USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 44
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20th, 1837, to Clarissa M., daughter of Stephen Ford. Of this marriage there remain, of a large family, five children, three sons and two daughters. One son was killed at Stone River, in the war of the rebellion. Of those living, one daughter is the wife of Professor Seymour, of Yale College. One son is studying theology at that place, another is an undergraduate in the college his father labored so long to establish on a firm foundation. The eldest son and second living daughter reside at Michigan City, Indiana.
HARRIS, LEONARD A., lawyer, was born October I Ith, 1824, in Cincinnati, and received his education in the public schools of that city. By continued study and self- application, he developed talents of a high order, which have been called into exercise in important public positions, which he has filled to the entire satisfaction of his fellow-citizens. On the breaking out of the rebellion he raised a company of volunteers, and received his commission as captain of the 2d Ohio infantry from the Hon. William Dennison, who was then governor of Ohio. His regiment was immediately after its organization ordered to the front, and was in the first battle of Bull Run. The prowess and gallantry that Captain Harris displayed in that eventful action gained for him the high commendation of his superior officers, and President Lincoln authorized him to raise a volunteer regiment in Ohio. Throw- ing all his energies into this important task, he accomplished it within one month after he received his orders. On its being ready to take the field, he was commissioned colonel of the 2d Ohio infantry, and continued to command it with skill and gallantry until he was disabled. After the rebels had been defeated in Eastern Kentucky and driven from that locality, his regiment was ordered to join Rousseau's division of the army under General Buell. General Bragg was threatening the capture of Louisville. Colonel Harris was ordered by General Buell to occupy Fort Fisher with the 33d Ohio. This was situated at the mouth of Battle creek, Tennessee. It was a most important position to hold, as it was the extreme out- post on Buell's right flank. Being nearly surrounded by Bragg's forces, Colonel Harris evacuated the fort, after an impetuous attack from the enemy which lasted all day. All the stores that could not be transported, he burned, and joined the main body of the army at Decherd, Tennessee, without one of his command being taken prisoner. For his cool determination and brave conduct, he received the appro- bation of General Buell. Colonel Harris commanded the 9th brigade in the action at Perryville, October 8th, 1862. It was composed of the 2d, the 33d and 94th Ohio, the 38th Indiana, the Ioth Wisconsin, and the 5th Indiana battery. The result of this bloody engagement showed five hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and forty-one missing, when the muster-roll of the brigade was called. General Rousseau complimented Colonel Harris on the field of battle when the fight was over, and in his official report recommended him for promotion, which recommendation would have been car- ried out had not the Colonel been compelled to retire from the service owing to ill health. On reaching home in the latter end of 1862, he was nominated for the mayoralty of Cincinnati, and at the election which took place in the ensu- ing April he was elected by about one thousand majority. He discharged the duties of this important office with great ability, and during great political excitement. At a meeting of the citizens held October 13th, 1863, the following resolu- tions were adopted :
Ingå by F. Dudensing NY
on Lowe aged 77.
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RESOLVED, That the perfect preservation of the peace of the city by its civil authorities, through the most exciting political contest ever known in this community, is largely due to the impartiality and ability with which the mayor, Colonel Leonard A. Harris, has discharged the duties of his office :
RESOLVED, That his instructions to the police force, re- lating to their deportment in political affairs during the can- vass, insured public confidence in the management of this department on the day of the recent election in maintaining order and quiet, proved his capacity and integrity as a man and official, and has the unreserved approbation of his fellow- citizens :
RESOLVED, That a testimonial of our appreciation of the credit which he has reflected upon the good name of the city shall be presented him.
During his mayoralty he drafted the law for the enlistment of "One-hundred-day men," under which Ohio sent thirty thousand volunteers to the field, and became colonel of the 7th regiment Ohio National Guards. He strenuously recom- mended the building of a city hospital and a work house, which recommendations were carried out in a manner that did credit to the city. He twice received the appointment as trustee of the city hospital. In 1865, he was re-elected mayor by a greatly increased majority, and continued to hold the position until he was nominated by President Johnson in August, 1866, collector of internal revenue for the First Ohio district. On confirmation of the appointment by the Senate of the United States, he resigned the office of mayor. The House of Representatives of the Forty-fourth Congress ap- pointed him one of the trustees of the National Soldiers' Homes. He has been, since 1874, president of the Cuvier Club, which has for its main objects the advancement of pisciculture and ornithology. Colonel Harris never sought an office; he refused in 1877 the nomination for the State senate on the democratic ticket, and in the following year the police commissionership, which was tendered him by Gov- ernor Bishop, besides other positions of honor and trust. He married Miss Catherine Griffith, April 18th, 1854.
