USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 35
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and benevolent, ever ready and willing to aid the suffering and the needy. As a man, at home or in society, he was kind, affable, genial. In a word, he was strictly a Christian gentleman.
MOORE, ROBERT M., mayor of Cincinnati in 1877, '78, was born October 29th, 1816, at Cookstown, in the north of Ireland. He was the son of Robert and Jane Moore, and learned the trade of a cabinet maker. In 1832, he emi- grated to Canada, and thence removed the year following to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in partnership with Rob- ert Mitchell, and, with him, founded that which subsequently became the great house of the Mitchell & Rammelsberg Fur- niture Company. In 1846, he retired from this connection, and became interested in street and steam railways, omnibus lines, and other enterprises of magnitude, some of which he projected. Mr. Moore's success in business was no less hon- orable than was his career as a public spirited citizen, be- sides which he earned a singularly enviable reputation in military life. He was a soldier both of the Mexican war of 1846, and of the war of Secession in 1861. At the expiration of his term in the former, he was the recipient of a costly sword, a testimonial from the officers and men of company A, of the Ist regiment Ohio volunteers, who held him in high and affectionate esteem. He subsequently served as pay- master of Governor Chase's military staff for four years. At the commencement of the Rebellion, he was chosen captain . by the officers and men of the Queen City Cadets, who were enrolled in the 10th Ohio regiment. The incidents of public importance in Captain Moore's second military service, in which his benevolent character was conspicuously shown, would alone fill a volume. A self-sacrificing and ever active regard for the comfort and welfare of his men; a kind and protecting hand ever extended to assist and relieve ruined and suffering families from the rapacity of conquering sol- diery; (in several instances having paid from his own private purse the damages alleged to have been inflicted by union soldiers,) and a course of genuine Christian conduct in all of his relations with comrades, friend or foe, secured for him the admiration and affection of the soldiers and adherents of Secession, as well as those of his own, the Union cause. His example and deeds made many converts to the union, and planted patriotism where it had never before had root. He was promoted to the rank of colonel for meritorious services, and participated in many of the general engagements, at one of which, Perryville, he received a rifle-shot wound in the leg. In civil life Colonel Moore won completely the confidence of the community. His membership of societies, councils, boards, etc., were as numerous as they were honorable. In works of a philanthropic nature generally he was earnest, active, liberal ; while in some instances, he was the originator of enterprises for the good of special classes in the com- munity. In 1871, his sympathies were enlisted in the condi- tion of the news-boys and boot-blacks of the city. A large picnic given by him to them at his country residence ulti- mately brought about the formation of the News-Boy's Union, of which he was the founder and guardian, and which proved of great moral and material benefit to this class of youth. Colonel Moore's efforts were continually employed in the cause of the poor and distressed. In this respect he was a remarkable man, whose chief aim in life seemed to be to work out some good for those in need. Among his many good deeds two will serve to show the bent of his philanthropic
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mind. At the close of the war, with a view to protecting the soldiers from being swindled by claim agents, he established and maintained at his own expense and without remuneration a claim office for the collection of soldiers' dues. In this office over $234,000 were collected and paid by him. In his report bearing upon the case, the paymaster-general stated that an- other such instance of generous service had not occurred dur- ing or since the war. On the occasion of the decoration of the soldiers' graves in 1873, three hundred soldiers' orphans from Xenia attended the ceremonies in Cincinnati. At the con- clusion of the exercises, Colonel Moore presented each of the orphans with a gold dollar. Benefactions of this kind were frequent in the life of Colonel Moore. He was also a patron of music and the arts, and a leader in celebrations and affairs of public social character; and his proverbial liberality of purse was always backed by a willingness to invest his time and personal labor for the success of a good undertaking. Colonel Moore was a man of fine executive ability. He rapidly achieved success and a competency in his business; he organized and managed numerous enterprises of varied character with ingenuity and satisfactory results: these qual- ifications, added to deserved popularity by reason of the good he accomplished in Cincinnati, led to his nomination and election to the mayoralty of that city in 1877. His adminis- tration tended in a large measure to revive the waning confidence of the people in the management of the municipal affairs. Colonel Moore adopted President Hayes' motto, " He serves his party best who serves his country best," and with such views his veto power has been effectively interposed for the good of the tax-payer.
