USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 29
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2Ist, 1883. Prior to accepting this exalted position, Judge Sage held but one public office, that of Prosecuting Attorney of Warren County, Ohio, which he filled for six years. He has been repeatedly urged to become a candidate for Con- gress in the Warren district, but always declined. Upon the death of Judge Wm. White, in March, 1883, Judge Sage was by President Arthur appointed his successor as United States District Judge for Southern Ohio, and took his seat on the bench April 7th, 1883. Shortly before this appointment, Governor Foster tendered him a position on the Supreme Bench of Ohio, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resig- nation of Judge Longworth, but he declined.
BACKUS, FRANKLIN T., lawyer, was born May 6th, 1813, in Lee, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and died May 14th, 1870, at Cleveland, Ohio. When he was very young, his father, Thomas Backus, removed to Lansing, New York, and there died, leaving a widow and large family with but limited means of support. From this cause, he was obliged to spend his early youth upon a farm, and to the hardy exer- cise thus daily taken was due the strong constitution which in after life enabled him to endure confinement and the severe mental toil of an extensive legal practice. From his earliest years, he had inextinguishable thirst for knowledge, and whilst working on the farm he was planning an education for himself. By hard study he prepared himself for college in an unusually short time, and, on examination, was admit- ted to the junior class at Yale College in 1834. He passed rapidly through the collegiate courses, graduating in 1836, with high honors, and holding the position of one of the best mathematicians of his class. As a proof of the estimation in which he was held by the faculty, he was tendered the posi- tion of assistant professor or instructor in the college, although he had but just graduated. Immediately on leav- ing college, he removed to Cleveland, and commenced life there by opening a classical school, in which he was very successful. He then entered on the study of law in the office of Messrs. Bolton & Kelly, who were among the lead- ing members of the Cuyahoga county bar. He was admit- ted to practice in August, 1839, at the term of the supreme court then in session, and in a very short time took a high position in the profession. Being interested in political mat- ters, he took an active part on the whig side, and in 1841 was nominated by that party to the office of prosecuting attorney Cuyahoga county, winning the nomination against the rivalry of several older lawyers of high standing in the pro- fession. He was elected, and filled the office with so much ability that he was reelected for the second term of two years. In 1846 he was elected to the State house of representatives, and became one of the most prominent members of his party in the State. He was subsequently nominated by the whig party for supreme judge of Ohio, and afterward by the republi- can party to the same position. The ticket upon which he was placed failed of success in each of those years, but he stood high upon it. In the winter of 1860-61, he was appointed by Governor Dennison one of the peace commissioners of Ohio, charged with the duty of endeavoring to compromise the dif- ferences between the North and the South. He labored zeal- ously to this end, but without success. After war had com- menced, he gave every assistance in his power to the work of maintaining the existence of the government and suppress- ing the rebellion, though not always approving the measures taken to that end. His thoroughly legal mind shrank from
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any measure that he believed not to be in conformity with the plain requirements of the constitution, his opinion being that the Union should be maintained and the government supported at all hazards, but that it was unnecessary to vio- late or strain the constitution for that purpose. In 1840, he associated himself in the practice of the law with J. P. Bishop, Esq., the partnership continuing fifteen years. Mr. Bishop became one of the judges of the court of common pleas, and the partnership terminated. He then became the partner of Judge R. P. Ranney, and afterward of E. J. Estep, Esq. After his retirement from the State senate, he devoted him- self, with scarcely an exception, exclusively to his profession. At an early period in the history of Cleveland railroads, he became interested in them, and was retained as attorney and counsel for the principal companies, holding that position until his death. His knowledge of the law pertaining to corporations was remarkable, and probably unsurpassed. He was frequently consulted in behalf of the city, and his opinions were always to be final authority. He was most in- defatigable in the practice of his profession. No client ever lost by his inattention to the merits of the cause, or by his in- ability to present all its good points to a jury, or his neglect to hunt out for the judge all the authorities that sustained the case. His integrity no man questioned. He discouraged litigation when a reasonably fair settlement could be made, but no man was more pertinacious in prosecuting what he considered to be the right. In the spring of 1870, he broke down suddenly from overwork, and died. In. January, 1842, he married Miss Lucy Mygatt, daughter of George Mygatt, Esq., then of Painesville, and afterward of Cleveland.
