USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 6
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
POSTON, CLINTON L., by succession, the representa- tive of the pioneer coal interests of the Hocking Valley, was born November 19th, 1847, at Nelsonville, Ohio. He is a son of Lorenzo Dow Poston and Lucinda M. Parkinson, early settlers in Athens County. Lorenzo D. Poston repre- sented a family of Postons which at one time were planters and slave owners of importance, in Virginia. A series of reverses finally resulted in leaving the family in straitened circumstances, and the regular course of primogeniture found the father of the subject of this sketch entirely without means, except such as he might acquire by the labor of his own hands. When twenty years old he left his home, near Romney, Virginia, with the avowed purpose of bettering
594
BIOGRAPIIICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
his condition in the North. With no capital, other than his perseverance and energy, he made his advent into Athens County, having accomplished the entire journey on foot. An account of his subsequent career as a pioneer farmer and tradesman would be a valuable acquisition to the pioneer literature of his section. With the information ac- cessible, we can only slightly indicate, and that indefinitely, the career which, pursued with sagacity and untiring energy, resulted in his amassing an independent fortune. His in- duction into Western life was as a farm laborer, in which capacity he accumulated some means, and later he estab- lished a store for general merchandise, and also dealt ex- tensively in stock. The business of stock-dealer compre- hended more then than it does at the present time. It implied long trips over the common roads with horses and cattle for the Eastern markets, an undertaking which, in these days of rapid transit, would be deemed impracticable. It was, however, as the inaugurator of the coal operations in . the Hocking Valley to which credit is due him, an honor he is entitled to as having been the first miner and shipper of any consequence in the valley. He had done some des- ultory mining prior to 1836, but not till the completion of the Hocking Canal, a few years subsequently, did his opera- tions begin to assume the proportions of an important in- dustry ; and it only required the final impetus which came with the breaking out of the late Rebellion to render the mining of coal in the Hocking Valley a business of vast im- portance. The construction of the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad, at a later date, afforded more ample facilities for shipping, and being more practicable and expeditious, it superseded, in a large measure, the canal as an outlet for coal. His sons, Clinton L. and William W., had been ad- mitted to partnership-the former, as soon as he had finished his course of study at the Ohio University, and the latter at an early age. On the death of Mr. Poston, December 16th, 1876, the subject of this sketch, with his brother William, and sister, Mrs. Pendleton, succeeded to the business, which was conducted under the firm style of Postons & Pendleton. Sep- tember 11th 1880, Mr. William Poston and Mrs. Pendleton transferred their interests to W. T. McClintick and Amos Smith, of Chillicothe, since which time the business has been conducted under the firm name of C. L. Poston & Co., our subject as the senior and active member of the firm. Under his direction the business has largely increased, and in 1881 the production of their mines was about two million bushels of coal, representing eighty thousand tons, and the capacity of the mines is being constantly increased to meet the growing demand. The coal is transported to almost every part of the country on their own cars. Mr. Poston is a Re- publican in politics, but takes no special interest in the man- agement of political matters, and has never been a candidate for political preferment. He was married October, 1869, to Miss Delia Kessinger, daughter of J. L. Kessinger, Esq., of Athens.
ABBOT, BUTLER FRANKLIN, merchant, Zanes- ville, is a native of that place, and was born July 25th, 1845. His parents are F. B. and Harriet (Robertson) Abbot. Mr. F. B. Abbot is a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and comes from an old New England family, whose ancestors were among the first settlers of Massachusetts. He was long identified with the business interests of Zanesville and New York city, but has now retired from active pursuits. At the
age of six years Butler F. Abbot accompanied his father to New York city, where he attended school for a time, his fa- ther being engaged in the transportation business. After a residence of seven years in that city they returned to Zanes- ville, where the son mainly acquired his early education. He was soon initiated into business, and at the age of fifteen be- came associated with a grain and flour commission house in Cincinnati, when, through the encouragement of friends and his inherent sagacity, he made some money by operating in flour and grain. Returning to Zanesville, he engaged with the well-known firm of James H. Duvall, and traveled for his extensive engine works. In 1870 he associated himself with Mr. W. M. Johnson in the retail dry-goods business, and is now joint proprietor of one of the largest establishments of its class in the Muskingum Valley. His political sympa- thies are with the republican party in the main, but are not characterized by a rigid conformity to party platforms. He has never aspired to political office, and attends strictly to promotion of his large and constantly increasing business. He was married in December, 1873, to Mary Clements, and has two children.