HALL, JOSEPH LLOYD, the famous bank-lock and safe manufacturer, of Cincinnati, was born May 9th, 1823, at Salem, New Jersey, and is the second son of Edward and Anna (Lloyd) Hall. In the year 1832 his parents removed, with their family, to Pittsburg, Penn., where the father em- barked in various enterprises, without any marked success, and his boys were consequently placed in different occupa- tions to earn their living. When but eight years of age, Joseph commenced the battle of life, obtaining such employ- ment as could be found for one so young, being frequently compelled to work very hard, for which he was many times poorly paid. In early boyhood he developed taste and talent for mechanics ; but as no suitable opportunity for indulging his inclinations in this direction presented itself, he was obliged to forego his desires. At the age of seventeen in- ducements were held out to him to engage in steamboat business, and, accepting these offers, he continued in that occupation on various boats in the trade of the Mississippi and Southern rivers until the year 1846. His family being in moderate circumstances, he had but limited educational advantages in his early life ; but, by persistent and careful study in his more mature years, and by close observation in his contact with the world and his fellow-men, he has stored his mind with a most valuable fund of practical and scientific knowledge. In 1846 he abandoned the river, and returned to Pittsburg, where he united himself as a partner with his father in the manufacture of fire-proof safes, a business then in its infancy and crude in all its details. Having a limited capital, and finding strong competition from the wealthy and long-established Eastern houses in the same line, they deter- mined to seek a new field for their enterprise, and in the year 1848 removed to Cincinnati, where they commenced the
manufacture of safes in a small and unpretending way. This, however, formed the nucleus of their present immense factory, and both father and son toiled in their little work- shop from day to day with indefatigable patience and energy. They labored assiduously to educate the public mind to a fuller appreciation of the great security obtained by the use of fire and burglar proof, safes, and, stemming the current of opposition with a rare and admirable pertinacity for years, they finally triumphed over adverse circumstances, and stood on a firm foundation, and the public were at last convinced that Cincinnati could furnish even a superior safe than could New York. These objects had to be attained at great labor and expense by public tests in the various Western cities, where they were met in competition by Eastern rivals, who threw every obstacle possible in their way, and sought by their larger capital to break down their weaker Western com- petitors. For years the firm of Hall & Son had to row against wind and tide, and it required all the pluck of de- termined and energetic men to stand up against the flood of adversity which seemed ready to overwhelm them. But Joseph L. Hall knew no such word as fail, and although he saw many lowering skies and passed many anxious hours, he never faltered or wavered in his purpose. He knew that time, which proves all things, would prove to the public mind that he was manufacturing an article which would stand the test of the severest scrutiny, and pass un- scathed through the fiery trial, and the object and ambi- tion of his life was to bring to the highest degree of per- fection the business of manufacturing safes and bank-locks, which would protect the valuables of the banker and mer- chant from the aggressions of the burglar and the fierce as- saults of fire. The world knows that that object he has at- tained. In the year 1851 the father of Mr. Hall disposed of his interest in the business to one of his partners, Mr. William B. Dodds, and the firm of Hall, Dodds & Co. suc- ceeded. They employed at that time a force of fifteen men, and turned out about two safes per week. This firm was dissolved in 1857, and was thereafter followed by others in succession, in all of which Joseph L. Hall was senior partner and chief executive. In May, 1867, he organized the Hall Safe and Lock Company, of which he was chosen president and treasurer, and has ever since held these important po- sitions in the concern, and still exercises a rigid surveillance over all the practical operations of the works. His energy, perseverance, and industry are almost phenomenal, and his principles and business habits religiously carried out. Al- though he has a large corps of office men and superintend- ents and managers, he is one of the first at the factory in the morning, and one of the last to leave at night. He gives strict attention to all the details of his immense business ; nothing escapes his vigilant eye; no workman can slight work that he does not detect; no employé can neglect his business nor swerve from his line of duty. Starting out with the determination to manufacture an article.which should have no superior at home or abroad he has brought his safes and locks to such perfection that their reputation is estab- lished throughout the length and breadth of the land, and his active mind is constantly studying additional security and greater perfection. He has obtained upwards of thirty pat- ents for his various improvements, and is the patentee of eleven different bank-locks of the most valuable description. His safes and locks have always taken the first premium at every fair and exposition where they have been exhibited,
Western Biogl. Pub, Co.
