USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 49
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Mahoning County, Ohio, who was Judge of the old Circuit Court with Senator B. F. Wade. Mrs. Sherwood is a lady of rare literary capabilities and accomplishments. She un- doubtedly is one of the most talented women in Ohio both as a political writer and on the general topics of the day ; and also as a writer of poetry. Some of the strongest edi- torials found in the papers of Toledo come from Mrs. Sher- wood's pen. Mrs. Sherwood has also written many war poems that have given her a national reputation as a poetess. Among those of special merit might be mentioned "Thomas at Chickamauga," written for the Army of the Cumberland Reunion held at Toledo, September, 1880, which General Garfield, present on that occasion, referred to as a "wonder- fully fine poem," and which was published in the secretary's report. Also, "General Shields at Mexico," "The Old Flag," "Fall In," " Whenever I Hear the Fife and the Drum," etc., very popular with elocutionists for army reunions and other public occasions. Among her other popular poems are "I'ris- cilla, Aquila, and Paul," and "The Three Graces." Mrs. Sherwood has translated several poems from the French and German, and is a contributor to various periodicals and magazines.
WINSLOW, RICHARD, ship-owner, of Cleveland, was born in Falmouth, Maine, September 6th, 1769, and died at his home, in Cleveland, in 1857. He came of the grand old Puritan stock, and was a descendant, in direct line, from Kenelm Winslow, brother of Governor Edward Winslow, of Plymouth Colony, and one of the Mayflower pilgrims. In 1812 he left Maine for North Carolina, where he established himself at Ocracoke, and became largely interested in the commerce of that place both by sea and land. In 1830 he determined on investigating the chances offering in the West, which just then attracted considerable attention, and in May, 1831, he arrived with his family in Cleveland. Cleveland, at that time, was but a mere village. Mr. Winslow was one of its pioneers. He brought with him a large amount of capital, and established an extensive wholesale store. Here he became agent for a line of vessels between Buffalo and Cleveland, and also a line of boats on the Ohio Canal. He entered into busi- ness also as a ship-owner on his own account, his first venture on the lakes being the brig North Carolina, built for him in Cleveland. A few years later he was interested in building the steamer Bunker Hill, of four hundred and fifty-six tons, which, at that time, was considered a very large size. These were the pioneers of a long line of sail and steam craft built for or purchased by him alone, or in connection with his sons, who became sharers with him, until the Winslow family ranked among the foremost ship-owners on the lakes. In 1854, after nearly twenty-five years of active business life in Cleveland, at the age of eighty-five, he retired, leaving his interests to be carried on by his sons, who inherited his business tastes and abilities. He enjoyed his retirement but three years, having met with an accident which seriously affected a leg he had injured years before, and resulted in his death. He married Miss Mary Nash Grandy, of Camden, North Carolina, and by her had a family of eleven children. Mrs. Winslow died October, 1858, having survived her husband a little over one year. To Mr. Winslow belongs the honor of having done as much probably as any other one man in de- veloping the interests of the city of Cleveland and making her what she is to-day. He was one of the first men of im- portance to settle there. He established the first wholesale
store, and gave impetus to a variety of enterprises. His ma- rine interests alone became of large magnitude. During his business career, and also in his retirement, he enjoyed, in a large degree, the respect of his fellow-citizens, and the warm friendship of an extended social circle. He was a gen- tleman in the best sense of the word, warm and impulsive in his nature, quick to perceive and prompt to act, cordial in his greetings, free from even the suspicion of meanness and du- plicity, courteous to every one, and strongly attached to those whom he found worthy of his intimate friendship. He took a keen interest in public affairs, though not as an active politi- cian. Public office he neither sought nor desired. He was a man who left his mark, and his memory is revered.
