. Many of them are college graduates, and many were and are members of the learned professions. Some were soldiers of the Revolution, of the war of 1812, of the Mexican war, and in the war of the Rebellion. Living heads of the families reside in thirty- two of the States and Territories-more than twenty-five being in Ohio. From this valuable work we have been en- abled to trace the ancestry of one of the most prominent manufacturers of Cincinnati directly back two hundred and fifty years, through a lineage remarkable for its respectabil- ity, industry, and intelligence. Mr. Winchell had the advan- age of the schools of New England only to a limited extent. When he was one year of age his father moved from Au- gusta, New York, to New Haven, Connecticut ; thence to New Britain, in 1824; from there to Ware, Massachusetts, in 1832; thence to Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1835; thence to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1836. In 1840 he removed to Mid- dletown, Connecticut. During these changes of location Mr. Winchell acquired a preliminary education and the occupa- tion of tinner. In 1843 he resolved to emigrate to Cincin- nati, and in company with two others, L. C. Camp, a machin- ist, and Thomas E. Greenfield, japanner, he left Middletown, Connecticut, for that then young Western city. They had previously engaged to work for a Mr. Minor Robinson, whose tinshop was located upon Second Street, between Sycamore and Main. When Mr. Winchell landed in that city he had but twelve and a half cents in his pocket. He walked from the boat, and carried his little trunk himself, to the old Broadway Hotel. The three adventurers immediately began to work for Robinson, and continued to do so three or four months, when Robinson failed, greatly in debt to Mr. Winchell and his two friends. This necessitated a pur- chase of his stock and tools, and the same was effected at once, the partnership taking the name of L. C. Camp & Co. They immediately commenced work as tinners. Thus was started and founded the extensive business now carried on by the "George D. Winchell Manufacturing Company." This firm prospered until 1845, when they were burned out, and thereby suffered a great loss. In the mean time their
special article of manufacture was a "lard-oil lamp," which, upon its being introduced, became very popular, and the demand exceeded their capacity to manufacture. This was the forerunner of gas and electric lights. After being burned out Mr. Camp retired, and Greenfield and Winchell then leased from Nicholas Longworth a lot on the north-west corner of Pearl and Walnut Streets, fifteen feet and eleven inches in front by seventy-five in depth, upon which they erected a brick building three stories high, where they en- gaged in the general tin and japan-ware business, as Green- field & Winchell. In 1848 Mr. Greenfield died, whereupon -Mr. Winchell bought out his deceased partner's interest in the business, and subsequently the whole building, and car- ried on the business alone until 1852, when, his increased trade demanding larger facilities, he removed-to the north- west corner of Race and Second Streets, remaining there until 1859, when the firm name became Winchell, Marsh & Co. This was discontinued in 1865, when it became George D. Winchell, Upson & Co. In 1871 this firm was dissolved. From that time until 1881 Mr. Winchell transacted his busi- ness in his own name, having his store at 123 Walnut Street, and his factory on McLean Avenue. During the latter year he organized his business under the corporate name of the George D. Winchell Manufacturing Company, with a capital stock of seventy-five thousand dollars. In the summer of 1883 he built his splendid factory upon the corner of Bank and Riddle Streets, a building having a frontage of one hun- dred feet by one hundred and fifty in depth, and four stories high, where he is extensively engaged in the manufacture of tinware. Mr. Winchell is the pioneer of this branch of busi- ness in Cincinnati and of Ohio; for when he first engaged in the manufacture of fine japanned work there was nothing of the kind west of Pittsburg. For forty years he has thus been in the lead-manifesting an energy amounting to intrepidity, and a spirit of enterprise excelled by none, in adding to the reputation of Cincinnati as a manufacturing center. He is, therefore, the oldest representative of that important branch of industry, and as such has contributed largely to the in- dustrial development of the State of Ohio. Few houses have given employment to so many men for so long a period as has this. One hundred employes are now engaged in this establishment. When he built on the corner of Pearl and Walnut-the lot being fifteen feet eleven inches by seventy- five feet-there was not another business house upon that street. His present factory is more than twenty squares to the west of that locality now. Thus has the almost penni- less man in 1843 made his way by perseverance, through many obstacles and many a loss, to worldly independence, while he ranks as one of the foremost business men of that city. Mr. Winchell married, first, Martha Warner, of Mid- dletown, Connecticut, in 1842. She died in Cincinnati in June, 1845. He married Miss Susan A. Weeks in 1847. They now reside on Price Hill, one of the suburbs of Cin- cinnati. His children by first marriage, 2170, Laura Ulyssie, and 2171, Orrin Goodrich, are dead ; also, 2172, Laura Eve- line (intermarried with William C. Herron) ; 2173, Susie Templeton (intermarried with Myron C. Wick); and 2174, George Dutton, by second marriage, are dead ; while 2175, Dorinda Upson, 2176, Lucretia Cooke, and Clifford Earl, are living at home. In every sense that concerns the welfare of his adopted city and State Mr. Winchell is public spirited. His intense energy has carried him on to gratifying success as a business man, although he has suffered many losses
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through misplaced confidence in employers and others who, knowing his candor and open-hearted nature, took advan- tage of it to his detriment. He is held in high estimation by his fellow-citizens and neighbors. He is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F., having been a delegate for three years to the Grand Lodge of the United States, and has been treasurer of Grand Lodge of Ohio since 1865. In every sense of the term he is a worthy representative of his hon- orable ancestors. A glance at the perfect products of his factory will convince the beholder that an intelligent mind, cultivated taste, and a progressive spirit controls and directs. Thus has he done the best he could in bringing to its pres- ent state of perfection an art that, less than a generation ago, was only known in the West as a trade.
