USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 32
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military service of the United States as a captain in the 88th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Shortly afterward he was detached from the regimeut and appointed a judge advocate. He tried cases at Cincinnati and Columbus, and, pending the Bowles-Milligan trials for treason at Indianapolis in 1864, was appointed judge advocate for Indiana-which had been created into a separate district-and while holding that po- sition performed much able and effective service to the Gov- ernment. In 1865 he was detailed by General Hooker, then in command of the Northern Department, to go to Cam- bridge and try the murderers of Provost Marshal Cook. In the trial of this celebrated case, which resulted in the con- viction and subsequent hanging of the accused, Mr. Taylor distinguished himself by an able adjudication of certain novel and technical points of law, the solution of which was awaited with general interest throughout the country. At the close of the war Mr. Taylor was appointed citizen judge ad- vocate at Indianapolis, to try cases of irregularity in the Commissary Department. These cases involved several hundred thousands of dollars. His standing as judge advo- cate was exceptional; and although he tried a great number of cases, not a single record that left his hands was disap- proved. As a lawyer, Mr. Taylor acquired great prominence in Southern and Eastern Ohio, both as criminal and jury lawyer. In 1872 he appeared as defendant's attorney in the case entitled " First National Bank of Cambridge vs. County of Guernsey." This was the initial case to a series of sim- ilar cases throughout the State, instituted by national banks resisting the taxation of their surplus capital. The precedent established by this case led to a legislative enactment set- tling the law in such cases. He represented his district in the National Republican Convention which nominated R. B. Hayes, and was also a delegate to the Garfield Conven- tion. He is president of the Guernsey National Bank of Cambridge, which position he has occupied since its organi- zation in 1872. He was also, for seven years, president of the Cambridge School Board, and is identified with many of the industrial interests of the town. In 1882 he was nomi- nated and elected to Congress as the successor of the late Hon. Jonathan T. Updegraff. He was married, December IIth, 1866, to Miss E. A. Hill, and has two children. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he represented, as lay delegate, in the General Conference held at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1880.
CULBERTSON, HOWARD, physician and author, Zanesville, Ohio, was born February 24th, 1828, at Zanes- ville. He is the son of the Rev. James and Elenor (Col- houn) Culbertson, of Chambersburg, Penn., and is of Scotch- Irish extraction. His father's relatives settled in Franklin County, Penn., at an early day, one of whom was a mis- sionary to China, and who first translated the Bible into the language of that country. Another was Colonel Samuel Culbertson, an officer of the Revolutionary War and a most influential citizen of his county. Having received a thor- ough English education, he entered Jefferson Medical Col- lege, and graduated in March, 1850, establishing himself the same year in practice in Zanesville. In November, 1862, he was appointed, after examination, Surgeon United States Volunteers, serving in the Western and Southern Depart- ments. He was placed in charge of post and general hos- pitals at Rolla, Mo., and subsequently organized Harvey United States Army General Hospital at Madison, Wis., C-15
which was an object of special regard of the Secretary of War. He remained at the head of this hospital until its close. In 1865 he was mustered out, by order, with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel. October, 1865, he went before the Army Board at New York City, passed its exam- ination, and entered the medical corps of the United States army as assistant surgeon. In May, 1866, was placed on duty as medical officer of the 2d United States Infantry, at Taylor Barracks, Louisville, Ky .; served there in the sum- mer of 1866, during the prevalence of cholera. Afterward he was ordered to Memphis, Tenn .; thence to Tybee Island, and was then ordered back to Louisville, Ky. In the fall of 1867 was prostrated with congestive chill, succeeded by a generally exhausted condition of the nervous system. He was soon after ordered to Jefferson Barracks, Mo., and in the summer of 1868 to Baton Rouge, La. He was there prostrated by a severe fever, and was sent north to Jefferson Barracks, Mo. This illness and his previous sickness placed him on the retired list for " disease incurred in the line of duty," in January, 1869. He has acquired exceptional prom- inence as a writer on medical subjects. Among his