GRIMES, ALEXANDER, banker and legislator, Day- ton, Ohio, was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in the year 1791, and died in Dayton, January 12th, 1860. Near the beginning of the present century, his father, John Grimes, as a pioneer, went to and settled in Dayton. Having availed himself of such educational advantages as the subscription schools of his day afforded. Our subject began life as a merchant, keep- ing a variety stock of goods as was a necessity at that early day, but dealing mostly in dry goods. He subsequently be- came cashier of the old Dayton bank, which position he filled for a number of years. Subsequently in no regular bus- iness, he was engaged as trustee in the settlement of the large Cooper estate of Dayton. He never sought publicity, nor was he a very enthusiastic politician, though he filled several important offices in his adopted county, and also at one time represented the same in the legislature of Ohio. He was one of those true, reliable and independent men in whose sincerity, honor and integrity, all.who knew him had perfect confidence. He always formed his opinions with great care, and adhered to what he believed to be right with unflinching determination. He was emphatically a, man whom the un- principled demagogue could not bribe. For more than half a century he was a resident of Dayton, and left to his family and community an honored and untarnished name. Mr. Grimes was twice married. By his first wife he had one child. His second wife was Maria, daughter of Mr. Charles Greene, who, about the year 1788, settled at Marietta, Ohio. She was born December 6th, 1781, at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and died in Dayton, Ohio, February 26th, 1875, at the advanced age of ninety-four years. She was a cousin of General Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary fame. Her death was the result of a fall upon the door-steps, and had it not been for this accident, her life might have numbered a hundred years, as she was physically very healthy for her age. She possessed great natural vigor, and retained her activity to the day of her death. She was noted for her hopefulness of disposition and her remarkable cheerfulness amid all cir- cumstances. She retained the power of her mental facul- ties in an unusual degree to the last. Industrious, generous and kind-hearted, she was greatly esteemed by the commu- nity. She was the mother of two children,-Mrs. Marcus Eels of Santa Barbara, California, and Charles Greene Grimes, the senior partner of the linseed oil firm of Grimes & Keifer, of Dayton.
ERKENBRECHER, ANDREW, merchant and manu- facturer of Cincinnati, is the son of Henry Erkenbrecher, of Hulgersdorf, Bavaria, near Saxe-Coburg. His early edu- cation was excellent. He came with his parents to this
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country in his fourteenth year, landing in New York in 1836. They were four months making the journey from that city to Cincinnati. They settled on a farm near Carthage, where the whole family engaged to work for twenty dollars a month. . His first independent employment was in a candy store on Main Street, Cincinnati, belonging to Mr. John Myers. At the age of twenty-four he married the daughter of Mr. Myers. At twenty-two he rented a small mill on Lock Street and commenced business for himself-being a flour, feed, and barley mill. He soon added the manufacture of starch. This was a fortunate step. The demand for his starch increased, until larger and larger facilities were de- manded for its manufacture. He built a factory at Morrow with a capacity of three hundred bushels of corn per day. This was burned in 1860, and with it he lost the greater part of his earnings of sixteen years. In 1866 he began the im- mense starch factory now owned by him, on the Miami and Erie Canal, near Cincinnati, from which shipments of his popular and far-famed products are made almost throughout the civilized world. It is an establishment of which that city and the State may be proud. And to Mr. Erkenbrecher may be attributed the practicable improvements that so thoroughly revolutionized the manufacture of this indispensable article. And Mr. Erkenbrecher is a public-spirited citizen. The fact that Cincinnati possesses to-day the finest zoological garden in the United States may be ascribed to this gentleman. It was his original conception, and was pushed to consumma- tion with his characteristic energy. He is the president of that . society. The great success he has attained is mainly attrib- utable to his unswerving integrity of character, his resistless, unremitting diligence in the pursuit of any object in which he may be interested. He is a gentleman in highi standing in the community for his Christian character, his public spirit, and the work that he has done to advance the commercial in- terests of Ohio. He was married in 1845 to the daughter of John Myers, of Cincinnati, Ohio. She died in 1866. He was again married in 1877 to Matilda Cunningham of that city.