JOHNSON, WILLIAM D., of Clifton, Greene county, Ohio, was born in Mason county, Kentucky, July 16th, 1808, and died June 3d, 1875. His father, James Johnson, and mother, Clemency, moved to Ohio in 1829, and settled near the Yellow Springs, where they reared a numerous family, consisting of William D., Sarah, Rachel, James, Asahel, Han- nah Ann, Joseph R., John D., Margaret J., Thomas M., and Tapley T. William D. Johnson married Hannah M. Brewer, January 16th, 1834, and she still survives him. His career, extending over a period of nearly half a century, in the two counties of Clark and Greene, is familiar and honorably known to all the citizens of both. Commencing life as a teacher, he early manifested his taste and desire for an im- proving mental culture, and with that force and decision of character for which he was always recognized as a man of mark, and implicitly to be relied upon, he soon became one of the early and substantial men of that section. His con- scientiousness, sound judgment, and integrity in all business transactions, pointed him out as one destined to fill the most important and honorable positions in society of a trustwor- thy and responsible nature. Soon after attaining manhood he engaged in merchandising in Clark county, on Mad river, at a point opposite the historical Indian village of Piqua, fa- mous as the birth-place of the renowned strategist and brave warrior, Tecumseh. Here, in the richest valley along that rapid stream, success crowned his efforts, and soon placed him in comfortable circumstances. About 1836, he rented the large milling establishment of the late Mr. Hartzler, and by his tact, industry, and careful management, he largely in- creased his financial ability. After a residence in this local- ity of some seven years, he, in connection with the late Wil- liam H. Knott, purchased the Clifton mills, where, for a long period, by his honorable and fair dealings, he secured the confidence and business of the people of all that rich agri- cultural region. Having amassed an ample fortune, he dis- posed of his valuable mill property to Messrs. Jacoby & Stewart, and retired from the active duties of that relation. In the meanwhile, he was elected one of the commissioners of Clark county, an honorable position, which he filled with credit to himself and satisfaction to the citizens. He had no political aspirations, but only a desire to discharge his duties as an upright man in all the walks of private life, where his example might influence others to higher aims and nobler purposes in their struggles with the vicissitudes of this ever- changeable state. He was for over thirty years a member of the Presbyterian church, and one of its leading elders, al- ways illustrating, by his faithfulness and zeal in his official position, his sincerity and heartfelt interest in the spiritual
welfare of his neighbors and fellow-citizens. Naturally dif- fident and retiring in his manners, he never obtruded him- self or his opinions upon others, either religiously or politi- cally ; but was always true to his convictions, and ever ready, when duty called, to maintain his principles. Connected with a large circle of brothers and sisters, he being the eld- est, his advice, example, and often timely pecuniary aid, have had a salutary and lasting effect, that time only can fully reveal, as they are to-day among our highly-esteemed and most worthy citizens. Starting in life penniless, he, by his own industry and sagacity, accumulated one of the largest fortunes attained by a business man in this section, and left more than $50,000 to public charities at his death, and four times that amount to be distributed by his wife, they having no children, and he placing full confidence in her judgment and benevolence of disposition to wisely bestow in her life- time, and by her will, the whole of his large estate, for the best good of the community. The sacred trust is being faithfully executed, but quietly and without ostentation, as many gladdened hearts can testify, and the records of vari- ous public charitable institutions also bear testimony. His remains were deposited in the cemetery grounds attached to the old Presbyterian church, founded and presided over by the late Rev. Andrew W. Poage. To all young men, this sketch affords an instructive lesson. The history and char- acter of Mr. Johnson illustrate an upright, pure and success- ful life.
