USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 53
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
C -- 24
·
760
BIOGRAPIIICAL CYCLOPAEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
field, New York; Helen, born in the spring of 1842, and died in the fall of 1864. She was married to a man by the name of Kessler. Soon after the birth of Dr. Keyes, his parents returned to Vermont, their native State, where they continued to reside till the fall of 1835, when they re- turned again to the State of New York, and settled in Port- land, Chautauqua County. Here the Doctor received as good a common school and academic education as the schools of those times afforded. At the age of nineteen, he left home and came to the State of Ohio, where he commenced his professional studies under the directions of his uncle, Dr. Alvah Evans, in Huron County, Ohio. After remain- ing with his uncle about one year, and teaching school four months of that time, he returned again to the State of New York, where he continued his studies in the office of Dr. A. W. Gray, and afterwards with Dr. L. M. Kenyon. He at- tended his first course of medical lectures in the old Erie Street College of Cleveland, Ohio. His second course of lectures he attended at the Berkshire Medical College, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from which institution he gradu- ated. He entered the Homeopathic Medical College of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the winter of the same year, and in due time graduated from that college also. After this long course of study and thorough preparation, during wliich time he had to support himself and bear his own expenses, the Doctor commenced the practice of medicine and surgery in Buffalo, New York, but a year later removed to James- town, in the same State, where he continued in practice until the beginning of the war in 1861, when he enlisted as sur- geon in the army. He remained in the army a little over two years, being on duty most of that time at Finlay General Hospital, Washington, D. C., when he resigned and again commenced the practice of his profession in Ravenna, Ohio. After practicing in that city about six years, he removed to Mansfield, Ohio, where he has since resided, having built up a large and lucrative practice, and is looked upon by his brethren of the profession as a skillful surgeon and physician. Dr. Keyes's connection with secret societies began early in life. Soon after reaching his majority he joined the I. O. O. F. in Westfield, New York. Next he became a member of the Masonic Fraternity, receiving the three degrees of the Blue Lodge and the Chapter degrees at Ravenna, Ohio; the Knights Templar Orders in Oriental Commandery, of Cleve- land, Ohio, and the Scottish Rites (18th degree), also at Cleveland, O. In the fall of 1874 he became a member of the Knights of Honor, and in the following May was elected Supreme Dictator of that Order at Indianapolis, Indiana, which position he filled with much credit to himself and ad- vantage to the Order. In the summer of 1877 he joined the Royal Arcanun , and at once became an earnest advocate of the Order. He was twice elected its Supreme Vice Regent, and at the annual session of the Supreme Council, held in Detroit, Michigan, April, 188c, was elected to the position of Supreme Regent-the highest office in the gift of the Order. He was re-elected to the same position at Cincinnati, Ohio, in May, 1881. During these two terms he performed the duties of the office with marked skill and ability of no ordinary character. May 12th, 1846, Dr. Keyes was married to Mary Brown, in Portland, Chautauqua County, N. Y. Of this union four children were born, two of whom died in early childhood. The two surviving are Fannie P., who is the wife of Dr. W. G. Graham, of Winfield, Kansas, and Carrie May, the wife of A. B. Graham, a brother of Dr. Graham, the two
sisters having married brothers, and now living in the same place. On the 5th of June, 1865, the Doctor was bereft of his early companion by the death of his wife. He was mar- ried to his present wife, Anna B. Neiler, in Philadelphia, on the 11th day of June, 1866, who has borne him one son, now fifteen years of age and residing with his parents at home. The Doctor comes of remarkably long-lived ancestors, both on his father's and mother's side. His father died at the age of eighty years, and his mother at the age of eighty-two, while his paternal grandfather attained the advanced age of ninety-three, and his maternal grandfather ninety-two; and the Doctor himself, although fifty-seven years old, has a much younger appearance, with a bodily and mental vigor undi- minished, and promises well to attain the patriarchal age of his ancestors. A genealogical history of the Keyeses of this country has recently been published by Asa Keyes, of Brattle- boro, Vermont, beginning with Robert Keyes, of Watertown, Massachusetts, who settled there in 1633, and Solomon Keyes, of Newbury and Chelmsford, Massachusetts, who settled there in 1653, and who is supposed to be a relative of Robert. Besides these, the book gives the liistory of others by the name of Keyes, among whom is the family of Dr. Keyes, traced back to his great-grandfather, Peter Keyes, who settled in Plymouth, New Hampshire, in an early day. Of the de- scendants of Robert, 904 are given; of Solomon, 1,644, and of others, 842, and still the record is not complete. Among these are many persons of prominence and distinction. Re- alizing that a thorough preparation was the only sure founda- tion of success in any career, Dr. Keyes spared no pains in thoroughly preparing himself for his profession. And as a result of that and the untiring zeal with which he has ap- plied himself to his work, he has enjoyed such uniform suc- cess and skill that he is now the acknowledged head in this section of the State of that school of medicine in which he practices. He combines the qualities of firmness and de- cision with sociability and a genial disposition, well calcu- lated to make friends of all whom he meets. In politics he is a Republican, formerly an Old Line Whig, and is a mem- ber of the Congregational Church.
