USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 64
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
public affairs of the city of Painesville, he took a prominent part, being a member of the council and an active and liberal citizen. His political views were democratic, standing firmly by the principles of that party, and wielding considerable influence in that organization, whilst his uprightness of char- acter and the honesty of his convictions secured him respect and no little influence among citizens of all shades of political opinion. He never sought office, though by a change in his political creed he could easily have secured many offices had he desired. He was a member of the democratic convention, at Cincinnati, in 1856, which nominated James Buchanan for the Presidency. In the war of the Rebellion, he was a strong war democrat, giving active support to the Union cause, and being instrumental in raising a company, of which he was offered the captaincy. He was an earnest and liberal member of the Episcopal church. In 1837 he mar- ried Miss Nancy I. Kimball of Madison, and they had seven children, of whom four were living in 1878: Charles C. and Ralph K., in Painesville, and David R. and Albert, in Akron. Alma, married to John F. Whitelaw, Cleveland, died Febru- ary 17th, 1873.
WHITE, WILLIAM, late Chief Justice of the State of Ohio, was born in England, on the 28th of January, 1822, and upon whose death, which occurred at his home in Spring- field, Ohio, on the 12th of March, 1883, the State Bar Associa- tion, by a special committee, offered the following memorial, which was, by the court, ordered to be printed in the 38th volume of the Supreme Court Reports of Ohio:
"William White, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, having departed this life on the 12th instant, after thirty-three years of unabated and conscientious devotion to arduous public services, the members of the bar of the State deem it to be their bounden duty to express, in a pub- lic and solemn manner, their profound sorrow at his death; and to testify their high esteem for his long, faithful, and eminent services, as well as for the unsullied purity and up- rightness of his personal character, and his excellent en- dearing qualities of heart; and to record their affection for his memory, and their appreciation of the inestimable value of his long, useful, and inspiring career, and his unremitting toil, to the detriment of his pecuniary interests, in the service of the State he loved so well. The loss of such a man from the judicial forum is irreparable to the public, as well as to the bar. In his hands, as a magistrate, life, liberty, and property were safe. To commemorate, as we now do, the character, and virtues, and usefulness of such a man, is not a mere outward, unmeaning rite; for nothing is truer than that 'the character and virtues, the just sentiments and use- ful actions of distinguished men, preserved in the annals and cherished in the recollections of a grateful people, constitute their richest treasure.'"
The parents of Mr. White dying when he was very young, he came to this country in 1831, with an uncle. They settled in Springfield, Ohio. At twelve years of age he was ap- prenticed to a cabinet-maker, for nine years, but, after serving out six years of his apprenticeship, he purchased the remainder of his time from his master, giving his notes for the purchase money, and continuing to work at his trade until his indebtedness was liquidated. He was desirous of obtaining an education. To enable him to obtain the nec- essary means, he devoted all his energies to his trade, work- ing at his business during vacation and such other spare time as he could find. His principal education was received at the old Springfield High School. On completing his course of studies he was encouraged by William A. Rodgers, an eminent lawyer of Springfield, to commence the study of
799
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
law under him. He adopted his advice. He earned the necessary expenses by teaching school at certain intervals. In 1846 he was admitted to the bar, and taken into partner- ship by his preceptor, and so continued until the latter was elected Judge of the the Common Pleas Court, in 1851. In 1847 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Clark County, and was thrice re-elected. In 1856 he was elected, by a very large majority, Judge of the Common Pleas Court. The vote of Clark County was cast almost unanimously for him. In 1861 he was re-elected. Upon the resignation of Hock- ing H. Hunter, in February, 1864, he was appointed, by Governor Brough, Judge of the Supreme Court, and in Oc- tober was elected for the unexpired term. He was re-elected in 1868, in 1873, and in 1878. Judge White was married in October, 1847, to Miss Rachel Stout, whose parents were among the early settlers of Springfield. She, with three of their children, survives. The eldest, his son Charles, is a member of the Springfield bar. His daughter, Emma, mar- ried Robert C. Rodgers, who is a member of the same bar. His younger daughter is unmarried. He educated all his children liberally. He was a most affectionate and devoted husband, and a most considcrate, kind, and indulgent father. His home was one of the happiest of homes. Judge White's simple and modest manners, his kindness of nature, his warm, social impulses, his unvarying courtesy, his almost unexampled regard for the feelings and rights of