published works may be mentioned " The Use of Anæesthetics in Mid- wifery," the prize essay of the Ohio State Medical Society in 1862 ; "Excisions of the Larger Joints of the Extremities," prize Essay of the American Medical Association, 1876, a work of 700 pages, in whose preparation he was engaged four years, and which is acknowledged by the profession as standard authority on the subject of which it treats. He is also author of papers entitled, "Experiments to Determine in what Manner Chloroform Produces Death ;" " The Mers- haum Probe," being a description of an instrument, the au- thor's own design, for detecting bullets and other foreign bodies in wounds ; " Diphtheria and its Treatment ;" " Waste and Repair of Organized Bodies ;" "Are there One or Two Syphilitic Poisons ?" " A Modified Mode of Distinguishing Paralysis of the Ocular Muscles;" "The Treatment of In- cipient Cataract by Medicine," and many others. He mar- ried, November 16th, 1854, M. Louise Safford, daughter of Dr. Elial Safford and Anne (Hunter) Safford, of Parkersburg, West Virginia. The Safford family early came to the new country ; the first member of whom we hear being Thomas Safford, of Ipswich, Mass., who was settled there as early as the year 1641. Anne Hunter, wife of Dr. Elial Safford, was the sister of General Alexander Hunter, of Washington, D. C., and granddaughter of Dr. John Hunter, of Scotland. Through her mother she was related to the family of Presi- dent Tyler, and through her paternal grandmother to the Chapman family, of which the celebrated Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, of Philadelphia, was a member. The Chapmans were originally a Scotch family, and first established them- selves in England under the auspices of their first cousin, Sir Walter Raleigh. The ancestor of the American fam- ily came over among the first settlers. An aunt of Anne Hunter Safford, Louisa Hunter, married Samuel Washing- ton, a brother of General George Washington. The Chap- mans, by reason of the marriage into the family of Constance Pearson, the great-great-grandmother of Anne Hunter, are connected with the celebrated Alexander family, which had for its founder William Alexander, first Lord of Sterling, born about 1573. The Alexander family is traced back as far as the renowned Viking Conn Ohead Ohath of the one hundred battles, who, early in the twelfth century, founded Norwegian settlements in Arran, Bute, and other Scotch islands. From
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this same viking is descended the ducal house of Argyle. Among the ancestresses claimed by the family are Effrica (1140), daughter of the king of the Isle of Man, and Marga- ret, daughter of Robert XI, of Scotland.
CASSELS, JOHN LANG, M. D., L. L. D., emeritus professor of chemistry and toxicology in the Cleveland Med- ical College, was born September 15th, 1802, in Scotland, near Glasgow. The name is well known in Scotland, and originated, according to tradition, in Germany. He was in- structed both in the common branches and classics in the high schools of Glasgow, and at the age of sixteen, being thoroughly prepared, he entered the University of Glasgow, where he remained two years, applying himself to his studies with great assiduity. At this period, owing to a disastrous change in his father's affairs, he was obliged to leave the university. In 1827 he came to the United States with an older brother, who was at home on a visit after twenty years' residence in this country. He remained a welcome visitor at his brother's hospitable home, near Utica, New York, for about a year, passing his time agreeably and not unprofitably among the intelligent farmers of that excellent and productive section. While here he became possessed of a strong desire to travel and see more of the country, and in order to gratify this desire he taught school, earning money enough to take him from place to place, and then teaching again when that was expended. In the fall of 1830 he arrived at Fairfield, Herkimer county, New York, the seat of the Western college of physicians and surgeons, and began the study of medicine with Dr. Moses Johnson, and attended lectures at the college. After a year he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy by Professor McNaughton, and graduated in 1834, receiving the degree of doctor of medicine. He occupied the position of demonstrator of anatomy for four years in all, with credit to himself, and to the great acceptance of the college, his early thorough mental discipline in the high schools and Univer- sity of Glasgow enabling him to accomplish well a vast amount of work. In the spring of 1835 he opened an office in Chenango county, New York, for the practice of medicine, and in the fall of the same year was appointed professor of chemistry in Willoughby Medical College, at Willoughby, Ohio, and entered immediately upon the duties of the posi- tion. He remained at Willoughby till 