MURDOCK, HON. CHARLES CONE, ex-Judge of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, was born January 12th, 1828. He is the son of the late Dr. George L. Murdock, who was captain of the Independent Michigan Mounted Volunteers, in the war of 1812, and was captured at Hull's surrender. After the conclusion of that war he de- voted himself to the practice of his profession, and became quite a prominent man in the medical world. He was three times elected to the Indiana State Legislature, and was a member thereof when his son Charles C. was born. Judge Murdock's mother was Miss Anna Cone, a daughter of Mr. Charles Cone, who was a major in the war of 1812. The subject of this sketch, after attending the common schools, was sent to Woodward College, where he distinguished him- self by taking one prize at every exhibition, and sometimes two. He became a fine belles-lettres scholar, and by agree- able and sympathetic manners, which have characterized him through life, became a universal favorite both with teachers and scholars. Without affectation, there was always that to be seen in him which at once prevented familiarity and won the esteem of all. At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of the law, in the office of the late Judge Samuel M, Hart, and was admitted to the bar the next
761
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
day after the completion of his twenty-first year. Upon the appointment of Judge Hart to the bench, Mr. Murdock suc- ceeded to a handsome practice, being at the time his asso- ciate in the same office. He continued in the practice for eleven years, with great success, when he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was re-elected in 1866, and again in 1871, being a continuous term of fifteen years. His charges were models of conspicuity and simplicity, with an entire absence of technical phrases, and his decisions generally met the commendation of the bar and press. In his practice, Judge Murdock manifested great tact in the ex- amination of witnesses, and often succeeded, in a subtle and pleasant way, in eliciting just the testimony needed. He is a pleasant conversationalist, and, when the occasion requires, is capable of making an eloquent and effective speech. Though not in practice to-day, or on the bench, he is still remembered at the bar as a successful lawyer, and as an able, upright judge.
COPPIN, JOSEPH, pioneer, was born in the city of Nor- wich, County of Norfolk, England, April 8th, 1791, and came to the United States in the brig Eliza in 1795, landing in the city of New York when it had a population of only forty-four thousand. While in that city he walked in the funeral procession of General Washington. He also attended the funeral of Alexander Hamilton, who was shot in a duel by Aaron Burr. He is at this writing living, though evi- dently nearing his end, with his widowed daughter, Mrs. Susan Harvey, at Pleasant Ridge, Hamilton County, having passed the ninety-third milestone in the journey of life. We look with peculiar interest upon one who has been so long in the battle of life, emerging from the conflict with many wounds but none of the spoils of war-for he is poor as to this world's goods. He acquired a fortune, but it had wings. Many an adventure was successful, but at the last, when the final balance was struck, it was found that he was both old and poor. He was at the laying of the corner-stone of the old city hall in New York, in 1803; came to Cincinnati De- cember 16th, 1805-walking from New York to Wheeling, and boating it from there to Cincinnati. His first work was to aid his employer, Mr. John P. Spinning, in fencing the lot where now stands the Burnet House. His employer made the first sleigh that was used in Cincinnati. In 1812 he walked from Cincinnati to New York in sixteen days and a half. On this trip, he saw Governor Arthur St. Clair stand- ing in the door of a log cabin in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and talked with him half an hour. Mr. Coppin has a kind recol- lection of this great man, supporting at the time his feeble steps with a cane made from the newel post that stood in the St. Clair House, which he built on the corner of Eighth and Main Streets, in Cincinnati. A picture of the old governor and one of Peyton S. Symmes hang on the walls of his room. Mr. Coppin was present when old Fort Washington was torn down by order of the government, saving from the wreck. the principal lock bearing date "1790," and a piece of wood from the old fort, both relics being still in his pos- session. He often danced within its rustic rooms when it was the rendezvous for Wayne's soldiers after his army was disbanded. There were both fun and fighting when the build- ings were torn down, many thinking that money was hid- den away under its foundations. One man did find five hundred dollars in one place, but that was all. This vener- able pioneer has in his possession, also, an ounce ball taken