TORRENCE, GEORGE PAUL, judge, was born of Scotch-Irish parents, February 16th, 1782, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and died August 27th, 1855, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Having acquired a rudimentary education at the local com- mon schools, he entered and graduated at the Canonsburg College, Pennsylvania, afterward studying law in the office of Judge Kennedy at Pittsburgh, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1806. The field for energy and enterprise presented in western Ohio so attracted him that he at once started to Cin- cinnati, where he readily procured employment in the gov- ernment land-office, then under the control of General James Findlay. In 1812, he raised a company of volunteers, and took part in the military operations against the British and In- dians on the north-western frontier. Subsequently he was elected a member of and served one term in the Ohio senate. Having meanwhile, it is presumed, turned his attention to and been actively engaged in his profession, he was elected judge of the court of common pleas of Hamilton county, and served as such for two terms of seven years each-from 1819 to 1833. After the expiration of his second term on the bench, Judge Torrence served three terms of two years each as treasurer of Hamilton county. As a judge, he became extensively and favorably known for his strong common-sense views, rather than for a profound knowledge of the law, justice seeming to be his sole aim. He gained and retained the confidence of
the people, and at a meeting of the bar, held on the occasion of his death, Judge Bellamy Storer referred to the remarkable fact that none of his decisions had ever been reversed by a higher court, although he performed the functions of his office before the decisions of other judges in the local courts were preserved, and regarded as precedents in important cases. His judgment was seldom at fault, his attention was unwav- ering, his perception was acute, while his decisions were terse, easy of comprehension, and at the same time tempered with mercy. Apart from the duties of the public offices mentioned above, Judge Torrence took a lively interest in all movements looking to the growth and prosperity of Cincinnati. He, with Judge Storer and others, organized the "Protection Party," to guard property during fires, becoming its presi- dent, and he was largely instrumental in procuring the right of way for the Little Miami Railroad, the first in Ohio. For a number of years he was treasurer of the Ohio Medical Col- lege, and devoted much time to its interest. He was a fast friend of all educational movements, believing the education of the people the best safeguard for our republican form of government. Without being a member of any religious sect, Judge Torrence inclined to the Presbyterian forms and doctrines, and, never strictly a politician, he always voted as a whig: His social qualities were of a high order, and, united with his unswerving integrity of character, caused him to be held in general esteem. Judge Torrence married Mary B. Findlay, of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, February 12th. 1811, who bore him thirteen children, three of whom died while quite young, and the rest attained their majority. Of these four sons and two daughters survive in 1879-James F., John F., Aaron, William J., Nancy B., and Harriet, wife of Hugh Stewart. James F. Torrence was born August 22d, 1814. He had entire charge of the Hamilton county treasury under his father, and afterwards engaged in business as a for- warding and commission merchant. He was in 1855 elected president of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, of which he was one of the originators, and from which in 1877 he received the highest honor it can confer-honorary life mem- bership. He was at the same time president of the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association which he had assisted to organize. He took a prominent part in local whig politics during the Fillmore campaign ; afterwards was active in the Native American movement, and later was a democrat. He married, October 7th, 1841, Miss Ann R. Findlay, of Balti- more, Maryland, a niece of General James Findlay, and had eight children, five of whom-Jane, George, James, Eliza- beth, and Joseph survived. His brother, John F. Torrence, was born May 24th, 1819, at Cincinnati, and educated in the Seminary, which afterwards became Farmers' College. About 1840 he entered actively into politics, and in the same year became a member of the Cincinnati common council. In 1867 he was elected to the State senate, and before his term expired was chosen mayor of Cincinnati. In 1862 he was elected canal commissioner of Ohio, serving three years, when he retired to private life.