Joseph I Hall
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and his boast is that not one of his fire-proof safes has ever failed in time of fire, and that but one of his burglar-proof safes has ever been robbed of a dollar. He has built some of the largest safes ever constructed in this or any other country. His factory has now assumed mammoth propor- tions, and is said to be the largest safe manufacturing estab- lishment in the world. It employs over six hundred me- chanics of consummate skill, and has a capacity of turning out upwards of sixty safes per day. Between four and five hundred of Mr. Hall's safes passed through the great Chi- cago fire in 1871, and yielded up their treasures unharmed. The company have branch houses in every important city in the Union, and the reputation of the safes and locks is lim- ited only to the confines of civilization. At the outbreak of the war in 1861 Mr. Hall undertook the execution of a con- tract to alter for the United States Government, within thirty days, five thousand Austrian muskets, and performed the work so satisfactorily that he was awarded many other con- tracts during the war. There is probably no man in Ohio whose time is more fully occupied with business affairs than is Mr. Hall's. Besides supervising all the affairs of the fac- tory, he takes frequent extended tours throughout the coun- try, from Maine to California, looking after the interests of his industry. He also belongs to numerous other corporations in Cincinnati, and is a director in the Cincinnati National Bank of that city. He never aspired to public office, and although often solicited to accept such, has always declined. He has been for many years an active and consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Cincinnati, to which he is a liberal contributor. Such is the record of a man who, by dint of energy and native genius, has won his way to a proud and enviable position in the business and social world-a position which his generous and hospitable nature well fits him to grace. There is probably no name in the catalogue of business men more widely known in the United States than Joseph L. Hall, He was married in early manhood to Miss Sarah J. Jewell, of Pittsburg, a most esti- mable lady. Of this union twelve children have been born, all of whom are living. Five of his sons are now associated with him, all of whom are excellent business men. Edward C., the oldest, has filled the position of vice-president of the company for several years, and is a young man of rare busi- ness qualifications, and, like his father, is an exceptionally generous and courteous gentleman.
BURDSAL, SAMUEL, pioneer, and the oldest druggist in Cincinnati, was born near Newtown, Hamilton County, Ohio, January 9th, 1812. His father, Josiah Burdsal, was a native of New Jersey, and emigrated to Ohio in 1806. He settled upon a farm near that village, and upon the banks of the Little Miami River. In February, 1811, he married Miss Hannah Williamson, a native of Pennsylvania, whose parents came to Ohio in 1800, and purchased a farm near Mt. Washington, in Hamilton County. Young Samuel began his successful business career as a farmer's boy. He had only the most meager opportunity for even a common school ed- ucation. In his fifteenth year-August Ist, 1827-he was regularly apprenticed, "to learn the art, mystery, trade, and occupation of druggist" to Goodwin, Ashton & Cleveland, druggists of Cincinnati, then doing business on Fifth Street, next door to the south-west corner of Fifth and Main Streets, and now occupied by Allen & Co. He served thus faith- fully for three years, when he was released from his indenture
by the dissolution of that firm. He sought and obtained employment immediately in the store of C. S. Burdsal, a cousin, then of the firm of C. S. Burdsal & Co., of which the late Marston Allen was the Company. In 1832 he left that firm to engage as clerk for Obadiah Penniman, who kept a drug-store on the west side of Main Street, near Front; served there one year, and then bought the establishment, and went into business on his own responsibility. There four years, when Penniman, his partner, died (1836), which necessitated a settlement of partnership affairs, that occupied about six, months. Mr. Burdsal spent most of this time on his farm near Withamsville, in Clermont County. Upon returning to Cincinnati, April, 1837, Mr. Burdsal resumed the drug business, and built his present store at what is now known as 409 Main Street, where he has since been continuously in that business, spending more than fifty-six years of his life in that impor- tant branch of trade, and constituting him the oldest drug- gist, both in point of time and experience, in that city, and whose career has been as