KINNEAR, JOSIAH, civil engineer, Columbus, Ohio, was born June 27th, 1834, in Clinton Township, Franklin County, Ohio, four miles north of the State capital. He is the only son of Samuel Kinnear and Ellen (Hill) Kinnear. His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the War of 1812, and participated in the battle of Sackett's Harbor, New York, when it was attacked the second time by the British. In 1806, his father being then thirteen years of age, came from Pennsylvania to Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, where he grew up to man's estate. He served a term of years as county surveyor, and filled other places of trust and honor. In 1833, being in failing health, he removed to Franklin County, Ohio, and located near North Columbus, in order to avail himself of the medicinal qualities of the springs which there abounded. He completely regained his health, and en- gaged in farming, and also kept a tavern for the accommo- dation of travelers and those engaged in traffic over the Co- lumbus and Sandusky Turnpike. Mr. Kinnear's father was widely known, and was a great favorite with the robust and free-hearted men who, as common carriers, wagoners, stage drivers, and drovers, antedated the railway era. He was continuously a justice of the peace for thirty-three years. During his administration he earned a name as a peacemaker which will long be revered. Few, if any, petty cases ever found a place on the dockets of the higher courts from the jurisdiction of his. By his death, which occurred March 6th, 1867, the community in which he lived, lost a man of great worth, and one too, whose long and useful life was blameless. Mr. Kinnear's mother is a native of Henrico County, Vir- ginia. Her family were among the settlers of that colony when its boundaries, by the terms of its charter, extended two hundred miles north and south from Point Comfort, and included all the land west and north-west from sea to sea. Many of her ancestors distinguished themselves in the war for independence, and in the councils of their country. When ten years of age her father decided to cross the Alleghany Mountains, and settle in the West. She accompanied the family, and they located near Darbyville, Pickaway County, Ohio. She performed the remarkable feat of riding the entire distance on horseback. Josiah Kinnear, the only son of this marriage, was brought up on his father's farm. His mother
"Western Piogl Fob Co
Josiah Kinnear
595
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPAEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
instructed him in his early years, and he afterward attended the public schools of Columbus. During the intervals of school he engaged in all the labor incident to farming, and participated in the sports and frolics common to a country comparatively new. It was at log-rollings and wood-chop- pings that Mr. Kinnear developed great strength of muscle. He could hold up his end of the handspike under as great a weight, and could cut as many cords of wood as the best man in the country. While on the farm and during his college days, no one who encountered him as a wrestler was ever able to claim more than a tie in any given number of trials. He not only developed physical strength, but strength of charac- ter also. He had the courage and manliness to espouse the cause of the weak and unfortunate, and neither threats nor danger deterred him from discharging what he conceived to be his duty. After quitting the Columbus schools, Mr. Kin- near attended Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio, for a time, and finally completed his studies, for the time being, at the State University, at Columbus, Ohio, and at once started in life for himself as a surveyor and farmer. His business in the former avocation increased rapidly, and he soon gave up the pursuit of a husbandman and devoted his attention to survey- ing and civil engineering. He has rendered valuable services to land-owners in establishing correct initial points and lines in Franklin and other counties. There are but few parcels of land in the former county that he has not re-staked with great precision. Under his supervision some of the finest improve- ments of the city of Columbus have been made. He has been connected with railways as civil engineer, and super- vised for many years the construction of highways and bridges, and the bridges which he built twenty years ago, are as solid in their foundations, and as firm in their superstructures, as he is in his friendships and in his principles. He laid out the town of North Columbus in 1854, and twenty years later engineered the construction of four miles of asphalt pave- ment which connects that place with Columbus proper, by one of the finest roadways in the State of Ohio. In 1857 Mr. Kinnear was married to Josephine, the fourth daughter of Captain Alexander Shattuck, late of Clinton Township, Franklin County, Ohio, who was one of the early settlers. He was a man of great benevolence, energy, and good humor, and was highly respected by all who knew him. So great was his good feeling toward his fellow-men, that it was no uncommon thing for him to invite the people of the whole neighborhood to great festivals, at which they were enter- tained with roasted ox, products of the farm and dairy, cool- ing beverages from his well-stored cellar, and speeches by distinguished orators. He was the father of twelve children- two sons and ten daughters, all of whom are living, except one son. William Shattuck, the surviving son, lives on the old homestead, and is also held in high repute. Seven of the ten daughters are married, and are all numbered among the very best women of Franklin County, and are held in high regard wherever known, for their high characters and their many womanly and wifely virtues. The offspring of the marriage of Mr. Kinnear to the fourth daughter are-Samuel A., a prominent young business man of Columbus, who married Carrie A., the only daughter of the late Samuel Foster; Will- iam S., Edgar F., and Elizabeth. Mr. Kinnear was elected county surveyor in 1870. At the expiration of his term he was elected city civil engineer of Columbus. He was chosen to the same position the second time, but resigned before his term was out to accept the nomination to the office of sheriff.