others, his charity for human frailties, and his never-failing patience toward all men, endeared him to every one who knew him. These characteristics, as well as the manner in which he dis- charged the duties of his great office, made him a favorite with the bar as well as with all ranks and conditions of men. Both the bar and the public manifested their admiration, esteem, confidence, and gratitude toward him by renominating, with- out opposition, and re-electing him as often as his term of office expired. He was a wise and honest citizen. His neighbors, without exception, regarded him as a loving friend. He took pleasure in aiding them with his wise coun- sels, and his charities were bestowed with a free hand. Those who have known him from boyhood, affirm that he never had a personal enemy. His personal character was of the highest order. Exemplary rectitude and wise sobriety adorned his whole life. He was the very soul of honor in all the relations of life. He was unpretentious in all his performances, and was another illustration of the truism that unpretending characters are rarely deficient. He was a man of great industry-a virtue which is an offense against morality to call humble in one who is the keeper both of his own talent and not seldom that of others also. It was, how- ever, industry of the highest order-constant action of the intellect practically applied. To say that he was patient and diligent and thorough in the investigation of causes, and unswerving in his adherence to his convictions, is sim- ply to state what is attested by his opinions reported in twenty volumes of Reports of the Judicial Decisions of the Supreme Court. These decisions and opinions will consti- tute, for all time, an enduring monument of his sound dis- criminating judgment, and his fidelity and eminence as a jurist. During his nineteen years of service on the Supreme Bench, changes in many matters and things connected with the important business of men in our advancing and great State, took place. While he never departed from established and settled legal principles, he wisely adapted them to vary- ing circumstances and conditions. For, while his mind was
of a philosophic cast, he was, as a magistrate, eminently practi- cal. He aided in solving many constitutional questions of the highest moment. His reported decisions touch almost every branch of the law. They have always been, and will ever be, regarded with the highest respect, because they bear internal evidence that they are the results and products of exhaustive legal research by a strong, logical, penetrating mind, and of a man of the sternest integrity and strictest impartiality. Judge White has left, for all time, an enduring and elevating impression upon the jurisprudence and judi- cial history of the State, and he has added much to the dis- tinction of her Supreme Judicial Court. He had a superior mind for the law. He was mentally, morally, and physically adapted to judicial service, and especially to the peculiar service required of a member of a court for the correction of errors. He was extremely fond of investigating and ap- plying general principles. His mind naturally pondered upon any cause or question he was called upon to investi- gate. He could not decide until he had viewed it on all sides and in all its aspects and bearings. His methods illus- trated the truth of a striking observation of a distinguished philosopher: "There is much in this process of pondering and its results which it is impossible to analyze. It is by a kind of inspiration that we rise from the wise and sedulous contemplation of facts to the principles upon which they de- pend. The mind is, as it were, a photographic plate, which . is gradually cleansed by the effort to think rightly, and which, when so cleansed (and not before) receives impres- sions from the light of truth." Judge White was not a bril- liant, quick-minded man ; but he had a strong, solid, logical, honest mind. He had great powers of concentration and discrimination, and unwearied application. He was no re- specter of persons in the hearing of causes or in judgment. A sound point or a good reason, in support of a contention, stated by the feeblest member of the bar, had the same ef- fect upon his mind as if urged by the strongest lawyer. He might be misled by a fallacious proposition or specious ar- gument, at first, but before he ceased pondering upon it he would discover its fallacy. Judge White has left to the pro- fession of the bar, from which he was promoted to the high- est honor which a lawyer can receive from the State, a les- son and an example worthy of following; and, although he has left but a small cstate to his widow and children, he has left them the rich heritage of an unsullied name and the record of a life devoted to the service of his fellow-men. Although Judge White was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, to be Judge of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of Ohio, his illness prevented him from resigning his position on the Su- preme Bench of the State and then qualifying as District Judge of the Federal Court. Since he has passed from all earthly courts to his final reward, it seems fitting that he should not have vacated till then the judicial forum of his beloved State, wherein he labored and established his fame, and that his last judicial act should be one authenticating the enduring records which will perpetuate it in the history of the State for all time.
