USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
701
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPAEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
To accomplish the greatest good in the practice of his pro- fession was the passion of his life. No one ever sought his aid in vain. Rich or poor, misery in rags or disease in ta- pestry, he went to all, to comfort all, and, if possible, to re- lieve all. In whatever household he was summoned as a' physician, he left it as a dear and confidential friend. In his intercourse with his medical brethren he was governed ever by the strictest formulas of honor. No man understood more sensitively than himself the delicate obligations of his pro- fessional code of ethics, and no one was more courteous and punctilious in observing them. Dr. Boerstler was a man of too noble a nature to be sordid; he was too generous in his dis- bursements to be rich. Dr. Boerstler was a member of the Fairfield County Medical Society and president of the Ohio State Medical Society, and in 1850 he became a member of the American Association.
WILLIAMS, JOSEPH R., journalist, was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, November 14th, 1808, and died June 15th, 1861, at Toledo, Ohio. His parents removed soon after his birth to New Bedford. His father, Captain Richard Williams, was a shipmaster, and held the office of postmaster of New Bedford. His mother was Rebecca (Smith) Williams, one of a numerous family, and a birthright member of the society of friends. He came from Puritan stock. He gradu- ated at Harvard, in 1831, having held a high rank of scholar- ship. He then entered the office of " honest John " Davis, at Worcester, Massachusetts, to pursue the study of law. After completing his studies he was admitted to the bar and entered into partnership with John H. Clifford, of New Bedford (since governor of Massachusetts). In 1835, he went to Toledo, whence he removed to Constantine, Michigan, in 1889, where he became prominent in business and politics. He was three times whig candidate for Congress, but his party was then in a hopeless minority. He was twice candidate for United States Senator against General Cass, and was a member of the Michigan constitutional convention of 1850. He rendered the northwest good service as member of the river and har- bor convention at Chicago in 1847, and chairman of the com- mittee to furnish a statement of the commercial interests of the West, and the importance of increased protection to the inland navigation and commerce of the lakes and western waters. He was, in 1835, one of the founders of the Toledo Blade, it being through his suggestion that it received its name. To his energy and courage-when, in 1852, he re- turned to Toledo and assumed its proprietorship-the paper owed the great influence which it attained in the Northwest. During the Kansas and Nebraska troubles, he made a vigor- ous and uncompromising fight against the slave power, and labored with telling force in inaugurating the republican party in northern Ohio. In all matters wherein a principle was in- volved, he was steadfast, no matter what the consequences. In his editorial capacity he feared neither political parties nor great corporations, and acting upon this, while gaining re- spect for his opinions and his policy, and making many friends among those who appreciated a fearless and honest press, he frequently brought down powerful influences against him-which, however, failed to intimidate him in the full ex- pression of his convictions, or to shake his consistency, de- cision and courage in upholding principles or measures which he believed to be right. But the labor of editing and con- ducting the business of a daily paper caused too great a strain on his strength. After continuing in the work about
three years he sold the Toledo Blade, and accepted an in- vitation at the hands of the Michigan legislature to assume the presidency of the Michigan Agricultural College, just being established, and the first institution of the kind in the country. Although not then a citizen of the State, the po- sition, unsought, was urged upon him. This he pioneered through the troubles and difficulties attendant upon a novel experiment, with ability, skill and far-sightedness, although he had an element of discord to contend with, of extreme re- ligious bigotry within and political partisanship without. He held this position for about two years, and in 1861 he was elected to the Michigan senate, at the closing session of which he was elected president, pro tem. On the same day and im- mediately after the close of the session, he was seized with a serious attack of hemorrhage of the lungs, and while still weakened by this he repaired to Washington. This was during the stormy period of the commencement of the war. Here he recruited rapidly, and when an extra session of the legislature was called for 7th May, he hurried north to dis- charge his duties as president of the senate. Leaving his home for Lansing during the severity of a cold May storm, his health received a severe shock, from the effects of which he died, holding at that time by the resignation of his prede- cessor, the office of lieutenant-governor of the State of Michi- gan. He married in Buffalo, May 28th, 1844, Sarah R. Lang- don, a native of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and youngest daughter of John Langdon, formerly a prominent shipping merchant of that place; likewise grand-niece of Governor John Langdon, of New Hampshire, member of the first Con- gress and signer of the constitution of the United States. Three daughters, Charlotte Langdon Williams, Sibyl Williams, and Rebecca Williams (now Cooper), were the result of this union, and, with their mother, survived him. He was always a friend of human rights, and believed in woman suffrage. His children inherited his advanced views and were warm friends of the cause. His wife, Sarah R. L. Williams has been for several years president of the Toledo Woman Suffrage Association, which movement also she warmly sus- tained in the Toledo Sunday Journal; imbibing from his breadth of view and vigor in attacking all forms of wrong, much of the needed hopefulness, in laboring for a cause which has made heavy drafts on the strength and courage of its advocates.