remarkable for the satisfactory re- sults that have attended his efforts as it has been noiseless and undemonstrative. Among the distinguished citizens of the past who visited his store, and who were more or less his patrons, and all his friends, may be named General Harri- son-then clerk of the court in that county-Salmon P .. Chase, Judge D. K. Este, Colonel N. G. Pendleton, Samuel Lewis, Governor John Brough, Judge Charles Brough, Thos. Corwin, Robert T. Lytle, E. D. Mansfield, W. H. McGuffey, John McLean, Robert Massy, O. M. Spencer, Wesley Smead, John Groesbeck-merchant-Bellamy Storer, and others, who have all passed away, but whose names add luster to the early history of Cincinnati. Thus is Mr. Burdsal's store a business landmark, within and without, presenting those characteristics which suggest the march of the material and commercial growth of that great city, and yet relieved from invidious comparison with more pretentious buildings around it by its many historical associations. Mr. Burdsal has passed through three cholera epidemics, 1832, 1849, 1866, remaining in his store during all of those trying ordeals, and witness- ing what few now live to relate. With that disease his friend, Robert Dunlap, teller of the old Commercial Bank, died in 1832, leaving a brother, James Dunlap, who, in his bereavement, requested Mr. Burdsal to sleep with him in the bank. This he did, until James was likewise taken down with that malady. Thereupon Mr. Burdsal slept several nights alone, under such circumstances, in that bank. Yet his moral courage never failed him, though oppressed with almost insupportable loneliness. As a market boy he slept often in his father's wagon where now stands the United States Custom House ; made a trip east in the old-fashioned stage-coach in 1833; has seen that great city grown from twenty-five thousand to three hundred thousand inhabitants ; has seen all its railroads built, all its bridges suspended or constructed over the Ohio River; when Pugh's Park House burned,in 1846, was blown from the pumps of the engine into the canal by the memorable explosion that occurred, but escaped almost unhurt ; saw General Andrew Jackson, while President, walk from the steamboat landing up to Broadway Hotel, refusing the proffered use of a carriage; heard Daniel Webster address the citizens from the balcony of the Pearl Street House in 1834, while his wife stood by his side; lieard Colonel David Crockett make a speech on the Public Landing in 1834, and saw Henry Clay ride down Main Street at the head of a procession in 1828; has voted at every State elec-
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tion since he arrived at majority, and has been a regular reader of the Cincinnati Gazette for more than fifty years. He joined the Third Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati (then situated on Columbia Street, near Vine) in 1830, under the Rev. James Gallagher, while for the last forty-six years he has been a regular attendant of, and liberal contributor to, the Ninth Street Baptist Church. Mr. Burdsal married Miss Mary F. Turner, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, Septem- ber 4th, 1815. She came to Cincinnati in 1828. The wed- ding ceremony was performed by the Rev. James Gallagher, August Ist, 1833, in Cincinnati. The venerable couple cele- brated the fiftiethi anniversary of their wedding in August, 1883, an account of which appeared at the time in the Com- mercial Gazette, of that city. Mr. Burdsal is a self-made man. Possessing a high moral and religious nature, an energetic disposition, a retentive memory, a keen intelligence, and, withal, a kind and sympathizing heart-these are a few of mental and physical characteristics that led him into the oc- cupation which he has pursued with such gratifying success, whether viewed from the standpoints of its duration or the opportunities it has afforded him of doing, while he has been seeking, good. Passing thus more than half a century in the arena of business, he has never failed to meet all his liabil- ities, and never allowed a stain to come upon his good name. Thus has he earned the reputation of being an honorable citizen, who in the pursuit of his business has not abated one jot or tittle of his Christian character. For thus con- forming his earthly life to that higher law which enjoins us all to be not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, his life has been prolonged to more than threescore years and ten, while he has been blessed in securing a worldly competence for the evening of life. And when the sable curtain shall at length fall, it will end a life that has teemed with amenities, while all its duties, botli to God and humanity, will have been faithfully and honestly discharged.