GILMORE, JAMES, of the late banking-house of James Gilmore & Co., of Cincinnati, was born September 21st, 1814, at Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York. His father, Gor- don R. Gilmore, was born at Bailieboro', in the county Cavan, Ireland, and his mother, Phœbe Sandford, was a native of
C-29
800
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
Bridgehampton. In 1821, his father and his uncle John (his father's brother,) moved to Cincinnati, and there established the earliest private banking-house in that city, under the firm name of J. & G. R. Gilmore. It was located on Main street, west side, near the present Madison House. On the 21st October, 1832, his father died, a victim to the cholera, which in that year spread such desolation among the people of the western country. James Gilmore entered Yale College in 1830, and graduated in 1834, and subsequently studied law, but the death of his father induced him to join his uncle in the banking business, and subsequently to establish on the Ist January, 1840, the banking-house that up to his retirement from the same, on the Ist December, 1878, he continually en- gaged in the business of conducting. On the 18th July, 1842, Mr. Gilmore married Miss Mary Jane Stibbs of Cincinnati, from which marriage there were born five children, of whom the second son, Virgil G., became a partner with his father in the banking business.
WILLEY, GEORGE, attorney and advocate, of Cleve- land, was born in Boston, Mass., January 2d, 1821. He was a son of Newton Willey, a prominent merchant, and largely connected with iron and ship interests in that city. Until the age of fourteen, when his father died, he received in- struction at the Boston schools. Under the guardianship of -his uncle, Judge John W. Willey, he spent four years at Jef- ferson college, in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he graduated. He then came to Cleveland, where, after pursu- ing the study of the law a year in the office of Judge Willey, and another with Bolton & Kelly, he was admitted to the bar in 1842. In 1843, he united with the late John E. Cary, in a law partnership which continued for many years. During the years in which a growing practice occupied a large por- tion of his efforts and time, he still gave much attention to the cultivation of literary tastes, as well as to the study of subjects connected with the educational institutions of the city. His abilities as a public speaker and writer upon the fine arts and subjects of popular science, made him a favorite lecturer upon these and kindred topics. Expending great study in his investigations and researches and great care in the style of his addresses, his lectures before popular assem- blies were models of elegant diction, and full of useful and interesting points. His strong interest in the cause of edu- cation brought him fully into sympathy and co-operation with a large number of energetic and public-spirited men. The public schools of this city were in their infancy. It was his aim to organize the schools upon a plan which should be as efficient in giving the people's children the highest and best education as they advanced in years, as it had been in conferring merely primary instructions. In spite of much prejudice, the establishment of thoroughly graded schools and of high schools was after a long contest fully adopted, and the public schools made the pride and ornament of the city of Cleveland. During several years next following 1845, he filled the position of acting manager and superin- tendent of the public schools, and no one who had knowledge of the rapid strides which the schools made in those years toward perfection of organization and successful results can doubt that his labors were effective and important. His
printed reports were full and exhaustive on all the topics connected with systems of teaching, and the policy to be pursued by the authorities in fostering the education of the city's youth. These reports had more than a local influence
and circulation. As treatises on education they were con- sidered valuable additions to the literature upon the subjects of which they treated, and are said to have largely assisted in the formation of public opinion and in giving the results of difficult experiments to other educators through the cities of the West. It was to his wisdom and energies that the city was largely indebted for our public school system, the per- fection of which was so great that for many years no private school could prosper in the city of Cleveland. The breadth of his views and the healthy influence exerted by him in their adoption were happily described by the first high school teacher in Cleveland, since become an author of valu- able text books, who, writing in reference to Mr. Willey's labors, said : " His mind is remarkably well balanced, and he sees the relative values of knowledge better than any man I ever knew. It was just here that he made himself so valu- able in the early organization of our schools and in forming plans of instruction. Enthusiastic teachers are exceedingly apt to get into narrow channels