USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 34
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Recurring to Mr. Bingham's public services after the close of the Thirty-seventh Congress and before his return to con- gressional duty in the Thirty-ninth Congress, we note that in the year 1863, without being consulted in the matter, Presi- dent Lincoln appointed him to be a judge advocate in the army of the United States, and which appointment was approved by the Senate. He was assigned to duty in Washington, and conducted the trial of Surgeon General Hammond before a general court martial, the finding and sentence of which were approved by the President. Presi- dent Lincoln afterwards, in 1864, appointed and commis- sioned Mr. Bingham to be United States judge for the south- ern district of Florida, which unsolicited honor he was con- strained to decline. Soon afterward, in 1864, Mr. Lincoln again, without solicitation, appointed and also commis- sioned Mr. Bingham to be United States solicitor for the court of claims, which appointment was approved by the Senate and which office Mr. Bingham accepted and dis- charged its duties until March 4th, 1865, on which day he resigned it, that he might be prepared to enter upon his duties in the Thirty-ninth Congress to which he had been elected. In April, 1865, and very soon after the assassina-
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tion of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Bingham was invited by telegram to repair to Washington and assist in the investigation of that great crime. He was appointed by the President "special judge advocate to try the parties who were arrested, and charged before a military commission with having conspired together, with others (named, but not arrested,) and in aid of the then existing rebellion against the United States, to kill and murder, within the military department of Washington, and within the fortified and intrenched lines thereof, Abraham Lincoln, then President of the United States of America and commander-in-chief of the army and navy thereof, Andrew Johnson, then Vice-President of the United States, William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Ulysses S. Grant, then Lieutenant-General of the army of the United States, and in command of the armies thereof, under the direction of Abraham Lincoln ; and in pursuance of said unlawful con- spiracy, and in aid of said rebellion, with having maliciously murdered the said Abraham Lincoln, and with having maliciously assaulted with intent to kill and murder the said William H. Seward, and with having laid in wait with intent to kill and murder the said Andrew Johnson and the said U. S. Grant." The duties which devolved upon Mr. Bingham under this appointment, in the trial of the accused were very onerous-the trial occupying his constant attention for over two consecutive months. His arguments on this trial, including his final argument in answer to the arguments of the distinguished gentleman who defended the accused, may be found in the volume entitled, "The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators," and published by Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, Cincinnati, Ohio. The eighteen years in which Mr. Bingham was thus consecu- tively employed in the capital of the United States, as a member of Congress, and in the discharge of the several official trusts above mentioned, constituted an eventful period in the history of the republic. This sketch of Mr. Bingham's public services to his country would not be complete without noting the fact of his having spoken in one-half of all the States of the Union, for the Union and the constitution. A number of these speeches made in various States, especially during the war, for the Union, and subsequently, were re- ported at the time and may be found in the newspapers of Ohio and of other States.
CROSLEY, POWEL, lawyer, Cincinnati, Ohio, was born in Warren County, Ohio, December 25th, 1849. Moses Crosley, Sen., his father, is of Irish and Scotch ancestry, and Sally A. (Eulass) Crosley, his mother, of German and En- glish descent-all of Warren County. They were a sturdy, thrifty, energetic people, and the subject of this sketch par- takes of their characteristics. Mr. Crosley early evinced a love of study, but not having the means with which to de- fray the expenses of a collegiate education, he applied him- self diligently to his studies at the country school and the graded school at Springboro, Ohio, a few miles from his home, where, in the mean time, he lived and worked, and was noted among his fellows and neighbors as a boy of great application and industry. At the early age of seven- teen he began teaching school, and taught during the follow- ing four years at various villages in Warren County, ending with the graded schools of Clarksville, Clinton County, of which he was principal at the age of twenty-one. In all these places he taught with great success, being indefatigable in his efforts to perfect himself for his duties. In the summer of 1872
he was offered the position of book-keeper in a mercantile house in St. Joseph, Missouri, which he accepted, and within ten months thereafter became the manager of two large business agencies in that city, which he conducted successfully until the fall of 1874. He resigned his position, and within thirty days was enrolled as one of the law students in the Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, from which institution he grad- uated with honor in the spring of 1876. While there he was for one term president of Webster Society, the leading liter- ary club of the Law Department. He was one of the first in his class, and among them was distinguished for his readi- ness in debate and for his ability as a parliamentarian. In June, 1876, he was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati, and since that time he has been engaged in the successful prac- tice of the law. In April, 1879, he was appointed first as- sistant city solicitor of Cincinnati, in which position he