CULBERTSON, JAMES COE, M. D., editor and proprietor of the weekly publication known as the Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic, also of the monthly periodical entitled the Obstetric Gazette, was born December 19th, 1840, at Culbert- son's Mills, midway between Piqua and Troy, on the Miami Canal, Miami County, Ohio. During the last century three brothers emigrated from Scotland to this country, and settled in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where they purchased a considerable quantity of land, improved it, and which became locally known as Culbertson's Row. There Joseph Culbert- son was born. He married Miss Nancy Agnes Dickson. These were the parents of William Culbertson (the father of Dr. James C. Culbertson), and who was born in 1806 in West- moreland County, of the same State. Left an orphan and poor, at fifteen years of age, he was apprenticed to learn the trade of stone mason. Less than ten years afterward he was an extensive contractor, and as such built some of the locks upon the Pennsylvania Canal. Hearing of the building of canals in Ohio, he was thereby induced to move to that State, which he accordingly did in 1835, locating in Miami County. He was perhaps the largest contractor upon the Miami Canal. He operated north from Troy. Where others failed in the performance of their contracts with the State, owing to the magnitude and difficulties of the undertaking, he succeeded. And his financial success was commen- surate with his labors, receiving as compensation Ohio State bonds, depreciated, at the time, to thirty cents upon the dol- lar, and a portion of which he held until redeemed at their par value. He subsequently built the large flouring mills known for many years as Culbertson's Mills, above men- tioned. While the proprietor of these mills, he at one time conceived the idea of purchasing all the wheat raised in the
Miami Valley, north of Dayton, and by holding so large an amount of this product, measurably to control the market for flour. He thus became one of the first capitalists in the State to attempt "cornering" this important cereal. He sold the mills in 1843, and during the same year purchased a farm in Butler County, situated four miles east of Middle- town, which he at once handsomely improved. When the building of railroads in the Miami Valley began, he became at once deeply interested in them as progressive features of the age, and was active in furthering the construction of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, becoming a large subscriber to the original stock of the road, and induced others to contribute of their means to that enterprise. He was also one of the original projectors of the Dayton Short Line, and contributed both time and money to the further- ance of its survey and construction. At the time of letting contracts for building the Nashville and Chattanooga Rail- road, he proceeded to Nashville, and put in a bid for contract to construct the entire line of that road. He was, however, unsuccessful in obtaining the award. For a third of a cen- tury he was a member of, and nearly that length of time an elder in, the Presbyterian Church ; always a large contributor to the varied benevolences of that Church, and to all local en- terprises ; and the special friend of indigent young men who were ambitious to obtain an education or a start in business. A number of men now prominent in the learned professions and other business pursuits owe the early completion of their education and financial start in business to assistance ob- tained from William Culbertson. Extremely fond of amuse- ments and society, his house was always open to the young people of the neighborhood, and to the clergy of his Church the latch-string was always out. William Culbertson closed his useful, honorable Christian life February 15th, 1873, at Blue Ball, Butler County, Ohio, aged sixty-six years. Of him it was said in the press, at the time of his death : "He loved the Church. In him the poor, the rich, and bereaved found a wise counselor and a sympathizing friend. As a citizen he was enterprising and patriotic. As a gentleman, amiable and courteous. As a Christian, earnest and faithful. As a husband and father, generous and kind." His funeral was largely attended, and, at his own request, a sermon was preached by his pastor, Rev. W. L. S. Clark, from the fol- lowing text (Numbers xxiii, 10): "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." The old homestead, together with nearly three hundred surround- ing acres, yet remain, unbroken, in the family-ancestral lands which his children affectionately regard in a sense