DODSON, WILLIAM BEAL, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 31st, 1787. He was the son of John Dod- son, of Shrewsbury, England, who emigrated to America in 1771, and landed at Annapolis, Maryland, where he met and married Eleanor Howard, March 2d, 1778. The Howard family was one of the old and honored families of Mary- land. They had seven children born to them, William being
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the third son. General Wayne and his legion, by their re- cent victory over the Indians-secured by a treaty at Green- ville that year-made it possible for emigrants to settle and cultivate the arts of peace in the then Northwest Territory. In that year commenced an emigration to Ohio from all parts of the old States, and Maryland sent her portion of citizens to the new El Dorado. "The West" was the word after the glorious peace, and John Dodson was among the first to determine that he would lay a new foundation in a free State, where his children might earn and enjoy their own fortune. Accord- ingly, in the year 1795 he, with his wife and family, started to make a new home in the then far west, traveling over the mountains in wagons. William was then a boy of eight years. In November, 1795, they landed in the village of Cincinnati, purchasing a farm a short distance out, in Springfield Town- ship. Here a log cabin was erected, and while building a guard of armed men was employed to protect them from the Indians, who were far from peaceable in those days, and it is told as an incident of that time that while attending church the men had to carry their guns for fear of an attack from the Indians. William remained for some years on the farm with his father, and then came to Cincinnati, where, as a carpenter, he was an efficient mechanic, and was active in all that pertained to the workingmen. He afterwards became a master-builder, and did the carpenter work on the second court house built in Cincinnati. The first one built in the village was on the north part of the square between Fourth and Fifth Streets, fronting on Main, but in 1814 this was burned down and the new court-house was built further out, as far up as two squares above Seventh, on Wayne Street, which, in early days, was the boundary of the in-lots of Cin- cinnati. The carpenter work of this court-house was all done by William Beal Dodson. He was also the builder of the noted Pearl Street House, a very grand hotel in its day, below Third, on the east side of Walnut Street. He was one of the most active workers of the Episcopal Church in Cin- cinnati, when they held their services in the old Wing school- house, corner Sixth and Vine Streets. He served as vestry- man for several years, and often as a lay-reader when a clergyman could not be found. He was a very earnest poli- tician in his day, and, though never caring to hold any public office, was at one time county commissioner, and during his term of office many of the improvements of the city were made. Mr. Dodson was married December 7th, 1825, to Deborah Starbuck, daughter of John Starbuck, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, to whom nine children were born. In 1850 Mr. Dodson bought a beautiful home on the hillside overlooking the city, near Fairmount, which he improved and named "Cypress Villa," where he retired from the cares of active life. In 1861 he was elected president of the Cincin- nati Pioneer Association, and to the day of his death took an active interest in the Society. Nearly eighty years of his life were spent here. He watched a village grow up into a city, with its boundless influence. He died January 26th, 1875, aged eighty-eight vears.
SMITH, SAMUEL SHERWOOD, son of Levi and Hannah (Holland) Smith, was born at Solon, Cortland County, New York, August 30th, 1803, being one of a family of eleven brothers, named in the order of their seniority as follows, viz. : Wright, Josiah, Silas, Oliver, Holland, Marcus, Martin, Solomon, Orrin and Samuel Sherwood, twins, and Lemuel, who all lived to the age of manhood, and were
known as the "sixty-foot" Smiths. Most of the brothers were above the average height, Samuel being the shortest in stature, and was the most delicate in health, but outlived them all. His early educational advantages were meager, owing to the primitive condition of his native State, no schools being established as yet. His father, while serving with the American army at Bunker Hill, was wounded by a British bullet, which was never removed, and incapacitated him for manual labor. The work of the farm, which consisted of forty acres of bounty land in Cortland County, New York, devolved on the sons, and their early life was that of tillers of the soil. At the age of fifteen the eldest brother, Wright, shipped on the frigate Constitution, at Boston, Massachu- setts, serving for three and a half years, and participating in the numerous engagements of the war with Algiers. At the expiration of his term of service he had saved all his allowance for "grog," which furnished him with the means to engage in mercantile pursuits in Boston, and subsequently in Albany, New York. From the last named place, accom- panied by his brother Samuel, he proceeded, in 1816, to move west. Their first objective point was Olean, on the headwaters of the Allegheny River, which they reached after a laborious journey by wagon in the Spring of 1817. Here they constructed a raft, on which was provided a habitation for their use and comfort during the prospective voyage to Cincinnati, where they arrived in due course of time. They secured accommodations for residence in a double frame building situated on the north side of Fourth Street, just east of Plum, which property our subject afterwards