by himself from the head of a British officer killed during the Revolution, and buried in the present limits of New York City. He was in the full dress of an English officer. This happened in 1803. His family Bible bears date 1765. His scrap-book is characteristic of this old pioneer. It would take days to examine it intelligently. It is an art gallery, an encyclopedia, and a commentary. It is the repository of many fragile relics. It is his library. These items indicate its contents : Piece of fiber cloth, made by Mrs. Mary Taylor of thistles that grew upon the present landing of Cincinnati in 1788. Piece of Lady Irwin's wedding dress, four hundred years old, out of which he has had a vest made for himself and his daughter a mantle. Piece of the quilted silk shroud with which his friend, Peyton S. Symmes, was clothed for the grave. Among his early and later associates, concerning whom he has recorded his thoughts in biographical sketches in this scrap book, may be mentioned Major Zeigler, Ethan A. Brown, Martin Baum, Judge Burnet, General Findlay, General John S. Gano, Joel Williams, Griffin Yeatman, Elijah Pierce (the first drayman of Cincinnati), William H. Har- rison, Nicholas Longworth, and many others. His memory is clear, and with much precision and forceful natural eloquence he dwells and comments upon the past. Since he first saw old Fort Washington more than three hundred thousand people have settled around its site, and more than two hundred thousand have died. He seems to bear a charmed life, though his body bears many scars received in . the long life struggle. The' sounds of the conflict have grown dull and distant, while as an observer only he now stands upon the shore witnessing with deep interest the toss- ing of that human sea of which he was so long a stormy portion.
WILSON, WILLIAM MARTIN, lawyer, judge, and legislator, was born near Mifflin, Juniata county, Pennsyl- vania, March 11th, 1808; died in Greenville, Ohio, June 15th, 1864. His parents were Thomas Wilson and Jane Martin, and in 1811 they came to Ohio, passed about a year in Fair- field county, and in 1812 settled in Butler county, where our subject was reared. He was educated in Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. Studied law with the late Hon. Jesse Cor- win, of Hamilton; admitted to the bar in 1832, and then began practice in that place. In the fall of 1835 he located in Greenville, and at once took a leading position as a lawyer. For a number of years he served as prosecuting attorney of Darke county. On September 19th, 1837, he married Miss Louise Dorsey, of Greenville, Ohio. She was born in Butler county, April 23d, 1815, and died August 2d, 1856. In De- cember, 1837, he started the Darke County Advocate, which with a change of name is now the Greenville Journal. In October, 1840, he was elected auditor of Darke county, and twice reelected, thus serving six years. In the fall of 1846, he was elected to the Ohio senate from the district composed of the counties of Darke, Miami and Shelby, and filled the seat two years, during which time he rose to a very prominent position in that body, and came within one vote of being elected State auditor, having already gained the reputation of being one of the most efficient county auditors in the State. This one lacking vote he could have supplied by voting for himself, a thing which his manly modesty forbade. In the fall of 1856 he was appointed by Governor Chase as common pleas judge of the first subdivision of the second judicial dis- trict of Ohio to fill a vacancy. His decisions were distin-
762
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
guished for great research and ability. Being too old to enter the service during the war for the Union, he was, nevertheless, as a member of the military committee of his district, an active and earnest supporter of the government. He stood for many years at the head of the Greenville bar, and was regarded as one of the best jurists in Ohio, and by his in- trinsic moral worth, gave a higher character to the profession. He was a man of unusually quiet and retiring disposition. His words were few, but well chosen, and his sarcasm and repartee were like a flash of lightning on an opponent. At the same time he bore a heart of the warmest and tenderest sympathies. For a number of years he held the office of elder in the Presbyterian church of Greenville.