as a monument to the success which attended their father's honorable business career, and upon which the widowed mother and the youngest brother and sister of Dr. Culbert- son now live. The brother, William Lowry, while young in years, in an eminent degree fills his father's place in that section of the Miami Valley. Like his father, he is a man of broad views, and in his enterprises manifests similar traits of character. While Joseph W. is proprietor of, and lives on. an adjoining farm, leading the life of a highly respected and useful citizen. A fine oil painting of the "Old Homestead" now adorns the walls of Dr. Culbertson's private residence, at No. 281 West Seventh Street, Cincinnati. May 3d, 1838, William Culbertson married Miss Mary Ann Coe, a daughter of the late Rev. James Coe, D. D., a Presbyterian minister, who was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; received his literary and theological education at Jefferson College, under
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years the largest and most lucrative practice of any firm in Ohio, it being of the highest character, and extending all over the United States, from the Common Pleas to the Supreme Court of the United States. Their reputation has become national, and they are recognized as one of the great law firms of the United States. Their practice has extended into important railroad cases, and Mr. Johnson has himself be- come interested in several railroad corporations. He is di- rector in the New Orleans and North-eastern Railroad, gen- eral counsel for the Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific Railroad, director in the Cincinnati Southern, and vice-president of the Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad. The only public offices which Mr. Johnson ever held were prosecuting attorney of the Police Court and county pros- ecutor some years ago, which he accepted to fill an unexpired terin, caused by the death of the prosecutor. He served the remainder of the term, and gave the salary of the office to the widow of the deceased. He was also member of the School Board of Cincinnati for two terms. In 1881 he was nominated for Lieutenant-governor by the Democrats, without being a candidate, and was defeated with the rest of the ticket. Mr. Johnson is a lawyer of versatile powers, learned, skillful, eloquent, and indomitable. There are few lawyers who can conduct a case more successfully, nor make an argument with more readiness, force, and effect. He is bold in his declarations, tenacious in his opinions, and always pre- pared to meet a sally from his opponent. Mr. Johnson was married, February Ist, 1865, to Miss Laura Louis, daughter of Adolph and Juliet Louis, of Cincinnati.
HITCHCOCK, PETER, Burton, Geauga County, mem- ber of the State Senate, was born in Burton, January 16th, 1818. He was the youngest of the three sons of Chief Jus- tice and Nabby Hitchcock. His education was received in the academies of his native town. His early choice in life was for the farm, and to that he has adhered, devoting his time, labor, and talent, which have brought to him a rich reward. Pursuing agriculture as a profession, he has made it eminently successful, and now resides in an ele- gantly built and appointed residence, that would vie with many a city mansion. So soon as he became of military age, he entered Colonel H. H. Ford's Geauga Guards. At the age of twenty-four he became captain of the company, being commissioned by Thomas Corwin, and continuing in the command for ten years. In May, 1862, he was mainly instrumental in organizing the Geauga Blues, of which Gov- ernor Tod commissioned him captain. In 1864 this company was called into service by Governor Brough, and became a part, eventually, of the 17 Ist Regiment Ohio National Guards. During the war he worked arduously for the Union cause, spent time, influence, and means in raising and forwarding troops to the field. In 1861 he largely raised and formed the 41st Ohio. He declined positions of rank and honor, and served his country almost gratuitously. From the time of his first commission by Corwin, he held some position, military or civil, until the last, issued by Governor Hayes, in 1877. In 1846 he was elected justice of the peace, and re-elected, till he held the office for eighteen consecutive years. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican in the formation of that party. He was, with great unanimity, placed in nomination for the House of Representatives in 1857, and elected, and re-elected in 1859. In 1861 he was elected to the State Sen- ate ; he served again in the House in 1866-67 and 1870-71.