LOWE, PETER PERLEE, lawyer, born June 11th, 1801, in Warren county, Ohio, a part of the Northwest Terri- tory, in a section of the country which was a wilderness at that early day. He was a son of Jacob D. Lowe and Mar- tha Perlee, who were married while the former was on a visit to his native State, New Jersey, three years after his emigra- tion to the West. His father was married three times. By the first marriage there were Rebecca Lowe, Jacob J. Lowe, Peter P. Lowe, Derrick J. Lowe, Ralph P. Lowe, and Isaac Lowe, all of whom are deceased, with the exception of Ralph and Peter P. Lowe. By the second union there were no children surviving. By the third, two children, one of whom died in infancy, and Colonel John G. Lowe, a prominent cit- izen now residing at Dayton, Ohio. Ralph P. Lowe was governor, and afterward Chief Justice of Iowa. Our subject received his early education at the country schools, and studied classics under a son of the Rev. James Kemper, one of the pioneer preachers and early settlers of Ohio. He was a student of law under the distinguished Thomas Corwin. Immediately after his admission to the bar, he removed to Dayton, where he rose to the front rank among advocates and men of progress. Dayton counted a population of but 1,400 souls at this period, and the practice of the lawyers therefore extended over many adjacent counties, and was
only reached amid hardships of pioneer life and travel. For many years Mr. Lowe rode circuit through a large area of country, now embraced in Clark, Miami, Shelby, Mercer, Darke, Preble and Butler counties, throughout which he made a high reputation and a profitable business. In 1832, at Washington, D. C., he was admitted to practice in the United States courts on motion of Senator Underwood, of Kentucky, and in that year was elected prosecuting attorney of Mont- gomery county, in which office he commenced a career as a criminal lawyer which subsequently placed him at the head of the bar. He prosecuted a vast number of criminals with unvarying success and benefit to the State. Notable among these was the case of the murderer of Charles R. Green, clerk of the court. Although absorbed in the duties and re- sponsibilities of a heavy and always increasing practice, Mr. Lowe was prominent and active in all public measures de- signed to benefit the city ; his record as a public-spirited citi- zen dating particularly between the years 1830 and 1860. To him and Joseph Barnett, the city was indebted for its admirable system of turnpikes, which have made Dayton noted far and wide for beautiful avenues and streets. In 1849, the management of the Dayton and Western Railroad, which was almost hopelessly involved, called him to the presidency of that road. He accepted the position, and with rare business tact and ability, took the lead in negotiations and measures which brought needed relief, and placed the road on a substantial footing. Mr. Lowe was no less promi- nent in politics, not as an office-seeker, but as a good citizen and patriot. He was elected to the legislature in 1837, over Robert C. Schenck, and in that body served with conspicuous ability as chairman of the judiciary committee during his term of office; was also delegate to State and National con- ventions, and candidate for governor in the convention which nominated Reuben Wood for that office. Originally a whig, he left that party at the time it was discovered by the Senate committee, of which Mr. Tyler was chairman, that the United States bank had loaned to members of Congress large amounts of money, with and without collateral security. The bank was on trial for a renewal of its charter, and as the report of the committee was never answered, Mr. Lowe abandoned the party, and cast his first democratic vote for President Van Buren. In national politics he continued with the democracy until 1856, and in local affairs even longer. His anti-slavery views compelled him again to change in the year named, as he could not consent to more than a strict adherence to the compromises of the constitution, and the Mason and Dixon line. He has ever since been a member of the Republican party, ever taking an active part in the discussion of the public questions of the day. Mr. Lowe was a delegate to the convention that nominated Mr. Lincoln for President in 1860; he entered with much energy into the can- vass of that year, which resulted in Mr. Lincoln's election. During the war of 1861 to 1865, he took a most determined stand to uphold the government and the Constitution ; though beyond the years for active service in the army, he procured and sent a man to be his representative in the field. Mr. Lowe is a member of the old régime-the school of patriotic and cultivated old gentlemen -courtly, frank and hospitable in all the relations of life. His house was for many years a resort for the great men of early times, among whom were his warm personal friends, Secretaries Stanton and Chase, Governors Tod and Brough. Mr. Lowe is a Presbyterian in religious faith, and a member of that church, and for years
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acted as its treasurer and one of its trustees. He is a liberal supporter of all benevolent and charitable enterprises, and is a free giver to the worthy poor. He was married in May, 1830, to Miss Ann Bomberger, of Dayton, who died in 1877. Four children were the issue of this union. The eldest son, Jacob D., his law partner, died in 1859. William B., captain in the United States army, married Miss Anna P. Finley, of Cincinnati, in 1859. Sarah Perlee, the eldest daughter, pre- sides over her father's hospitable house, and Annie L. was married to Joseph H. Rieman, of Baltimore, in 1861.