and see but a few things at a time. Willey, with his broad and splendid views, in half an hour's talk would fetch them out into clearer seas, and show them the big earth. These broader and more philosophical notions of 'education for the million,' especially character- ized our schools while Mr. Willey was secretary of the board of education eight or ten years." At the bar he maintained a position as practitioner and advocate to which but few at- tain. His natural gifts, physical and mental, were thoroughly disciplined and cultivated. The resources which an excel- lent education, a wide range of classical, scientific and liter- ary studies, and that very extensive variety of experience which a large legal practice affords, enabled him to give to his public efforts at the bar a strength and wealth of expres- sion which never failed to interest all who listened. His practice was largely devoted to those special departments of the law which embraced the transactions of a large commer- cial and manufacturing seaport. He was therefore chiefly engaged in cases in the admiralty courts and to those arising under the patent laws. In these broad fields of practice he was acknowledged to have made, by virtue of his thorough research and originality of views, valuable contributions to the science of maritime law, and to have had no superior in the qualities necessary to a mastery of the scientific principles and technical difficultics of the patent laws. When President Grant was elected, he appointed Mr. Willey United States attorney for the northern district of Ohio, and again on his second election renewed his commission as such officer. He at times filled the chair of president of the Library Associ- ation and of the Cleveland Homoeopathic College, and was officially connected with other public institutions. His official duties as United States attorney were discharged with fidelity and ability, in connection with his varied and general legal practice.
MACK, WILLIAM A., inventor, Norwalk, Huron County, a son of Gordon A. and Eliza Mack, was born in Portage, New York, March 2d, 1830. At twelve years he was thrown on his own resources, occasioned by the breaking up of the home and family on account of the death of his mother, and his father's removal to Medina, Ohio. The activity of his boyish nature speedily asserted itself, and led him to push boldly into the battle of life. His taste for mechanics quickly determined his course, and before a year had passed he was learning his trade in the furniture manufactory of Samuel W.
W.A. Mack,
801
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPÆDIA AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
Smith, of Castile, New York. For three years at this place, and afterward in other parts of the State, he industriously devoted himself to the perfection of his knowledge and skill as a cabinet maker. While thus employed, he was pursuing as best he could the studies that his early withdrawal from school had interrupted, and soon developed a genius for in- vention. Having mastered his trade as it was then con- ducted, he at once began to improve its methods and pro- cesses. He constructed for the works in which he was employed, a complete set of machinery, including the first planer used in that county, with marked improvement over the machines of that day. The successful use of this machin- ery for many years afterward is testimony of its excellence. Mr. Mack's first business venture on his own account was at Belfast, New York, where, in 1856, he established a factory, operating the same about four years, when he sold out and removed to Seville, Medina county, Ohio. Here he devoted himself to invention, and the improvement of machinery. His works at this time were of a practical nature, reflecting much credit on him as an inventor; but were in lines that did not bring them prominently before the general public, until he brought out the sewing machine which he patented in 1863. From this time on his history is that of the "Domes- tic" sewing machine; for to its perfection and introduction he now surrendered his time and energy. For some years he had a sore struggle with difficulties, prominent among which was the opposition of the older sewing machine manu- facturers, who, by virtue of their extraordinary patents, assumed to control the entire production of this useful article. Nor was lack of capital the least of his obstacles, for, in giving his time to experiments, he had. not withheld from them a large portion of his profits. The sewing machine proved his bonanza, and a fairly earned one. He began to investigate their principles in 1861, more than ten years after they were an acknowledged success, after hundreds of patents had been granted for their improvement, and millions of capital already interested in sustaining the existing monopoly, a strong com- bination of interests opposed to the introduction of a new machine, and enough to have deterred any but an enthusiast. But Mr. Mack was confident, and with a mind fresh to the subject, he sought to produce the desired result by the most direct means. Uninfluenced