TRAINER, JOHN H. S., lawyer, Steubenville, was born in Lancaster City, Penn., January 22, 1826. He came from Scotch and Irish ancestry, and inherited the mental characteristics and vigor peculiar to the Scotch-Irish. His parents were John Trainer and Esther A. Holmes. John Trainer, for a number of years, and up to our subject's tenth year, had been a manufacturer in Lancaster City. Dispos- ing of his interest there, he moved to Springfield Town- ship, Jefferson County, Ohio, and purchased a farm. This farm he sold in 1860, and moved to Allen County, Indiana, where he remained until his death, engaged as a farmer. Our subject's educational advantages were circumscribed to the common schools and a partial academic course, pursued at the Hagerstown Academy. His technical acquirements were subsequently largely supplemented by private studies, diligently pursued. On quitting the academy, in the spring of 1845, he commenced his preparation for the bar under the direction of Thomas L. Jewett, of Cadiz, Ohio, a brother of Hon. Hugh J. Jewett, President of the Erie Railroad. He
702
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
was admitted at Steubenville, April 8th, 1848, and located at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, with Judge Stewart, remaining there six months, when a severe attack of fever necessitated his re- moval home, and terminated the partnership relation. After his recovery he formed a co-partnership with Judge Belden, of Canton, and took charge of the firm's office at Carrollton, Ohio. The firm of Belden & Trainer lasted until June, 1850, when the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Trainer located in practice at Wellsville, Columbiana County. In April, 1853, he settled permanently in practice at Steubenville, in com- pany with Hon. George W. Mason. In about eight months, owing to impaired health, Mr. Mason was obliged to relin- quish practice, and the business was transferred to Mr. Trainer. He practiced alone until 1863, when he took in successively, as partner, James F. Dayton, Robert Martin, Milton Taggart, John McClave, John McCook, and James F. Bigger, young men, whose subsequent success at the bar may be attributed, in some measure, to Mr. Trainer's en- couragement and direction. His last partnership, with Mr. Bigger, expired in January, 1882. For a period of thirty years Mr. Trainer has occupied a position in the restricted category of able lawyers in Ohio ; and in this regard he dif- fers from the majority of his colleagues in the one particular that his prominence began with his first appearance at the Steubenville bar. His present status as a lawyer was not reached either by slow progression or success in transitions from one stage to another. His appearance at the bar was at a time when the seat of justice for Jefferson County was famous for its legal talent, and the young attorney had to meet in legal controversy such able exponents of the law as Edwin M. Stanton, Roderick Moody, General Stokely, and George W. McCook. In his earlier years he conformed to the practice which obtained among attorneys of attending the courts in the neighboring counties. He was thus brought into contact with a number of lawyers who were eminent in their profession, and these encounters served to develop his habits of diligence and care. His practice of the past thirty years has exceeded that of any other lawyer in Steubenville, both in point of volume and importance of the questions in- volved, and during the period named has been employed on one or other side of most of the important litigations oc- curring in Jefferson County. Among his important cases may be cited those brought to trial before the Court of Common Pleas at Steubenville, styled in local parlance " the explosive cases." These were a number of civil pros- ecutions against a manufacturing company in the city of Steubenville. The initial case was brought to trial in 1865, and plaintiff's declaration alleged criminal negligence on the part of one of the company's servants, causing loss of life. Judgment was awarded the plaintiff, and the case carried by exception to the District Court, where the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. This case and those following re- sulted in awarding large damages to the plaintiffs. The novel features involved in these cases, together with the large judgments awarded, served to invest them with more than ordinary interest. He has also been employed in important railroad cases, notably the case entitled, " Martha Porter, ad- ministrator, vs. Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad," which was brought to trial April 27th, 1872, which was brought to a successful termination in favor of the plaintiff, Mr. Train- er's client. A series of eleven cases against the Forest City Insurance Company and other companies had a like termina- tion. 'He has prosecuted and defended numerous criminal