1843, when he re- moved to Cleveland, and in connection with Drs. Kirtland, Delamater, and Ackley, established in 1844, the Cleveland Medical College, occupying the first year a building on the corner of Ontario and Prospect streets. All these gentlemen were professors at Willoughby, and when application was made to the legislature for a charter, it was opposed by the friends of Willoughby College, and the petition defeated. But the enterprise of establishing a medical college in Cleve- land, which had been undertaken by responsible citizens, was not to be thwarted. The organization was effected under the charter of the Western Reserve College, and is still the medi- cal department of that institution. The present commodious building was erected in, 1844 at the corner of Erie and St. Clair streets. For several years he occupied the chair of materia medica, and on the retirement of Dr. Samuel St. John, he was appointed professor of chemistry and toxicology, which position he filled with distinguished ability for nearly thirty years, and which, added to the years he lectured at Willoughby, make about forty years of his life spent in this most useful department of labor. During this period he de-
livered two courses of lectures a year for ten years, at Hud. son, on chemistry, botany, geology, and mineralogy ; and also for three or four years at Painesville, besides lecturing at many times and places on various scientific subjects. In 1837 he was appointed, by Governor Marcy, geologist of the first dis- trict in the State of New York, and during the three years he held this appointment he made a thorough examination of the territory assigned, and submitted a valuable and highly satis- factory report. He spent the summer of 1846 in the wilds of Lake Superior, making, in the interest of a Cleveland copper mining company, a geological survey of the south shore and Isle Royal, and had his honest and intelligent report been acted on, the company would have saved thousands of dollars. In 1872, having suffered a paralytic stroke, he re- tired from the active duties of his profession, carrying with him the affectionate sympathy and esteem of his associates. Gifted by nature with a clear, sound, and well balanced in- tellect, his lectures were models for clearness and exactness of statement, and pure and polished diction. He received the honorary degree of doctor of laws from Jefferson College, Mississippi, in 1859, and in 1861 he was honored by being entered a corresponding member of the Imperial Royal Geo- logical Institute, of Vienna. Although but partially recov- ered, his mind is still vigorous, and he employs his leisure hours in writing valuable, popular, scientific articles for differ- ent magazines and newspapers. He was married in the fall of 1838 to Miss Cornelia Olin, daughter of Judge J. H. Olin, of Vermont; she died in 1871. They have had born to them one daughter, who is the wife of Mr. Atwood, of the firm of Fuller & Atwood, of Cleveland.
EDGAR, ROBERT, pioneer to Montgomery county, Ohio, was born in Staunton, Augusta county, Virginia, Feb- ruary 8th, 1770. His parents emigrated from northern Ire- land at an earlier, unknown date, and settled in Virginia, and his father, Robert Edgar, Sr., was murdered by the In- dians near Wheeling, about the year 1790. Shortly after set- tling up his father's estate, our subject and a brother de- scended the Ohio river in a flat-boat to Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, and in 1796 settled at the mouth of Mad river, now Dayton, when the little colony numbered less than twenty souls. September 27th, 1798, he married Mrs. Mar- garet Kirkwood (Gillespie), a native of Philadelphia, and widow of David Kirkwood. By hard labor, Mr. Edgar soon earned money sufficient to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land (that forms the eastern part of the city of Day- ton), at $2 per acre, which was long known as the "Edgar farm," and in the home he erected there were born seven children. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a mem- oranda in the form of a receipted bill of purchase of a cav- alry sword, also the sword itself,-held as a relic by his only surviving child, John F. Edgar, of Dayton, who was born in that city October 29th, 1814, on April 20th, 1843, married Effie, daughter of Robert Rogers, of Springfield, Ohio. From this union were born five children, three of whom are living. For half a century he has been a business man of Dayton, and his whole life has been characterized by industry, en- ergy, integrity and high christian principle. He has long been a leading member of the First Presbyterian church of Dayton, and is at present an elder in the same. Mr. Robert Edgar died December 19th, 1838, and his wife, November 25th, 1844, in her seventy-third year. Both were connected with the Presbyterian church.
J. Langlo yal
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"Western Biogl Pub Co.