MORSE, JOHN FLAVEL, builder and contractor, was born in Washington, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, Octo- ber Ist, 1801. He was descended from Samuel Morse, one of three brothers who emigrated from England in 1636, and settled in or about Sherburne, Massachusetts. S. F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, was descended from the same ancestry. The father of the subject of this sketch, John Morse, was born in Massachusetts. His mother, Temperance Hamlin, born in Lenox, Massachusetts, was a school-teacher of approved ability. His grandfather, John Morse was a noted hunter and Indian fighter during the war in which the British and colonial forces wrested Canada from French pos- session. Our subject received his education in the common schools of New England before he was fourteen years of age. In 1816 his father removed to Kirtland, Ohio, and he assisted him with resolute industry in clearing away the forest and reducing his wild lands to profitable cultivation. In 1824 he began business for himself, farming and building, for which latter occupation he had a natural aptitude, preferring it to all others, and which he was able to pursue without serving an apprenticeship. In 1836 he removed to Painesville, Ohio, when he gave his time to building exclusively. In 1839 he was elected to the Ohio legislature, served during the term as a representative, and was again elected to the legislature in 1842. Being made chairman of the committee on the militia, he framed and introduced a bill, which became a law, to re- organize the militia of the State. He was a third time elected to the legislature in 1848; assisted to elect Salmon P. Chase to the Senate of the United States, and in the repeal of those laws which were unjust to the colored people of the State. In 1851 he was again elected to the legislature, and chosen speaker of the house of representatives. In- 1860 he was elected to the State senate, and served during its regular and adjourned sessions. In 1861, soon after the battle of Bull Run, he enlisted as a volunteer soldier in the Union army, and was appointed captain of company F, of the 29th regi- ment, Ohio volunteer infantry. This regiment was ordered into western Virginia in January, 1862, when it encamped among the mountains on the upper Potomac until March, and then, having broken up its encampment, marched in pur- suit of Stonewall Jackson up the valley of the Shenandoah. Jackson gave battle near Winchester, Virginia, where, al- though fighting with his usual bravery, he was defeated and routed with severe loss. Captain Morse continued with his regiment in the pursuit of Jackson up the valley as far as Edenburg, when he resigned his commission and returned to his home. In November, 1862, the then Secretary of the Treasury, the Hon. Salmon P. Chase, offered him employ- ment on the public buildings. He was ordered to New Or- leans with instructions to put a temporary roof on the custom house in that city, a vast unfinished structure which had stood several years with no roof over it. Having executed this work
to the satisfaction of the Secretary, he returned to Washing- ton on the day that Mr. Chase resigned his office, but being by him recommended to his successor, Mr. Morse continued in charge of work on the public buildings. Questions having arisen concerning the proper construction of work done on some of the public buildings under the direction of the super- vising architect, Mr. Rogers, which were located on Staten Island, New York, and in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Morse was commissioned to examine the work complained of, and make reports of its true character. . He did so, and these reports were approved by the secretary. Soon after Lee's surrender, Mr. Morse was ordered to Richmond and Petersburg, Vir- ginia, with instructions to repair the custom houses in those cities. Having done this work, he then, as a special agent of the treasury department, was ordered to proceed to the cities of New York and Albany, and make an application to the city and State authorities for the cession of a site for a barge office from the Battery extension, in New York, for the benefit of the revenue service of the general government. This application resulted in securing the cession desired. In November, 1865, he was ordered to the city of New York where, during the next year and a half, he fitted up the public stores in the rear of Trinity church, and repaired the custom house and the sub- treasury. From New York, in August, 1867, he went to Cali- fornia, Nevada, and Oregon. In San Francisco, he began operations on the new mint, since completed in that city, and repaired the custom house, much damaged by the earthquake which occurred while he was in the