He was elected to the Constitutional Convention, which sat through two sessions in Cincinnati in 1873-74, and was again elected to the House of 1876-77, and re-elected in 1878-79, and again chosen to the Senate of 1880. In 1861 he was elected Speaker of the House, and always occupied a place on im- portant committees, and was Chairman of the Committee on Finance. He came to be known as one of the ablest, most useful, and valuable legislators of the State. The important subject of State finance and education matters have received from him much earnest and enlightened attention. A strong Union man, during the war he took a most decided stand on all occasions. At the age of twenty-three, on February 8th, 1841, he was married to Miss Eliza Ann Cook, daughter of Hiram Cook, Esq., of Burton. They have had four children, three sons and one daughter. Their second son, Charles Cook, in 1862, was killed in the battle of Perryville. The two remaining sons are successful business men. Their esti- mable daughter is an ardent worker in the ranks of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and other noble causes. It is a fact worthy of note that in the election of the Fall of 1883 the prohibition amendment received a pro- portionate vote in Burton probably larger than in any other part of the State. The Hitchcock family have been noted for their pureness of purpose and integrity of life. Mr. Hitchcock is a man who has won the confidence of all, even his political opponents. Sagacious, politic, a good reader of men, and a master of convincing argument, he has always exerted considerable Influence in circles in which he has moved. He early in life united with the Congregational Church, of which he has ever since remained a consistent member. A member of every organization established in his township for the public good since he was twelve years old, he has labored steadily for the reform of men, and es- pecially the suppression of the liquor traffic. His long life has been devoted to the cause of Christianity, humanity, and his country. Now, in his ripe years, having passed the more active duties of life, he lives in the hearts of his fellow- citizens, and when his time arrives to depart, he will leave behind him a sorrowing multitude. His good deeds will live forever.
WALBRIDGE, HORACE S., banker and capitalist, of Toledo, Ohio, was born July 21st, 1828, in Oswego, New York. His father, Chester Walbridge, a quiet man of solid worth and high character, removed with his family to Toledo in 1834, and there operated largely in real estate. After re- ceiving his education in the Toledo schools, he commenced business life by serving as clerk for Stephen Marsh at $1 a week. After rapid promotion, he became, in 1854, one of the firm of P. Buckingham & Co., which changed in 1857 to Brown, Walbridge & Co., and in 1858 to H. S. Walbridge & Co., in which he remained until 1868, when he turned his attention to real estate and other business enterprises. He was a bold and skillful operator, of keen foresight and sound judgment, prompt to seize an advantage the moment it offered itself. He founded the Northwestern Savings bank in 1868, and from that time was its president. He was also a director of the Toledo National bank, and the Toledo Sav- ings Institution. He was president of the trustees of Toledo for the construction of the Toledo and Woodville Railroad, and became very active in forwarding that undertaking, and was also one of the commissioners appointed by the legisla- ture to secure a new eastern railroad connection. In all mat-
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ters that promised to forward the interests of Toledo, he was very active, giving liberal and zealous support. In politics he was first a whig and then a republican, but never a poli- tician, holding no office other than a seat in the city council, where he attended faithfully to the interests of his constitu- ents. During the war he was very active in prosecuting measures for filling the quota of the city, serving on the mili- tary committee, and giving time and money freely to the cause of the Union. He was for many years vestryman of Trinity Episcopal church, and liberal in his contributions to its funds. A self-made man, of strong impulses, public-spirited, free hearted, and open-handed, he was noted for the readiness and generousness with which he came to the rescue of any good work that needed prompt and liberal aid, especially such as were for the benefit of the city. He was a leader of men by nature and choice, having the strength of will, force of character, and aggressiveness of disposition that make the leader. In 1853, he married Miss Isabella D., daughter of Captain Thomas Watkins, a resident of New Bedford, Massachusetts.