BOHL, HENRY, of Marietta, Ohio, was born July 4th, 1844, in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany. He came to this country with his father, in May, 1855, and settled in Washington County, Ohio. He assisted him on his farm during the summer months, and attended school in the winter, until he was seventeen years of age, when he left home, and effected an engagement in the Marietta Chair Factory, where he remained some four years. He next en- gaged in the clothing business, as clerk for J. W. L. Brown, at Marietta, where he remained four years. In January, 1869, he engaged in local insurance, in Marietta, and was very successful, working up a large and paying business. His health, however, became very much impaired in 1871, and, by the advice of his physician, he concluded to dispose of his office and business, and engage in out-door employment, which he did by accepting a special agency for the Home Insurance Company, of Columbus, Ohio; but as his health did not improve, he removed, in March, 1872, to Atlanta, Georgia, where he opened a Southern department of four States-Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia -- for the American Central Fire Insurance Company, of St. Louis. During his residence in the South he made many firm friends in the underwriting fraternity, and in 1873 he was elected secretary of the Underwriters' Association of the South, comprising a territory of eleven Southern States, and being auxiliary to the National Board of Underwriters, with head-quarters in New York City. He was also, the same year, elected a member and secretary of the Georgia State Board of Underwriters. Having nearly regained his health, and his family being anxious to return to their old home in Ohio, he removed again to Marietta, in March, 1874, after an absence of two years, and took charge of a Western depart- ment of three States-Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia- for the American Central Insurance Company, which he had managed in the South. He resigned this position in the autumn of 1875, and accepted the management for Ohio for the Milwaukee Mechanics' Fire Insurance Company, and also again embarked in the local insurance business at Marietta. In politics Mr. Bohl has always been a Democrat, and always worked for the success of his party. From 1867 to 1871 he took an active interest in politics, and was for several years a member and secretary of the Democratic County Central Committee. After his removal to the South, and during his residence there, he took no part in the move- ments of the day ; but on his return home, his old political friends, knowing him to be an effective worker, insisted on his again taking an active part. In 1875 they urged him to accept the nomination for county Treasurer, which, however, he declined emphatically, on the ground that he desired no
political county office. He finally accepted the candidacy for Representative to the Ohio Legislature, and in October, 1875, after a thorough canvass, was elected by a majority of two hundred and fifty-one votes, running nearly two hundred ahead of his ticket. One of his first acts after taking his seat in that body was to introduce a resolution pledging the House of Representatives of the State of Ohio to be in favor of a purely secular education, at the expense of the taxpayer, without any division of the school funds among any sect or sects, and to maintain and support the admirable provision of the Ohio Constitution on that subject. This resolution received the unanimous vote of the House of Representatives, and was introduced for the reason that the Republican party, in the political campaign of 1875, had charged their oppo- nents with being in favor of a division of the public school funds. He also introduced and secured the passage of a bill by the House, in 1877, making silver a legal tender in Ohio for all debts, public and private, silver at that time being demonetized by the national government. The pass- age of this bill in a Republican House was a victory for Mr. Bohl, who, being one of its youngest members, was the only Democratic member who spoke in its favor, and very ably debated its provisions and constitutionality with W. P. Howland, of Ashtabula County, the ablest Republican mem- ber. This bill was killed in the State Senate, by the com- mittee having it in charge refusing to report it back to the Senate for consideration. On January 15th, 1876, United States Senator Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, addressed a letter to Mr. Bohl, defining his position on the financial question, which was forthwith published, and read with great interest throughout the country, as the senator was then a prominent prospective candidate for President of the United States. Mr. Bohl was reared in the communion of the German Reformed Church, of which he and his family are now members. He has taken a great interest in secret societies, being a member of the Masonic, Odd Fellows, and other societies. In 1871 he was elected representative to the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of Ohio ; also Great Sachem for the State of Ohio of the Improved Order of Red Men: In 1872 he was elected representative to the United States Grand Lodge of the Improved Order