con- ducted himself so creditably that in the fall of 1881 he received the nomination of the Republican Convention of Hamilton County as one of five candidates of that party for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He being but thirty- two years of age at the time, the cry of "too young" was raised against him, and he was defeated by a small majority. While assistant solicitor he was leading counsel in a number of very important cases for the city, such as Lincoln Avenue and Walker Mill Road assessment cases, and what are known as the Eden Park Reservoir cases, in all of which he won victories of great value for the city. He was also, by reason of his familiarity with city affairs, special counsel for the State in the celebrated case of the State against Hoffman for alleged embezzlement while Auditor of Cincinnati, in which he greatly distinguished himself. In November of the same year he resigned his position as, solicitor, and formed a partnership with the Hon. Benjamin Butterworth in the prac- "tice of the law, which partnership still exists. Mr. Butter- worth's time having been chiefly occupied in Congress, and since assuming the duties of Commissioner of Patents en- tirely so, the conduct of their large practice has devolved principally upon Mr. Crosley. Since his retirement from the solicitor's office he has won distinction in a number of cases, among them the celebrated Jackson Brewery liti- gation, in which, as counsel for George Weber, Mr. Cros- ley rendered valuable service in ending his assignment and a long litigation, and in recovering his estate. Though yet a young man, Mr. Crosley has attained a very promi- nent position in his profession as an advocate. Possessed of a strong constitution and a vigorous mind, he is des- tined, by his energy, ambition, and habits of industry, to occupy at no distant day a distinguished place among the legal fraternity. What success he has already attained is the result, not of any fortuitous circumstance, but of energy, de- termined effort, and native ability. He is cosmopolitan in his ideas, liberal in his views, and earnest in the advocacy of his honest convictions. Among his fellows he is popular, and never fails to secure the confidence of those with whom he is brought into contact. In politics Mr. Crosley is an earnest Republican, and takes an interested part in all polit- ical contests. His religious views, both by education and conviction, are of a liberal character.
DOAN, AZARIAH W., Judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, Wilmington, was born in that city December 17th, 1824. His father was Jonathan Doan, born in North Carolina, July, 1796, a descendant of John Doan, of Nor-
Western Biogl Pub Co
Respectfully yours Powel Crosley
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man-French descent, who settled in Massachusetts as early as 1620. Jonathan Doan, with his father, removed from North Carolina to Ohio as early as 1803, and located in Clinton County. The following year he purchased several hundred acres of land where the town of Wilmington now stands, and located thereon, devoting his life to general agri- cultural pursuits. He was very widely known and respected throughout the adjacent counties. He died at Wilmington, July, 1874. The mother of Azariah was Mrs. Phebe Doan, nee Wall, who was born in Pennsylvania, February, 1796, of Ger- man parentage. She removed with her father and mother to Ohio in 1808. She was a woman of rare character, and her many attainments were widely known in religious circles. The important spheres of usefulness which her son has been called to fill he attributes, under God, chiefly to the early example and religious influence of his mother. She died in 1869, much lamented by all with whom she had come in contact. Azariah W. Doan received his early educational training in the common schools of his native village, but in the subsequent course of his life entered the Wilmington Seminary, which at that time was under the management of Professor David S. Busson, of New York, a gentleman noted for his erudition, particularly in the literature of the ancient Greek language. Azariah Doan made the very best use of these scholastic advantages, making rapid progress in the various studies assigned him. With no other preparation than these schools afforded he made choice of the legal pro- fession as that to which he seemed best adapted by nature. He immediately began the study of law, and after thor- oughly qualifying himself, he passed a creditable examina- tion, and was admitted to the bar June 3d, 1853. He then opened an office in Wilmington, the county seat of Clinton County. It was not long before his untiring energy and per- severance gained for him considerable prominence, and his ability as a young lawyer was soon recognized by his election to the office of Prosecuting Attorney in 1855, which position he held till 1860. When the tocsin of civil war was sounded, he was among the first to volunteer his services, and, in con-
nection with Judge R. B. Harlan, assisted in raising Company B, 12th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was the first company offered to the State in response to President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men, and with which he became connected April 15th, 1861. In the month of May of the same year he was appointed first lieutenant of this company, in which capacity he served until June, when he was promoted to the office of captain. July 6th, 1861, he marched with the 12th Regiment, under the com- mand of Colonel Low, to West Virginia, and participated in all the battles and stirring scenes of the Great Kanawha River, until August, 1862. His superior qualifications being thus recognized, he was promoted to the office of lieutenant- colonel, and assigned to the 79th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with this regiment through Kentucky into Tennessee. He was also with the 20th Army Corps in "Sher- man's march to the sea." Judge Doan was subsequently commissioned colonel and brigadier-general by brevet for mer- itorious conduct on the battle-field of Averysborough, North Carolina. During this battle he took charge of two regiments, and made a vigorous assault on the enemy's right, capturing, in a remarkably short time, the batteries of artillery on that wing of the Confederate forces. During his services in the war he participated in twenty-three battles and skirmishes, and on the field of battle manifested those brave qualities C-16