DAY, LUTHER, ex-judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, was born in Granville, Washington County, New York, July 9th, 1813. His paternal grandfather, Noah Day, was of the Connecticut family of Days, and did service under Washington in some of the hardest battles of the Revolutionary War. Soon after the war he moved from Killingly, Connecticut, and settled on a farm in Granville, New York, and, being a blacksmith by trade, carried on both the business of farming and blacksmithing. He reared a large family, who, like himself, were Puritans in religion and farmers and mechanics. David Day, the father of Luther Day, was a skilled millwright. On June Ist, 1812, he mar- ried Rhoda Wheelock, of Tyringham, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Her father was also a soldier of the Revo- lution. Her mother was Hannah Warren, a kinswoman of Major General Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. The sub- ject of this sketch attended the common school until twelve years old, when he began an academic preparation for col- lege, which he pursued for a year, when, his father having purchased a farm and saw-mill, he left the academy and worked at home on the farm for a year. He then returned to school; but in a few days after he received a message that his father had been killed in the mill. The death of his father was a double misfortune, for he was compelled to abandon school and give up all hope of acquiring an edu- cation. His father died much involved in debt, and it was thought that all he had saved would be sacrificed in the set- tlement of his estate. But, boy as he was, he resolved to save the family from that calamity. For six years-from fourteen to twenty-he labored on the farm and in the saw- mill, and with the help of his younger brother the farm and mill were cleared of incumbrance, the debts of the estate paid, and a home was saved for his mother and the younger children. Those are six valuable years to a young man who desires to obtain a liberal education, and their loss in that
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Luther Day.
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regard can never be regained. But great as the loss was to him, and hard as the struggle was, he never looks back to those days with regret, but ever recurs to them as associated with a most gratifying success. Having, at twenty years of age, accomplished the desire of his friends and the ambition of his boyhood regarding the home of his family, his desire for an education returned, and, working his way by teaching school, he resumed his preparatory course for college, and in 1835, entered Middlebury College, Vermont. During the junior year he taught the grammar-school of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. At the close of the school year, in Septem- ber, 1838-his mother and family having in the mean time removed to Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio-he came there to visit them, intending to return and complete his collegiate course; but owing to his limited means he abandoned the idea, and began the study of the law under the tuition of Hon. Rufus P. Spalding, then a resident of Ravenna, whose kindness to him during the two years of his preparatory study he has ever gratefully remembered. During those two years he supported himself by writing for the clerk of the court. On October 8th, 1840, he was admitted to the bar. It was his good fortune to have a partnership offered him by Hon. Darius Lyman, an old practitioner of high standing at the Ohio bar. He often speaks of Mr. Lyman as a good lawyer, and one of the noblest and best of men. This partnership con- tinued three years. In 1843 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Portage County, and served one term. While reading law, he had made the acquaintance of Miss Emily Swift Spalding, eldest daughter of Hon. R. P. Spalding, to whom he was married on July 24th, 1845. Her mother was Lucretia Swift, daughter of Hon. Zephaniah Swift, late Chief Justice of Con- necticut. Her father was afterwards a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and for three terms a distinguished Member of Congress from the Cleveland District, Ohio. Mr. Spald- ding having in 1840 moved to Akron, Mr. Day went there, after his marriage, and formed a partnership with him, and remained nearly a year ; when, because of the ill health of his wife in that locality, he returned to Ravenna, where he has since remained. In 1849 he was again elected Prosecut- ing Attorney, and served one term. In 1850 he was nomi- nated by the Democratic party as a candidate for Congress, but, the district having a large Whig majority, he was de- feated. In the fall of 1851, at the first election of judges under the Constitution of the State adopted that year, he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the district composed of the counties of Portage, Trumbull, and Mahoning. In February, 1852, while on a visit to her father, Judge R. P. Spalding-who had then become a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, his wife was taken sick, and died on the Ioth day of the following April. On April 26th, 1854, he married his second wife, Miss Ellen I. Barnes, of Lanesboro, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. This also proved to be a happy union, both on his own account and that of the three young children left him by his former marriage, by whom she has ever been most worthily esteemed and loved. At the expiration of his judicial term, in 1857, he resumed the prac- tice of his profession, and had a large and lucrative business in the counties of his former judicial district and adjoining counties, where he was regarded as a good lawyer and an able advocate. When the war of the rebellion broke out he ceased to act with the Democratic party, and at once identi- fied himself with the Union organization. In January, 1862, Governor David Tod, who had in the fall before been elected
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