city. In Nevada he made a thorough investigation of the constructive operations on the new mint in Carson City, then nearly completed, and submitted a lengthy report on the same. In Oregon he visited Astoria, Portland, and Dallas cities, two hundred miles up the Columbia river, and examined the facilities and localities for the contemplated erection of public buildings in those places. Returning from California to Washington, in 1868, he went from thence to Ogdensburg, New York, and com- pleted a custom house in that city. In June, 1870, he was ordered to New Orleans, and began operations for the com- pletion of the custom house and post-office there, and which covers an area of two acres. He continued in charge of this work for nearly six years, and in that time finished the post- office, and the larger portion of the building devoted to other purposes, and in March, 1876, resigned his appointment, and permanently withdrew from the service of the government. In July, 1824, Mr. Morse married Miss Mary. Granger, a native of Phelpstown, now Vienna, New York. Two children, now living, have been the fruit of this union. The eldest, B. F. Morse, Cleveland city civil engineer, for several years in charge of the viaduct, and builder of the Union passenger depôt in that city, the hospital for the insane at Newburgh, Ohio, and other buildings of note. The other is Mrs. S. R. House, of Painesville, Ohio. Mr. Morse died Jan. 30th, 1884.
HITCHCOCK, REUBEN, lawyer, the son of the Chief Justice Peter Hitchcock and his wife, Nabby Cook, was born at Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, on the 2d September, 1806, and died at Clifton Springs, New York, December 9th, 1883. He was prepared for college at the Burton Academy, his pre- ceptor being the Rev. David L. Coe, and in the Spring of 1823, he entered Yale College, making the journey to New Haven from Burton on horseback. In September, 1826, he graduated and returned to Ohio, where for the next three years he was a teacher in the same academy where he him-
Renten Hitchcock
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self had been as a youth educated, occupying his spare time with the study of law in his father's office. Admitted to the bar in 1831, he at once removed to Painesville, and in partner- ship with Stephen Matthews, commenced the practice of his profession. This partnership was in a short time dissolved, and then alone he practiced between two and three years, when he formed a partnership with Eli T. Wilder, and con- tinued in practice with him until in the year 1841, when he was appointed by the Governor President Judge of the judicial circuit embracing Lake County. Having fulfilled the duties of this appointment, he resumed and continued practice with Mr. Wilder until the year 1846, when he removed to Cleve- land, where he formed a partnership with H. V. Willson and Edward Wade, under the firm name of Hitchcock, Willson & Wade. For several years this law firm ranked among the first in the State. In 1850 he was, with his father, elected to the constitutional convention, and wielded much influence in that body. He also did valuable work in devising a system for the liquidation of the public debt of the State. In 1851 he returned to reside at Painesville, still retaining business in- terests at Cleveland, and in the same year was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. This position he filled with acknowledged ability until the Winter of 1854, when he yielded to the solicitation of Governor Tod, and took an active part in the management of the Cleveland and Ma- honing Railroad. Resigning his place on the common pleas bench he became vice-president and general legal ad- viser of that railroad company, and continued to be con- nected with its management until the completion of the road. This position was an exceedingly onerous one, owing to the difficulties through which the company were struggling. The road being finished, Judge Hitchcock resumed practice in Cleveland in partnership with James Mason and E. J. Estep, his time being yet divided between the railroad company and the business of the firm. He had, from an early period of his practice, attained a high standing at the bar, and his practice, extending throughout northern Ohio, continued thus extensive until he retired from it in 1865. His familiarity with the business of railroad management and legislation led to his appointment, in 1869, as receiver of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. Under his administration at this time, the road was sold out, and a new company or- ganized, which becoming embarrassed, the road was again placed in the hands of a receiver in December, 1874, and on March 11, 1875, Judge Hitchcock was appointed as special master