cases, the most noted, probably, being the McDonald-McCoy murder case, in 1867. Mr. Trainer has been distinguished for his great diligence in the practice of his profession, and to that circumstance is attributed much of his success at the bar. In politics Mr. Trainer is a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and in his party connection is allied with the minority in his section. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney in 1853, re- ceiving a larger vote than any other candidate on the State or county ticket. During his incumbency of the office the Know-nothing party developed considerable strength, and he was defeated for re-election, although he succeeded in reducing a majority of 2,200 votes to 473. He was elected Mayor in 1858, the Republicans being then in the ascend- ency, carrying the election by a majority of 81 votes. He was elected City Solicitor in 1861, and in 1858 ran for Pro- bate Judge, but was defeated. In this contest he reduced a Republican majority of 2,000 votes to 387. He was a can- didate for delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1873, and was defeated by 173 votes. The Republican majority in the county at that time was 1,800 votes. In the State Conventions of 1875 and 1878 his name was presented for the nomination for Supreme Judge. He declined in open convention, in both instances, to allow his name to be used in that connection. He was nominated Common Pleas Judge in 1882, to run in opposition to General Pearce, of Cadiz, and in a two weeks' campaign succeeded in reducing the Republican majority of 1,400 to 200. He was a prominent candidate for Supreme Judge before the Democratic State Convention in 1883, but failed of a nomination. He was married, October Ioth, 1849, to Esther A. Morrison, daugh- ter of Judge Morrison, of Carrollton, Ohio. Of this union six children were born, five of whom are living at this writing ; namely, Lora V., Mary C., Alma L., John W., and William M.
YOUNG, GEORGE MURRAY, was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, April Ist, 1802, and died in Dayton, Ohio, August 30th, 1878. His father, Dr. Hugh Murray Young, an early Irish emigrant to Connecticut, was born in 1742, and died in 1815. Our subject was educated at Ex- eter and Poughkeepsie Academies. Being thrown upon his own resources at fifteen, he became a practical printer and publisher before reaching his majority. In 1826 he married. Sibel Green, of Lyme, New Hampshire. She died in Day- ton in 1865. In 1835 he located in Newark, Ohio, where for ten years he was extensively engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1840 he was the whig candidate of Licking county for State senate, and in the face of a strong democratic majority ran several hundred ahead of his ticket, and came within 40 votes of an election. For six years succeeding 1845 he conducted a produce and commission business in Cincinnati, and in 1851 removed to Dayton. Here he served as justice of the peace and mayor of the city, and at his decease was United States commissioner. He was an earnest friend of all moral and religious movements. He was grand worthy patriarch of the Sons of Temperance when that society numbered thirty thousand in Ohio, and one of the editors and publishers of the Ohio Organ and Messenger, the organ of the Sons of Temperance of Ohio and Kentucky, published at Cincinnati. His natural abilities were of the highest order, and would have made him conspicuous as a leader had his ambition called him to more important positions in public life. Mod- est and retiring in his manners, he was, nevertheless, when
CharESHoeum (Dettocum.
18 81
"EN
703
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
aroused a man of great executive force. Clear and strong in his convictions of right and duty, he defended his principles with a zeal and persistency which knew no fear and would accept no compromise. He was a ready writer and forcible speaker, a great reader, and thoroughly informed in politics, history and general literature; proud of his New England origin, and an admirer of the Puritan character. In what- ever community he resided he was distinguished and re- spected for these traits of character, and his counsel was sought in every important movement and enterprise.