tendered him by a popular vote of the democratic electors of his county. He was subsequently elected by a large majority. His term expired in 1879, since which time he has been en- gaged as a civil engineer and contractor, and also devotes considerable attention to the development of valuable mining property in Colorado, which he owns jointly with others. The mere fact that Mr. Kinnear held office is of itself of little consequence. He would have been just as good a man, and would have left his impress upon the community as deeply, had he remained in private life upon his own farm, for nature endowed him with a lofty character which the mendacious can not purchase with either riches or honors. He has held many other positions of trust, in all of which he developed strength of principle because he ever proved himself above price and consideration. His natural aversion to vicious and bad men, his clear perception between right and wrong, his love of old books and old friends, indicate that he also developed good taste and strength of intellect and strength of affection. His intimate relations with the people of Franklin County have given him a large personal following, and he occupies a deep place in their affections. No man in distress ever appealed to Josiah Kinnear in vain. The humblest who approach him for help go not empty away. Though a surveyor of great proficiency he has never been able to measure the distance between honesty and dishonesty, between truth and false- hood. He is a Christian, a scholar, and a gentleman, noble and courteous to all, and as free from cant and pretense as a man can well be. Without such men as he is, scattered here and there, far distant from each other, this life would be bereft of its chief pleasures. Naturally of a cheerful disposi- tion, he is best satisfied with himself when he contributes to the happiness of others. In a word, it can be said of Josiah Kinnear that he is one of the best 'specimens of natural man- hood that Franklin County has produced.
HOGE, JOHN, of the well-known firm of Schultz & Co., soap manufacturers, Zanesville, was born at the place named, July 6th, 1840. His parents were Israel and Betsey (Doster) Hoge. He is of Welsh extraction, his ancestors having been among the early emigrants from Wales to the United States. Up to his fourteenth year the subject of this sketch attended the public schools of Zanesville, where his early education was exclusively acquired. His subsequent education was eminently practical, as must of necessity re- sult by the union of natural business qualifications with ex- cellent opportunities. On quitting school he entered the employment of Mr. William Schultz, a gentleman of marked character, and a pioneer in the business interests of Zanesville, under whose auspices he became conversant with the intrica- cies of business transactions ; and he is, no doubt, largely in- debted to that gentleman for the thorough knowledge of re- quirements which characterizes his relation with the business fraternity at present. When he engaged with Mr. Schultz as office clerk that gentleman was carrying on the business of soap manufacture-not, however, on the extended scale on which the business is now operated. While the products of his factory were of exceptional quality, his trade was purely local. From the time he first entered Mr. Schultz's employ- ment his advancement was rapid and continuous until 1864, when he was admitted to partnership. In 1866 Mr. Schultz retired from the business, and was succeeded by his son, Mr. Robert Schultz, Mr. Hoge continuing his connection as for- merly, and the business retaining the old firm name, Schultz
·
596
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
& Co. Since the accession of Mr. Robert Schultz the growth of the business has been more than commensurate with the increase of Zanesville's mercantile and manufacturing inter- ests. Indeed, its growth has been phenomenal, and the firm of Schultz & Co. is known from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and their soaps are sent to every accessible portion of the United States. Shortly subsequent to Mr. William Schultz's retirement Mr. Hoge, after repeated experiments, succeeded in producing a brand of soap, employing in its composition ingredients never before used, in the manufacture, which secured for them wide and general notice throughout the United States. Their reputation was further enhanced by the production of the first colored laundry soap made in the United States, known to the public as "Schultz's Original Irish Soap"-the only soap in which bluing was used as a component part. This soap was prepared by Mr. Hoge, and found many imitators in this country. Mr. Hoge's relations to Zanesville are those of a public-spirited citizen; and, in conjunction with his partner, Mr. Robert Schultz, it has been given expression in a readiness to further every project for public improvement, especially in the matter of increasing Zanesville's railroad facilities. Schultz & Co.'s Opera-house is reputed one of the finest specimens of theater architecture in the United States. He is unmarried.