of Red Men. In 1873 he was represent- ative to the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of Georgia ; and, in 1881, again representative to the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of Ohio, having served the last past two years as a member of the committee on legislation, and being also one of a committee of five to receive and entertain the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the World, at Cincinnati, in September, 1881. In 1881 he was one of the executive committee of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, and at this writing is one of its trustees. He was twice nominated for Grand Master, as well as other Grand Lodge offices, but declined to accept the nominations, on account of his large private business. In May, 1876, he was elected by the Democratic State Convention, at Cincin- nati, as an alternate-at-large to the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis, and was afterward elected delegate- at-large from Ohio to that convention, filling the vacancy created by the absence of George H. Pendleton, and was thus probably the youngest delegate-at-large ever elected from Ohio. He was a warm supporter of Senator Thurman for President. He was also a member of the Democratic State Central Committee in 1876, and took an active part in its proceedings. In 1877 he was renominated, by acclama- tion, for Representative, and re-elected by five hundred and
Henry Bohl
763
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
eighty-five majority. The Sixty-third General Assembly be- ing Democratic, Mr. Bolil became at once one of the most influential members and leaders of the House of Repre- sentatives, and took rank as one of its ablest debaters. He looked closely after the interests of his immediate constituents, securing a number of good appointments for his county, and the enactment of many local measures protecting its oil in- terests, and preventing the removal of Beverly College to Pennsylvania, and many other important local measures. He was chairman of the Committee on Insurance of the House, and passed five very important insurance bills, in the interest of the people, as follows: Ist. To require all fire insurance companies to cancel policies at the written request of the insured, and return the unearned premium. 2d. To pre- vent foreign life and fire insurance companies from transferring suits from Ohio State Courts to the United States Court, under a penalty of being thrown out of the State for a period of three years. 3d. To prevent new insurance companies from adopting the name of old companies, thus sailing under false colors, and misleading the insuring public. 4th. To require all new mutual fire insurance companies to have twenty per cent of their premium notes in cash before they can com- mence business. 5th. To raise the reserve standard of life insurance companies to four per cent, thus furnishing better security to policy-holders of this State. He was also chair- man of the select committee of three on resolutions asking Congress not to reduce the tariff on wool, steel, and iron. He reported, as chairman, in favor of these resolutions, and fought them through the House. He was also one of the House Committee to prepare a bill to redistrict the State for congressional purposes ; and, as one of a sub-committee, he wrote and reported to the Democratic House Caucus their re- port, which was unanimously adopted, and enacted into a law. He was the author of all financial resolutions intro- duced and passed in the Sixty-third General Assembly, in- cluding one declaring "United States bonds payable, princi- pal and interest, in silver, at the option of the government," and instructing the Ohio Senators and Representatives in Congress to support the Bland Silver Bill, without any amendments limiting free coinage, and censuring President Hayes and Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman for their opposition to the remonetization of the silver dollar. This resolution passed both houses, and was presented in the United States Senate by Senator Allen G. Thurman. In 1878 Mr. Bohl was a prominent candidate for Congress, in the Thirteenth Ohio Congressional District, but after more than eighty ballots, he withdrew, on the second day of the convention, which secured the nomination to General A. J. Warner. In 1880 his name was prominently mentioned by the Democratic press of Ohio for Secretary of State, but he declined to accept the nomination. He was a delegate from the fifteenth Congressional District of Ohio to the Democratic National Convention in 1880, at Cincinnati, which nominated General Hancock for President, being secretary of the Ohio delegation, and also chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee of Washington County, and was unani- mously elected as secretary of the Democratic State Conven- tion held in Cleveland, in July, 1880. In 1882 Mr. Bohl was unanimously elected as chairman of the Congressional Com- mittee of the Fifteenth Ohio District, and also of the Execu- tive Committee for Washington County. Whilst a member of the Ohio Legislature, he was opposed to all monopolies, and was the author of the resolution investigating the Stand-
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.