SLOCUM, CHARLES ELIHU, M. D., PH. D., physician, surgeon, and banker at Defiance, Ohio, was born at the village of Northville, Fulton County, New York, De- cember 30th, 1841. He is of English descent, being in the ninth generation from Anthony Slocum, who removed from near Taunton, in Somersetshire, England, and in the year 1637 became one of the forty-six "first and ancient pur- chasers" of the territory of Cohannet, which was incorporated March 3d, 1639, with the name of Taunton, in New Plymouth, now Massachusetts, and from which territory the present townships of Taunton, Raynham, and Berkley have been organized. This Anthony Slocum removed, about the year 1662, a few miles south from Taunton, and became one of the first settlers of that part of New Plymouth which was in- corporated in 1664 with the name of Dartmouth Township, his residence being near the mouth of Pascamanset or Slo- cum's River. His son Giles was among the first settlers of Portsmouth Township, Rhode Island, where he became pos- sessed of a large estate, and also acquired large tracts of land in New Plymouth and in East New Jersey. Giles's son Eliezer, of the third generation in America, and ancestor of the subject of this sketch, became a resident and one of the proprietors of the township of Dartmouth, New Plymouth, in 1694, and there the descendants in this line continued to reside until about the close of the Revolutionary War, 1783, when Eleazer and his son Joseph (great-grandfather and grandfather of the subject of this sketch) removed to East- ern New York, and soon thereafter purchased land and set- tled upon it in the wilderness of Caughnawaga, near the Sacandaga River and the present village of Northville, a few miles north-west of Saratoga Springs. Here Caleb Wright Slocum (father to the subject of this sketch) was born, Oc- tober 22d, 1797; was married with a neighbor's daughter, Elizabeth Bass, in 1818; and after an active, honorable, and successful career, as woolen manufacturer, farmer, merchant, and sole-leather manufacturer, he died, July 14th, 1864. These early settlers in America united with the Society of Friends soon after the appearance of this sect in New Eng- land in 1656, and withstood the many and continued perse- cutions which were visited upon this remarkable and devoted body of Christians. The succeeding generations continued steadfast in this faith until removal widely separated them from their Church and formed new associations. Doctor Slocum's early education was such as the common and high school of his village then afforded, and he com- menced teaching public school in the autumn of 1857, and taught occasional terms in Fulton and Saratoga Coun- ties, New York, for several years, alternating with attend- ance as a student at the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute. He was also employed as instructor in county teachers' institutes. Entering the Eastman Business College, Pough- keepsie, New York, he was there graduated, June 21st, 1862,
and early in the following year he engaged as teacher with Hon. Ira Mayhew, in the Albion Commercial College, Albion, Michigan, and there continued until the summer of 1867, excepting a period in the last sickness of his father in the year 1864 and the settlement of his father's estate, as execu- tor, in 1865. The business experience thus acquired has been of great service to him. In the summer of 1866 the Faculty of Albion College-the late Rev. Geo. B. Jocelyn, D. D., Pres- ident-with whom he had been intimately associated, unani- mously recommended him for the degree of Master of Arts. He commenced the study of medicine in Albion with Sur- geon O'Donohue, and continued that study during the college year of 1867-8 in the University of Michigan, where he also passed much time in the laboratory of analytical and applied chemistry, and completed the fuller courses in that depart- ment, receiving a diploma therefor. The summer of 1868 was passed in the office of the late Professor Zina Pitcher and Dr. David O. Farrand, Detroit, and also in a course of recitations to the physicians who, in the autumn of this year, organized the Detroit Medical College. He entered the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, the Medical Department of Columbia College, and was there graduated Doctor of Medicine, March Ist, 1869, with health somewhat impaired. At the solicitation of his brother, Dr. John C. Slocum, and the professional advice of one of his teachers, Dr. John T. Metcalf, of New York, he entered into partnership with his brother at Shelbyville, Indiana, in April, 1869, where country riding in the practice of his profession improved his health, until the following March, when expos- sures to inclement weather caused a return of his pulmonary trouble. He then passed a season in the South, and some months along the Atlantic Coast and in Philadelphia ; and in July, 1871, he opened an office in Defiance, Defiance County, Ohio, where he soon established an extensive and lucrative medical and surgical practice, and where his health was restored. He was elected to membership in the Ohio State Medical Society and the North-western Ohio Medical Association, and was chosen by each of these societies in turn as delegate to the American Medical Association-be- coming a permanent