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BOERSTLER, GEORGE W., M. D., was born in Funkstown, Maryland, in 1792, and died at his residence in Lancaster, Ohio, on the 10th day of October, 1871. Dr. Boerstler's father, Christian Boerstler, was born in Deansport, Germany, and emigrated from there in the year 1784. At that period little was known of America by the general pop- ulation of the interior of Germany, and how to reach it was a difficulty not easily overcome, as at that time Germany was divided into many petty states, and passports were required, and many vexatious regulations had to be complied with. When it became known that Dr. Boerstler had resolved to emigrate to the New World, the heads of numerous families entreated him to become their leader, which responsibility, upon mature deliberation, he decided to accept. The time of departure having arrived, he found himself at the head of over three hundred emigrants, and, like fugitives, they left their native country in secret, none having the right to leave the dukedom but professional men. At that time thousands of emigrants were kidnaped in Holland, and sent to the island of Batavia, to work on the coffee plantations, of which fact Dr. Boerstler had full knowledge. Having taken passage for Rotterdam, upon approaching the harbor he ordered all the women and children below, and directed the men to oc- cupy their usual seats on deck, when the vessel ran along- side a large three-decker. A rope was thrown and fastened to the transport, and the captain ordered all the emigrants to go on board the East Indiaman. Dr. Boerstler instantly
throttled the captain, presenting a pistol to his head, and calling out, "Up, brethren!" Two hundred men sprang to their feet, ready for battle. "Cut the transport loose and land in twenty minutes, or I'll send you and your crew into the sea," were the next words he said. The captain promptly obeyed, and soon the vessel lay at the wharf. A week after- wards the little band shipped for America, and, after a voyage of sixty-five days, landed at Baltimore, which at that time was but little more than a village. The subject of this memoir received as good an education as then could be ob- tained, and when sufficiently advanced he yielded to paternal persuasion and commenced to study for the ministry in the Lutheran Church. The mind of young Boerstler, however, had been fixed in another pursuit, which was the illustrious profession of his father, the science and practice of medicine. All obstacles being removed, he entered in earnest upon the study of medicine, and graduated Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, in the year 1820, when he received from Professor Potter the following com- mendatory certificate, which, coming from such a broadly known and eminent source, was to young Dr. Boerstler a credential letter, introducing him in flattering terms to the confidence of the medical faculty anywhere in the United States or Europe :
"The bearer hereof, George W. Boerstler, has been duly examined by the professors of the University of Maryland, and acquitted himself to their entire satisfaction in every de- partment. No man ever left the faculty of physic with more éclat. He carries with him as much knowledge as has ever fallen to the lot of any one since the establishment of the in- stitution. His capacity is not excelled by any man, and his industry is equal to his capacity. His sterling integrity and moral worth will always recommend him to the considera- tion of the wise and virtuous as soon as he becomes ac- quainted with them. NATHAN POTTER, M. D.
"Prof. of Theory and Practice of Medicine. "University of Maryland, March 4th, 1820."
Dr. Boerstler first commenced the practice of medicine in his native town, and afterwards removed to Hagerstown, where he was married to Elizabeth Sinks, and removed from there to Lancaster, Ohio, in 1833, accompanied by his wife and only daughter, who was afterwards married to Dr. Tom O. Edwards, who was associated with Dr. Boerstler for years in the duties of his profession. The deeply lamented Robert M. Wit, M. D., had died shortly before their advent, leaving a wide field of practice unoccupied, which they rapidly gained possession of and made their own. Mrs. Boerstler died in 1838. The Doctor married his second wife, Elizabeth Schur, who still survives him, and they had seven children. One of them, of the same name as his father, still continues the practice, and is rapidly rising in the profession. The medical reputation of Dr. Boerstler was built upon a founda- tion of solidity, and thus grew up into vigor and public ap- preciation more and more with his advancing years. He was a medical student to the end of his life, kept uniform step with the onward progress of his profession, was familiar with all its signalized specialties and well posted in the leading scientific expositions, was cognizant of every public valuable curative discovery, and was, therefore, fully prepared for every existing emergency in his own immediate practice. His diagnosis of disease in its subtile and more complicated forms was always received by his professional brethren with confiding and commanding respect. As an experienced and learned consulting physician, he acquired a wide reputation.
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