Allen Levering
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LEVERING, ALLEN, of Mt. Gilead, Ohio, was born November 12th, 1839, in North Woodbury, Richland County, Ohio (since 1848 known as Morrow County). The name in- dicates French descent; and by reference to a carefully col- lated family genealogy we find that one Rosier Levering, a Huguenot, was compelled through persecution to leave France and seek refuge in Gamen, Germany, where he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Van de Walle, of Westphalia, and reared his family. In 1685-the year of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes-their son Wigard and family, in com- pany with his brother Gerhard, were induced, by liberal of- fers made to them by William Penn, to emigrate to this country, where they arrived the early part of August of the same year, and located respectively at Germantown and Roxborough, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Those who have studied carefully the history of our country are aware of the influence for good which has ever been exerted by those of Huguenot faith. Wherever they settled they were noted for severe morality, fidelity to principle, strict honesty, large-hearted charity, and politeness and elegance of man- ners-contributing, in proportion to their numbers, a vast share to the culture and prosperity of the United States. Of seven presidents who directed the deliberations of the Con- gress at Philadelphia during the Revolution, three, Henry Laurens, John Jay, and Elias Boudinot, were of Huguenot parentage. It is not a matter of surprise, therefore, that the Leverings should feel proud of their identification with that noble people. Gerhard Levering was married after his arri- val in America, but his wife's full maiden name has not been preserved. They left four sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Daniel, was born in 1704 and died in 1776, his wife (Margaret Bean) only surviving him two years. Daniel had removed to Whiteplain Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where, at the time of his decease, he left four sons and five daughters living. His second son, Henry, learned the blacksmith trade, and after his marriage re- moved to Durham Iron Works, which were located on the Delaware River, New Jersey, where he accumulated consid- erable property and raised liis family. In 1785 he disposed of his real estate, preparatory to emigrating to one of the Western territories, receiving his pay in Continental money, which-though when first issued was received everywhere at par, and proved of great utility to the army and country generally-on account of rumors gaining circulation to the effect that Congress would not redeem these bills, depre- ciated to such an extent on his hands that he was under the necessity of disposing of some of his chattel property before he could remove. He finally settled in Morris's Cove, Bed- ford County, Pennsylvania, where he closed his account in 1810, and his wife in 1822. Both were very fleshy, he weighing over two hundred pounds, and his better half nearly four hundred pounds. William, the youngest son of Henry (who had ten children), soon after his father's death, in company with Messrs. Cook and Ackerman, neighbors, started on horseback for Knox County, Ohio, where he en- tered lands along the north fork of Owl Creek, and returned home with the intention of moving to Ohio the following year; but the war of 1812 prevented the execution of his plans until the spring of 1816. He was married, November 2d, 1802, to Miss Ruth Bryson, a cousin of old General Win- field Scott. Six sons and two daughters resulted from their union. Mrs. Levering departed this life in 1855, and her husband in 1864. Morgan Levering, second son of William,
was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1808, and as- sisted his father in improving their new Ohio Home. Upon attaining his majority, he taught school, and aided in driving a herd of cattle to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, walking the entire distance back-no slight task in those early days, considering the obstacles to be surmounted. In 1831 he engaged as clerk to John Markey, in his dry-goods store in Bellville, Ohio, filling that position until 1835, when he purchased Mr. Markey's half-interest in a branch store at North Woodbury, this county, and became an equal partner in the business with John Rule, Sen. This partnership continued, under the firm name of Levering & Rule, to the mutual financial ben- efit of both parties, until the fall of 1851, when it was dis- solved, Mr. Levering carrying on the business until his decease, January 25th, 1860. During the continuance of the partnership Mr. Levering had general management, going to New York once or twice a year to replenish stock. His last trip was in April, 1859: time, from Galion, Ohio, twenty-five hours, then the quickest regular time on record. He could not but contrast the difference when, in 1836, the slow and cumbersome stage-coach was the most expeditious mode of travel. Hon. John T. Creigth was his intimate friend and companion in these trips until 1854. During Mr. Morgan Levering's twenty-five years of business life in North Wood- bury he enjoyed the fullest confidence of his partner and the entire community for his unswerving integrity, high moral principles, manly deportment, and true neighborly sympathy. His word was as good as his bond, and always accepted in the most important transactions. A surgical operation was performed for the removal of a wen from his right cheek, and within twelve days of that event his death ensued. When the announcement was made that he had gone