that gave him distinction, and attached to him the confidence and more than friendship of his command. Nature did not intend him for a tyrant; he was not, therefore, a strict disci- plinarian. His authority was exercised with a firm hand but gentle spirit, commanding respect by a conscientious observ- ance of duty and a fearless example of patience and endur- ance under the most trying circumstances, and by a cheerful acceptance of a common fellowship in the tribulations of the soldier. He remained at his post until he was honorably discliarged from the service on June 17th, 1865, and returned home to assume the duties of his profession. In June of the same year he was urged by the Republican party of Greene, Fayette, and Clinton Counties to become a candidate for the State Senate, and in the convention was duly nominated for that position, and in the election that followed was elected by a large majority, serving for two sessions, from 1866 to 1867. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1873-74. In the spring of 1875 he was elected Judge of the Second Judicial District and of the Third Subdivision, in- cluding the counties of Clinton, Warren, Greene, and Clark, and was triumphantly re-elected to the same office in 1879 for a second term of five years, commencing May 3d, 1880. Judge Doan is also a member of the Ancient Order of Free and Accepted Masons, was a Master Mason in 1854, and a Royal Arch Mason in 1855. He has been a life-long and devout member of the Society of Friends. He honors himself and the society by an open confession to the world as an example in a high place of a humble follower and faithful servant of the Divine Master. In politics he was a Whig previous to the organization of the Republican party ; but when that party was formed he united therewith, and has ever since been decided in his convictions, and takes a lively interest in general elections. He was married, October 21st, 1847, to Miss Amanda M. Stratton, a native of Wilmington. Five children were the result of their union, four of whom are now deceased. The surviving child, Corwin F., is engaged in mercantile business at Doans, Texas. Mrs. Doan died of cholera August 6th, 1854. Judge Doan was married the second time to Martha G. Hale, in June, 1856. She was a native of Pennsylvania, and has borne to him six children, five of whom are living,-Willie, Joe, Alice, Walker, and Fannie; Charles being deceased. How truly it is said that among men there is a diversity of gifts! Nature seems to delight in impressing each individual with distinctive and exclusive peculiarities. To discover these, whatever they may be, and make a virtue of them by a practical use or application to the affairs of life, seems to be a duty, and the distinguishing mark of a wise man. Judge Doan has man- ifested this wisdom in all the relations of life. In the vari- ous positions of honor and responsibility, both in civil and military affairs, that Judge Doan has been called upon to fill, he has always established a character for sterling ability and integrity. In personal appearance, medium in height, strongly and symmetrically built, of pleasing countenance and address, and has dark eyes. Educated in the peace principles and the doctrines of the Society of Friends, his conscientious convictions went deeper than education, and in the hour of his country's emergency patriotism prompted him to duties in conflict with his previous training. The fate and misfortunes of war that brought him face to face with its calamities made manifest in him the divine qualities of our human nature, the mercies and sympathies of a ten- der heart. These endeared him to his command; and he
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can have no higher tribute than the veneration allotted him by the remnant of the veterans of his old regiment. His war record is a part of the history of the country, and the results of his service is the common heritage of the Ameri- can citizen. In the law Mr. Doan's abilities received marked and merited recognition in his promotion to the bench. As a counselor and advocate he was safe and effectual. Quick to perceive the truth and discriminate between the facts of the case and the prejudiced statements of his client, he was not apt to be mistaken in the application of the law. A case once taken, having the sanction of his judgment as to its justice or equity, he made it a matter of personal interest, and devoted to it the energies and abilities of a skillful lawyer. With his personal magnetism and sympathetic na- ture and abilities as an advocate, he was certain to win the admiration of the jury, and from his process of reasoning and method of presenting the facts and incidents as of a personal character, the jury would unconsciously come to be- lieve that a principle was certainly involved affecting his own individual rights. Judge Doan no less distinguished himself as a member of the Ohio State Senate and Constitutional Convention. In both of these distinguished bodies he took an active part in the debates of each, and demonstrated the fact that he could think comprehensively and discourse with ability. On the bench Judge Doan's first recommendation is his sterling integrity. From this grows his disinterestedness, which in the judiciary is defined to be the "flower of all virtues." Cautious and prudent, he is not superficial in his investigations, and his knowledge of the law and human nature enables him to reason and judge with discriminating justice. Such are the legible peculiarities of character with which nature and education and grace have stamped the subject of this sketch.