member of this organization in the year 1875. In the winter and spring of 1875-6 he spent several months in the Jefferson College and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in post-graduate studies, and received the honors of the former institution on examination. He was elected member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, June 6th, 1876. His health having suffered from malaria and professional overwork, and desiring further preparation for some contemplated travels, he returned to Phil- adelphia in the winter of 1876-7, and again passed several months in the University of Pennsylvania, where he com- pleted the prescribed course of post-graduate studies, and, upon examination, was graduated Doctor of Philosophy, June 28th, 1877, with the highest honors of the class of six suc- cessful candidates. The subjects of these examinations were Hygiene, Botany, Medical Jurisprudence, Toxicology, Com- parative Anatomy, Zoology, Geology, and Mineralogy. He passed the winter of 1877-8 on the Pacific Slope, mostly in Central and Southern California, in studying the climate of that region and its effects on health and disease. He was present at the National Microscopical Congress held in Indi- anapolis, Indiana, in August, 1878, and became a charter member of the American Society of Microscopists, then or- ganized. In the year 1879 he visited Europe, traveling
C-17
704
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
through Ireland, Scotland, England, Holland, Belgium, Rhe- nish Prussia, Switzerland, Italy to Naples and Pompeii, thence via Trieste and across the eastern Alps to the capitals and principal cities of Austria, Bavaria, Bohemia, Saxony, Prussia, and France-spending several months at the medical centers, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London. Returning to New York, he continued with increased zeal the genealogical studies which had for some length of time previously occupied his leisure moments. These studies were prosecuted among the old records in various parts of the eastern United States and in England during his summer vacations, and latterly in Syra- cuse, New York, where he published, in the summer of 1882, an octavo volume of 644 pages, with illuminated coat-of-arms and portraits, entitled "A Short History of the Slocums, Slo- cumbs, and Slocombs of America, Genealogical and Bio- graphical; embracing Eleven Generations of the First-named family from 1637 to 1881 : with their Alliances and the De- scendants in the Female Lines so far as ascertained. Also the Etymology of those Surnames; an Account of Some Researches in England concerning their Ancestors who bore the Parent-surname, Slocombe, etc." This volume has been very favorably reviewed by genealogists and the several gen- ealogical and historical publications-being styled a model of its kind, and a valuable addition to genealogical literature- and it has been sought by the principal libraries of the United States. Doctor Slocum, while engaged in the practice of his profession, has given very close attention to his office and patients, of whom he has a large following. The radius of his practice has been large, extending over twenty miles by horse and to the surrounding towns by rail. Latterly these distant visits have been made only as counsel with local phy- sicians, as his time is fully occupied with patients residing in his city and those visiting him from a distance. He has given particular attention to the various specialties, as well as to general medicine, and his repeated visits to the medical centers have enabled him to familiarize himself with the dif- ferent modes of treatment, and to keep abreast of the ad- vances in the medical sciences. He has been proffered a professorship in a Fort Wayne medical college twice, and also a professorship in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago; but all were declined, as he preferred to con- tinue his professional labors at Defiance. As a surgeon he has also been painstaking and successful. A goodly num- ber of difficult cases have been relieved by his knife, and by his skillful adaptation of apparatus and medicine. He was the United States Examining Surgeon for Pensions for sev- eral counties in North-western Ohio four years; Surgeon to the Toledo, Wabash and Western (now Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific) Railway, and Medical Examiner for various companies-which positions he resigned in 1877, before start- ing on his travels. He has contributed a number of articles, relating mostly to his cases in practice, to medical journals, of which the following may be named : "Malarious Aphasia," Review of Medicine and Pharmacy, Detroit, 1873; " Biliary Fistula, with Discharge of Eleven Calculi from Umbilicus -- Recovery," The Medical Record, New York, 1873; " Renal Calculi," The Clinic, Cincinnati, 1873; " Treatment of Frac- ture of the Clavicle," The Medical Record, New York, 1875; " Hirsuties Gestationis," Ibid., 1875; "A Case of Extensive Compound Fracture of Skull and Loss of Brain-substance, with other Severe Injuries-Recovery," Ibid., 1876. This was published as a case very fully illustrating the great ex- tent of injury, with subsequent dangers, that the human sys-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.