by the opinion of previous in- ventors, he discarded the dragging and objectionable motion of cams and gearing, substituting a movement, beautiful in its simplicity, and as easy as the swinging of a pendulum. With his own hands he made the designs and models, and completed all the work on twelve machines, astonishing his friends by the rapidity and success of his effort, which had been directed mainly to producing a machine capable of greater range of work, and requiring less power to drive it, thus saving the strength, and often the health of the operatives who were toiling with the heavy running machines of earlier makes. His machine was a success, and this was the be- ginning of the unparalleled career of the "Light Running Domestic." Manufacturing in a small way, he moved suc- cessively to Cleveland and to Norwalk for increased facilities, and was so successful in effecting sales that the combined Eastern companies attempted to suppress the machine. Suits were brought against Mr. Mack that involved a litigation lasting until 1868, when they were withdrawn, the combina- tion paying costs, and granting a license for the use of their patents, so far as embraced in the "Domestic." From this time the success of the machine was uninterrupted; for, ex- tending the business, Mr. Mack associated with himself
Messrs. Milo P. Smith, N. S. C. Perkins, and Frank Mack. The reputation of the machine being now wide-spread, at- tracted the attention of some wealthy Eastern capitalists, and at a time when the facilities of its manufacturers were still unequal to the demand, they received propositions that led to the formation of the "Domestic" Sewing Machine Company, as it now exists, with headquarters in New York city. The business was placed in their hands in 1870, and arrangements were immediately made with the Providence Tool Company, of Providence, Rhode Island, who devoted one of their large factories entirely to this work, pushing the manufacture to the extent of more than three hundred machines a day. The new company in the meantime prepared to conduct all branches of their business upon their own premises. They first built for their home office, the magnificent building now occupied by them on Broadway and Union Square, one of the recognized landmarks in that city of business palaces, and on its completion turned their attention to the establish- ment, at Newark, New Jersey, of a factory complete in all departments, and of a capacity equal to the growing demands of their popular machine. Although brought up a Methodist, Mr. Mack is now a prominent member of the First Universal- ist church, of Norwalk, to which, as also to Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio, he has made liberal donations. His political sympathies are with the republicans. In Masonry, he has won a position of considerable eminence, having taken the 32d degree, and held the highest offices in the gift of his brethren, among whom he is known as being ever among the first to aid a worthy brother when in misfortune. He takes great interest in everything that pertains to the prosperity of Norwalk, and it is owing to his able superintendency of the water works, of which he is president, they principally owe their present efficiency. Mr. Mack married, September 29th, 1853, Miss Helen M., daughter of James Thompson, of Eagle Village, New York. Two children have been born to them, Cora L. and Willie G. Mack. Mr. Mack continues to reside in Norwalk, where he enjoys the result of his successful in- vention, in a quiet, unostentatious manner. Although thor- oughly identified with the local interests of the city of his home, being extensively engaged in mercantile and manu- facturing business there, he did not lose interest in his great- est invention, but spent much time at the manufactory in New Jersey, watching and aiding the development of new features of convenience and excellence, which the progress of the times demands of a first-class sewing machine, and for which the present management of the company are mak- ing their machine pre-eminently the leader, and now enjoys the reflection that he was the originator of the plan that, more than all others, tended to a revolution in the system of machinery used for sewing. It is noticeable that, since the introduction of the " Domestic," no new machine has been put in the market without, to a greater or less extent, at- tempting to imitate its general features; but of course the patents protect from this piracy the grand essentials of its superiority. Mr. Mack's career is a fine illustration of the fame and fortune that attend an inventor of superior merit, when his invention is properly managed. His success, under the discouraging circumstances of his start, entitles him to high rank among business men, and he may be well content in the thought that from the creation of his brain has come the most useful and popular sewing machine of the day. He is eminently one of those natural born mechanical geniuses, and a most pleasant and affable gentleman, refined in man- ner and address.
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.