BENTLEY, AHOLIAB, iron master, Portsmouth, Ohio, was born near Sharon, Pennsylvania, May 22d, 1807. He is the youngest of eleven children of Benjamin Bentley and Mary Baldwin, both natives of the Keystone State. His father was a millwright by trade and followed it a number of years. Young Bentley passed his boyhood on a farm in Trumbull county, Ohio, to which place his parents moved when he was about one year old. He received only the common ed- ucation of his day, frequently walking three miles to school in the winter season and working on a farm the remainder of the year. Between fifteen and seventeen he attended school in Warren, Ohio, and then for two or three years engaged in teaching, first in Richland county, then in the old court-house in Georgetown, Brown county, and subsequently in what was called the Red Oak settlement in the vicinity of Ripley, Ohio. Among his pupils at the last named place was Dr. Dunlap, now a celebrated surgeon of Springfield, Ohio. In 1828 he embarked in mercantile business in Georgetown, Ohio, with his brother-in-law, William Shepherd, and in this and in farm- ing was engaged ten years. He was subsequently in the same business in Higginsport, same county. In the spring of 1840 he became clerk at the Hanging Rock landing, Lawrence county, Ohio, for Messrs. Campbell, Ellison & Co., who were then running Mt. Vernon furnace. In the spring of 1844 he removed to Manchester, Ohio, and for two years was engaged in milling. In the fall of 1846, in connection with John Campbell and others, he built Gallia furnace, in Gallia county, Ohio, with which he remained connected some eleven years. In 1853 he removed to Portsmouth, where he superintended the finances of the furnace until 1857. In 1854 he became connected with Madison furnace, in Jackson county, Ohio, in which his sons are now interested. In 1873 he became a member of the Globe Iron Company, of Jack- son, Jackson county, Ohio, still retaining his connection. For a time Mr. Bentley was a member of the Portsmouth city council. His political complexion is decidedly republican. He has been twice married. First, in 1830, to Mrs. Mary Ann McCalla, daughter of James Dennis, of Brown county, Ohio.
She died in 1836, having been the mother of two sons. Morrison A. Bentley, who is now engaged in farming near Des Moines, Iowa; and Martin Corwin Bentley, who was killed in 1854 by being thrown from a sulky, being at the time clerk in Eagle furnace, Vinton county, Ohio. In 1840 Mr. Bentley married Jane Linn, daughter of Ebenezer Linn, of Brown county. The five children by this marriage are Laura Jane, now wife of Charles P. Lloyd, of Sciotoville, Ohio; Mary Ellen, who resides at home; Linn Bentley, clerk at Madison furnace; Benjamin Bentley, clerk in the Globe Iron Company's store in Jackson, Ohio; and Franklin, who died young. Mr. Bentley has been in active business since 1828, having, as his record shows, several times changed from one business to another; but in all this time he has never known a failure. He says his financiering consisted in the fact that he never invested in any enterprise more than he could afford to lose, and the result has been that he has passed through every crisis of our country since that time with unimpaired credit. For more than half a century he has been identified with the industrial interests of Southern Ohio, and is one of Ports- · mouth's oldest and most substantial citizens. His example is worthy of imitation for all young men who would succeed in life. He relates, with considerable amusement, the fact that when he was a small boy he earned his first money by piling brush for two cents a day and his board. He has long been a member of the Methodist denomination, has held various positions of honor and trust in the Sixth Street Church of Portsmouth, is a man of modest manners, and in all respects a thorough Christian gentleman.