home, "Is it possible ?" "Can it be so?" and "Who will take his place?" were questions propounded on every hand, evincing the deep interest manifested by all who heard of the sad and un- looked-for event. He was married, September, 1836, to Miss Mary Bell, of Bellville, Ohio. Her grandfather, Robert Bell, Sen., was born in 1755, and was of English-Scotch descent. He was married in 1781 to Mary Yost, and lived in or near Pollinsville, Sussex County, New Jersey. He had two broth- ers, one of whom removed, about 1790, to South Carolina, and the other took up his abode near Nashville, Tennessee. The latter was the father of the John Bell who was a candi- date for the Presidency in 1860 on the Constitutional Union ticket, associated with Edward Everett for Vice-president. In 1796 Robert Bell, Sen., moved to Belmont County, Ohio, and in 1816 to Richland County, where he laid out the town of Bellville, on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, where he and most of his family lived, and have since died. Allen, the eldest living son of Morgan Levering, of the seventh generation from Rosier Levering, not having attained his majority at the time of his father's death, chose for his guardian his father's old partner, John Rule, Sen., who purchased the old store, and accepted Allen as a part- ner for his son, Dr. Amos Rule-the business being con- ducted for three years under the old firm name of Levering & Rule. Mr. Levering took the general supervision of the business, and visited New York. for the purpose of buying goods, there meeting with many old friends of his father, from whom he received warm greetings. Wherever he went he discovered how highly his father had been appreciated, and determined to emulate his bright example. The subject of our sketch has two brothers, Byram and Robert, the one
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a thriving farmer, and the other a well-to-do dry-goods mer- chant of Mt. Gilead, both an honor to the family name. In March, 1863, Mr. Levering sold his interest to Norman Mer- wine, and for one year and a half attended the union school at Bellville, giving attention to the common branches; and in 1865, to better fit himself for a commercial career, he un- dertook and creditably completed a course of study at East- man's Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York. In March, 1866, he removed to Mt. Gilead, to take a position as book- keeper and teller in the First National Bank, in which avoca- tion he continued for one year. In February, 1867, he bought the dry-goods store of R. P. Halliday, and for nearly ten years conducted the leading dry-goods business in this sec- tion-selling out to J. E. Davis, who had been a clerk in the same establishment for over seven years. In 1873 he was elected a director, and the following year vice-president, of the bank in which he had served as book-keeper, serving in both capacities up to the present time. In 1875 Mr. Levering assisted in the organization of the Mt. Gilead Building Associa- tion, and was elected its secretary and treasurer, which positions he held until its disbandment in 1883. This association, in con- junction with the town council, erected in 1876 the Van Horn block, with a hall having a seating capacity of one thousand, one of the finest auditoriums in this region, and an honor to its projectors. In response to a petition from the citizens, it was named " Levering Hall." During the months of June and July, 1877, he visited Indiana and Illinois, in search of a desirable location for a new home, but returned disap- pointed; and in August of the same year was nominated by the County Democratic Convention for Representative, and the following October was elected by a respectable majority. This honor came as a pleasant surprise, as there had been no Democrat elected from Morrow County for twenty-two years. His record in the House shows that he was faithful to the trust committed to his hands, active in the perform- ance of the onerous duties of his office, and that he was ap- pointed on the Finance, School and School Land Committees, two of the important standing committees in the Legisla- ture. The bills presented by him met with great favor and success. His services gave entire satisfaction to his constit- uents. In August, 1878, when Governor Bishop accepted the then Company I, of 12th Regiment, now Company E, of 14th Regiment Ohio National Guard, at the suggestion of the As- sistant Adjutant General, and later by the unanimous vote of the Company, it was christened "Levering Guards, of Mt. Gilead, Ohio." Also in April, 1880, when the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad completed the leasing of the Mt. Gilead Short-line Railroad, the name of Gilead Station, on suggestion of Mr. Poppleton, their at- torney, was changed to "Levering Station," as a compliment, Mr. Levering having fathered the bill in the Legislature for the building of the road. Three years later, on account of there being a post-office in Knox County bearing the same name, it was changed to Edison. He refused a renomina- tion for Representative, and in March, 1880, joined his brother in buying his old store, which they successfully run for two years, under the firm name of "Levering & Co." May, 1880, he was made an honorary member of the " Phi- lomathian Literary Society," of Otterbein University, at West- erville, Ohio. He accepted the nomination for Representa- tive in 1881, and, though suffering defeat with his party, ran one hundred and fourteen ahead of his ticket. Since selling his interest in the store he has been engaged in real estate,
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