LOURY, FIELDING, legislator and general, was born in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, March 13th, 1781, and died in Dayton, Ohio, October 7th, 1848. He came to Cincinnati about the year 1802, and in June, 1811, married Ann, only daughter of John Smith, first United States Senator from Ohio. The fruits of this union were four daughters, three living and residents of Dayton. They are Mrs. Mary B. Davies, widow of Samuel Hiley Davies; Mrs. Harriet S., wife of Lewis Huesman, Esq., and Mrs. Ann E. relict of John Howard. Mr. Loury was a large land owner, and a surveyor by occupation. He laid out the town of Staunton, near Troy, Ohio, and named it after Staunton Academy, in Virginia, where he was educated. He was a member of the early legislature of Ohio, when it met at Chillicothe and sub- sequently at Columbus. He was also a general in the State militia, and served at Detroit as Indian agent in the war of 1812. Mr. Loury was a noble type of the genuine pioneer. He was bold, courageous, energetic, and industrious, and was remarkably active up to the day of his death, which re- sulted from a fall down stairs, from the effects of which acci- dent he expired in a few hours. He possessed great kindness of heart and generous impulses, was quiet, unassuming in manners, and was a fine specimen of the genial, clever, old fashioned gentleman. In politics he was a Jacksonian democrat. Several years after the death of his wife, he married, in January, 1823, a second companion in the per- son of Mrs. Sophia Cooper, relict of Daniel C. Cooper, the original proprietor of Dayton. By this marriage he had one son, Fielding Loury, Jr.
BATES, JOHN, of Cincinnati, was born at Holbeach, England, in 1798. He received a fair education, and when eighteen years of age, resolved on emigrating to America. Receiving a substantial outfit from his father, he embarked at Liverpool for Baltimore, which port he reached after a tem- pestuous voyage of ten weeks. During the voyage he was robbed of all the money he possessed, except one five franc piece. He endeavored to obtain work in Baltimore, but failed, and when exhausted by fatigue, and overcome by the heat of the sun, he fainted in the street. On recovering consciousness he found himself in a strange bed, surrounded by the appliances of wealth. He was kindly cared for, and when enabled to work, the benevolent man who had be- friended him, found him a situation in a brick-yard as a moulder. This was a new business to him, but he succeeded better than he had expected. Twenty years after this episode, when, himself in a position to befriend others, he visited this old friend in need, to thank him for his timely benevolence. He remained in Baltimore about a year, meeting with varied success, and then, with a companion started to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, crossing the mountains on foot. Thence he went 'in a skiff down the Ohio river to Maysville, Kentucky, and soon afterward, found his way to Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio. Here he formed a partnership with a builder: Mr. Bates to oversee the making of bricks, and his partner the building of houses. The partner proved dishonest, and robbed him of his time and money. He then commenced as a brick manufacturer on his own account, and by perse- verance became fairly successful. In 1819, shortly after his marriage to a worthy helpmate, he removed to Batavia, Cler- mont county, Ohio, thence to the Western Reserve, and thence to Rochester, New York, where he remained until 1828. Finally he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there settled. For several years he conducted a restaurant on the southwest corner of Third and Main streets. About the year 1833 he started a wholesale grocery on the northwest corner of Columbia and Main streets. Here he did a flourishing bus- iness, and realized sufficient to invest in real estate. He pur- chased about thirty acres between Ernst's station and the Brighton House, building a levee to protect it from the over- flow of the river. He also owned twenty-six acres fronting on Freeman street, which he sold in 1842, for $14,000, the property now being worth more than $500,000. In 1833, Mr. Bates sent to England for his mother and brother, the former being sixty-four years of age. In 1836 he engaged in the banking business, and continued in it about five years. In 1837 he commenced the building of the National Theatre on Sycamore street, which, when finished, was considered one of the most ornamental buildings in the