purchased, and in 1844 erected thereon what was then considered a fine dwelling. In the construction of this building was first in- troduced in Cincinnati the Dayton limestone, which has since become so popular. At the age of fourteen, and soon after his arrival in Cincinnati, Samuel became interested in the doctrines of the New Church, as taught by Emanuel Swe- denborg, and regularly attended the services which were held by the few believers at the residence of Rev. Adam Hurdus, on Sycamore Street. The first public worship of the Sweden- borgian Society of Cincinnati was held on the 31st of August, 1818, in Mr. Wing's schoolhouse, on Lodge Street, Rev. Mr. Hurdus officiating. Mr. Smith has never swerved from his early religious convictions, and has ever been a consistent member of the First New Church Society of Cincinnati, contributing to its support as well as to other denominations. From 1817 to 1822 he was employed by his brother Wright in his manufacturing business, and afterwards, for a time, entered the river trade, carrying produce generally to New Orleans by flat-boat. In 1827 he began business on his own account, the capital for which was obtained by discounting a note for three hundred dollars at three months, and in- dorsed by his brother Wright. In all his subsequent mercan- tile career he has never had occasion to need an indorser, having rigidly abstained from buying goods on credit or giving a note. With the proceeds of the above-mentioned note he purchased a canal-boat and horses, and engaged in the freight and passenger traffic between Cincinnati and Day- ton, to which last-named point the canal had just been opened. In this undertaking he was quite successful, and was soon enabled to pay off his only obligation, and to pur- chase a lot on the southeast corner of Main and Ninth. On this lot he built a two-story frame store and dwelling, in which he lived and carried on his business of general mer- chandising. The subject of this sketch was married August
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17th, 1826, to Margery McCormick, who died June 18th, 1832, and by whom he had three children, all dead. He was married to Elizabeth Andress (who was of English birth) in Cincinnati, November 11th, 1832, by whom he has had ten children, six of whom are living, viz. : Samuel S. (Jr.), Sarah Elizabeth, Edwin F., Virginia, Fanny, and Charles Stem- bridge. Mr. Smith was active in his sympathy for the Union cause during the Rebellion, and was represented by one son, who enlisted at the first call for troops, after the firing on Fort Sumter, and who served until incapacitated by phys- ical disability. He was one of the original subscribers to the Spring Grove Cemetery Association in 1844, and the Cincinnati Astronomical Society in 1842, and is identified with the early history of the Cincinnati Horticultural So- ciety and Young Men's Mercantile Library Association. He was elected trustee to the City Council April 3d, 1843, and was assigned to many important committees during his term of service. He was, for many years, a director of the Wash- ington Insurance Company, and has served in that capacity in the Cincinnati Equitable Insurance Company for about forty years, being elected president of the last-mentioned com- pany on January 9th, 1867, holding that position until May, 1883, when he resigned on account of infirmity.
BRINKERHOFF, RÆLIFF, lawyer and banker, at Mansfield, Ohio, was born in Owasco, Cayuga county, New York, June 28th, 1828. He is one of the Brinkerhoffs of Ohio and New York, all of whom are descended from the old Dutch family, which had its beginning with Joris Derickson Brinck- erhoff, who, with his wife, emigrated from Flushing in Zealand to New Netherlands in 1638, and settled in Brooklyn, where he obtained a grant of land by deed dated 23d March, 1646. This couple were the progenitors of the entire American family of the name. One of their sons, Hendrick, in 1685, settled on the bank of the Hackensack river, in the State of New Jersey, and became the more immediate progenitor of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Brinkerhoffs. This branch of the family is known as the Bergen branch, and is distin- guished from the Brooklyn branch by omitting the letter c from the spelling of the name, otherwise the same. Jacobus, son of Hendrick, remained upon the old homestead on the Hackensack, but his son George removed to Gettysburgh, Pennsylvania, near the close of the Revolutionary war, and his son Ræliff removed to New York State near the close of the last century, and settled near what is now the city of Auburn, and here the subject of this sketch was born, the son of George, whose father was Rcliff, thus he was one of the seventh generation from the founder of the family in America. The old homestead on the Hackensack is still in the family. Like Dutchmen generally, the Brinkerhoffs are a steady, reliable, pious people, gifted with the characteristics otherwise of their nation; and, although solid rather than showy, there have been many of the family name eminent in the law, in medicine, and in the pulpit. In 1846, the subject of this sketch, then only eighteen years of age, went to the State of Tennessee as a teacher, remaining one year in that capacity in the family of General Daniel S. Donelson, of Sumner county, and nearly three at the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, twelve miles from Nashville. Whilst an inmate of the Jackson family he became a voter, and cast his first ballot for the democratic ticket. In 1850, he removed from Tennessee to Ohio, there to complete his course of law studies with his kinsman, the Hon. Jacob Brinkerhoff, of
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