commissioner, continuing in that position until May, 1880. In his extensive railroad connections he secured the respect and confidence of all parties by the ability and un- swerving integrity he displayed in the management of the great interests committed to his trust. He was not only in- terested as a stockholder in the railroads named, but was also a stockholder in several incorporated Cleveland com- panies, held interests in banking institutions, and was one of the first trustees and president of the Cleveland Savings Society. He was for many years trustee of Western Re- serve College, at Hudson, Ohio. Lake Erie Female Sem- inary was always an object of much interest to him, and to its funds he was by far the largest contributor, having paid towards its endowment more than $75,000, in addition to the amount donated by him upon its first establishment. Indeed, his largest investment is there, and its importance to north- ern Ohio can hardly be overestimated. He was one of its original founders, and was president of its board of trustees
from its organization until his death. After the Buffalo con- vention of 1848, he joined the Free-soil party, and on the for- mation of the Republican party he became an active member of it, and was presented as a candidate for Congress against Joshua R. Giddings. In 1861 he appeared in Washington as a member of the Peace Congress, so-called, that labored to avert civil war in vain, but when hostilities actually began he took prominent place on the Union side. Incapacitated by age for actual service, he promoted the enlisting and support of troops, and his oldest son, Peter M. Hitchcock, having enlisted, served honorably under General McPherson for three years. His religious connection was with the Presby- terian or Congregational Church, of which he was an active member for more than fifty years, during the greater num- ber of which he held office as elder or committee-man, and was a member of the committee of his Church at Paines- ville until the beginning of the year 1882, when, on account of increasing age and ill-health, he declined all official posi- tion in the Church. In 1834 he married Miss Sarah Mar- shall, of Colebrook, Connecticut, and they are the parents of four children, all grown to maturity, two sons and two daughters. Of the sons, Peter M. resides at Cleveland, and Edward M. at Northfield, Minnesota ; of the daughters, Liz- zie M. is Mrs. Morley, and living at East Saginaw, Michigan, and Helen T. is also married to a Mr. Morley, of Cleveland.
BOWEN, OZIAS, lawyer and judge, was born at Au- gusta, Oneida county, New York, July 21st, 1805, and died at Marion, Ohio, September 26th, 1871. The Bowen family in this country originally sprang from two brothers, natives of Wales, named Ap Bowen. H. C. Bowen, the proprietor of the New York Independent, is a descendant of the same ancestry. They are of Puritan stock, and have always en- joyed considerable prominence in New England. Until he was fifteen years old, Ozias Bowen lived in Fredonia, New York, and then came to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he worked for some time in a printing office. Little is known concerning this early period of his life, as he was naturally reticent in the matters of his boyhood. At a later period he studied law in the office of Gregory Powers, at Canton, Stark county, but before this he had read to some extent elsewhere. On the 23d September, 1828, he was admitted to the bar at Canton, and proposed to settle in Cleveland, but this idea he soon abandoned and commenced the practice of his profes- sion at Marion, Ohio. As was generally the case with young lawyers at this early period of the State's history he found teaching school paid better than his profession, and after en- gaging in that business a short time, he made a partnership with Eber Baker, under the firm name of Baker & Bowen, and engaged in the mercantile business. His first important law suit was one involving a title to lands. His client was Colonel Conklin, then and yet a resident of Marion. This case had lain in courtabout eight years, and terminated in behalf of his client. It made the turning point in his history, as it exhibited the ability of the lawyer and future judge. On the 7th February, 1838, he was elected for the term of seven years by the legislature, president judge of the second judicial circuit of the State, and commissioned by Governor Joseph Vance. On the expiration of this first term, he was elected for a second, and served until, by the adoption of the new constitution, he was legislated out of office, when he resumed his law practice. In June, 1856, he was appointed by Gov- ernor Chase to fill the vacancy on the Supreme bench caused
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