city. He afterward erected a theatre in St. Louis and one in Louisville; and con- tinued to manage the three very successfully. He subse- quently sold two of them, retaining the one in Cincinnati. Mr. Bates married Miss Hannah Luck, an English lady, September 10th, 1818. She died in 1854, sincerely mourncd by her husband, to whom she had been not only an excellent wife, but an able adviser and assistant in his various undertak- ings. Two sons and six daughters were born to them, of whom three daughters survive, viz : Sarah E., wife of Mr. Adolphus H. Smith; Amelia Augusta, wife of Mr. J. J. Tranchant; and Julia, wife of Mr. Thomas Gaussen, all of Cincinnati. In 1856, Mr. Bates revisited his native land, and took with him his surviving children, one of them being accompanied by her husband. In 1864 he retired from business, and died in
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July, 1870, aged seventy-two years. He was a man of the strictest probity, and of large private benevolence. He had been a citizen of Cincinnati about forty-two years.
MORRIS, JUSTIN GRIFFITH, a pioneer journalist and railroad promoter, was born near Uniontown, Penn., January Ist, 1814. He died at his home in Steubenville, March 20th, 1876, in his sixty-third year. His parents were William and Lyla (Springer) Morris, well-to-do farmers, of Fayette County. The Morrises were, presumably, of Welch extraction, and undoubtedly emigrated to the colo- nies at a very early day, although no records are available by which to approximate the date of their arrival. Mr. Morris was educated in Fayette County, and early acquired prominence as the editor and publisher of the Genius of Liberty newspaper, a Democratic paper, which had been es- tablished as early as the year 1800, at Uniontown. Mr. Morris possessed a marked individuality, which impressed itself on the tone of his paper. He possessed great moral and physical courage, absolute requisites to the successful conduct of a partisan newspaper at a time when partisan feeling ran high. It has been said by those in position to know, that, as a political writer, Mr. Morris was remarkably terse and forcible. He disposed of the Genius of Liberty in 1839, and went to Steubenville. He there purchased the American Union of Hon. Leckey Harper, afterward of Mt. Vernon. The paper is now published as the Steubenville Daily Gazette. He disposed of his newspaper interest in 1844. He maintained his Democratic principles through all of his life ; yet he was known as a war Democrat during the terrible crisis of the Rebellion. Although the county of Jef- ferson was strongly Republican, yet he was twice elected Treasurer of said county, and filled that office with great satis- faction. In 1851 was projected the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad, which contemplated the construction of a line of road extending west to the Indiana line. Mr. Morris was one of the charter members of the organization formed, and was very active in securing the right of way and otherwise pushing its construction. He also negotiated the purchase of the iron for the road. He was elected Secretary and Treasurer of the company, and held the position until its amalgamation with other lines forming the Pittsburg, Cincin- nati and St. Louis. He continued his connection with the road, as Assistant Secretary, until 1874, when he was com- pelled to resign by reason of impaired health. He sought the climate of Florida, hoping to regain his health, but with- out avail, dying, as before mentioned, March 20th, 1876. Mr. Morris was married, February 16th, 1837, to Miss Henri- etta S. Taylor, daughter of Robert Taylor, of Indiana County, Penn., a lady of grace and refinement. He left one child, a daughter, who is now Mrs. Dr. John Pearce, of Steubenville. Mr. Morris built the Acme Mower and Reaper Works at Steubenville, and also assisted in starting a window-glass factory. He also laid out an addition to the city of Steuben- ville, which now forms an important and valuable part of the city. As before indicated, he was a man of marked characteristics. Calm and collected at all times, he was an excellent financier and man of business. He was a consist- ent member of and a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church of Steubenville, and took a great interest in the welfare of the Church. He gave a large sum to the erection of the present church building, and was a liberal supporter of the Gospel. In all charitable movements he was active
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