ROSA, STORM, physician, of Painesville, Ohio, was born at Coxsackie, Greene county, New York, in 1791, and died at Painesville, Lake county, Ohio, May 3d, 1864. He was of German parentage, and received a good education in his native place. Having an inclination for the medical pro- fession he studied medicine under some of the most eminent physicians in the State of New York, and on the 9th of March, 1816, he was received among the licensed members of the Medical Society of Seneca county, New York. On receiving his diploma he started for the West, and took up his residence in Centreville, Geauga county, Ohio. As soon as he had fairly established himself in an office he gravely notified the deacons and sextons that he was in town, a young physician, and that "they must enlarge their graveyard." This sally of humor hit the fancy of the people and at once established him in favor. In 1818 he changed his residence to Painesville, Lake county. Here he continued to practice with much success, the number of his patients constantly in- creasing, and his reputation as a skillful physician rapidly extending. Educated in the old school of medicine, he practiced according to that school until, in 1841, he was induced by Dr. Pulte, of Cincinnati, and Dr. Barlow, of New York, to investigate the merits of the homeopathic school of medicine, founded by the German, Hahnemann. The result of the study of the next two years was his adoption of the homœopathic principle, and the change of his practice. In 1850 and 1851 he lectured on the "Theory and Practice of Homœopathy " in the Eclectic College of Cincinnati, having, on his appointment to a professorship in that college, taken with him all the homeopathic students in northern Ohio, some thirty in number. In 1851 he accepted the chair of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women, in the newly organized Western Homoeopathic College at Cleveland. Here he lectured for a number of years with great success, attracting numbers of students by his profound knowledge and clear elucidations. Upon his retirement from this position he was tendered the chair of practice in the St. Louis Homeopathic College, but declined, prefering to remain in Painesville and attend to his practice there. He was one of the earliest pioneers of home- opathy in Ohio, and presided over the first public meeting of homeopathic physicians, which was held at Burton, Ohio, and was composed of nine members. His interest in home-
opathy did not decline with his advancing years, and although he wrote but little for publication, his feelings were always for the advancement of the cause he had espoused in middle life, after patient study and searching investigation. He was a thorough student, taking nothing on trust, but in- vestigating for himself. His medical lectures were prepared with great care, and presented the facts he desired to impress on the students with the most perfect perspicacity, and in simple and direct language. It was impossible for a student of even average intelligence and application to fail in com- prehension of the points presented in his addresses. In his personal conduct he was kind, gentle, and modest to a fault. As a physician, industrious and of sound judgment. In social life he was highly esteemed, his genial temperament, steady flow of good spirits, and keen sense of humor, making him a delightful companion. He was never daunted by dan- ger or difficulty in the practice of his profession, and was ready to lighten the gloomiest experience by a sally of wit or a humorous jest, whilst his kindness of heart never permitted him to indulge in witticisms or jestings that would be likely to wound or annoy. For a time he was an associate judge of the court of common pleas, filling that position with ability and conscientious fairness, but gaining from his experience a rooted disrelish of legal affairs. It is narrated of him that when two medical friends had fallen into litigation over a partnership he was called in as umpire, and on hearing the case, at once advised a friendly settlement, telling them any other course would leave them with empty pockets. They rejected his advice, went to law, and at the end of a year were both heavily out of pocket, after receiving a decision satisfactory to neither. He was a keen lover of nature, and was frequently found standing in reverential attitude, gazing upon a beautiful landscape, engaged, as he explained, in worship. His views on religious matters were tinged, during the the greater part of his life, with scepticism, but before his death he sent for a minister of the Episcopal church, who administered the sacraments to him, and he died after a short illness, in communion with that church. He was a man of striking presence, tall, over six feet, of heavy frame, and light complexion. He married, in 1818, Miss Kimball, of Centreville, Geauga county, and had a son and a daughter. The son, Lemuel Kimball Rosa, a rising young physician, graduated at Cincinnati Eclectic College. He died January 22d, 1850.
HENSHAW, GEORGE, senior member of the firm of G. Henshaw & Sons, extensive manufacturers of furniture, of Cincinnati, was born in London, England, July 17th, 1805. His education was such as he obtained at one of the board- ing-schools in the suburbs of his native city until he was fifteen years of age. At that age he was apprenticed to the cabinet-making trade with a prominent manufacturer of London, of whom he thoroughly learned the art of making all kinds of furniture. At the age of twenty-one years he married, and started business for himself in that city, and . soon established a reputation as a first-class business man and a manufacturer of elegant and substantial goods. In 1843 he sailed with his family for the United States, intending to follow farming, and located in Edwards County, Illinois. Unaccustomed to that kind of a life, he soon found his way to Cincinnati, where a large field for his energy and enter- prise awaited him. In that city he commenced the manu- facture of furniture, which at that date was nearly all made
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