LANE, WILLIAM GRISWOLD, was born at Norwalk, Ohio, February 12th, 1824. He died at Sandusky, October 28th, 1877. His father, Ebenezer Lane, and his mother, Frances Ann (Griswold) Lane, were from Old Lyme, Con- necticut, and were the kindred and peers of the Griswolds and Wolcotts, who for several generations were governors and judges of Connecticut. His father was eminent as judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio for twenty- one years-three terms. An early teacher and life-long friend of Judge William G. Lane, in a letter addressed to his sons, says: "It may interest you to have me tell you some- thing of your father when he was about your age. Your grandfather was my teacher in the law, and your father be- gan his Latin with me. His lesson was assigned him and was recited perfectly, and another assigned to him that was somewhat longer. He mastered that as perfectly as the first, and soon won my respect by his aptness to learn, and my love by his simple, affectionate, and confiding nature. In- deed, from that period my heart has gone out to him in sin- cere respect and love, and as he 'increased in wisdom and stature ' and developed into a true and noble manhood, my respect and affection have grown with his years. Around his father's home were ample grounds,-lawn and orchard and meadow. The very animals seemed to appreciate their home. The very atmosphere was 'peace, good will to men.'" The following extracts from the Sandusky Register indicate the course of Judge Lane's life after leaving home for school : "Judge Lane's father, who was a noted lawyer and jurist, early determined to give his boys the advantages of the best schools the country afforded. At twelve years of age the son, William G., was sent to a flourishing seminary at Mid- dletown, Connecticut, to prepare for college. While there, he was a school-fellow of R. B. Hayes, the then bright young
katern Erzal But Co
A. Bentley
1
597
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
man of promise, and now ex- President of the United States. Rev. Isaac Webb was the principal of the Middletown school, and a better man could not have been selected to give these boys a solid foundation for future usefulness. He remained at Mr. Webb's school for three years, and there laid the foundation of that long term of usefulness which characterized his subsequent life. At fifteen years of age, he entered Yale college, at once taking high rank as a pupil of marked ability and studious habits. In 1843, he graduated at Yale, and went thence to the celebrated law school at Harvard, then as now, one of the most famous law schools of the country. His stay at Harvard covered but a year, yet in that short time he became well-grounded in the fundamental principles of law. While he was at college, his parents moved to San- dusky, where, after leaving the Harvard law school, he spent one year, and in 1846, he went to Berlin, Germany, where he studied law one year under the best German professors that city could afford, and returning to America, became associated with his father in the practice of the law, the firm being known as E. Lane & Son." , He continued in the active practice of law until February, 1873, when he was made judge of common pleas for the Fourth judicial district. The Sandusky Register further said of him: "As a lawyer before the courts, William G. Lane had no superior, as a judge he had few equals; and when he was forced by ill- health to resign, the expression of regret was universal from one end of the judicial circuit to the other. In all the rela- tions of life, William G. Lane was unexceptionably pure, manly, and noble. As a father he was loving and kind, as husband devoted to a fault, as a citizen wisely patriotic and progressive, and especially cheerful, social, and companion- able. Well nigh devoid of faults, his friends could truthfully say that he was as perfect as man could well be made and be one of us." He was married October 31st, 1850, to Elizabeth Diodate Griswold, daughter of Charles C. Griswold, of Old Lyme, Connecticut. Subsequently the same early friend and teacher referred to above, writes to Mrs. Lane: "You have my deepest sympathy. *
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.