USA > Ohio > The biographical cyclopaedia and portrait gallery with an historical sketch of the state of Ohio. Volume III > Part 9
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from which place, in February, 1875, he removed to Canton, his present residence and field of labor. Homœopathy has grown largely in favor in Stark County since the advent of Dr. Catlin, which fact must be attributed to the great success he has had in the treatment of cases under his care. He is a member of the Homoeopathic Medical Society of North- eastern Ohio, and of the American Institute of Homœopa- thy. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In political views he is a Republican, though not an active ·politician. He is the oldest homœopathic physician in Can- ton, commands the leading practice of that school in the county, and devotes all his time to the practice of his pro- fession, in which he is highly successful, and is much esteemed in the community, as well for his faithful and skillful devotion to his profession as for his gentlemanly bearing and personal worth. He was married in January, 1869, to Rozella D., the estimable daughter of Anson Clarke, Esq., of Brookfield, New York, and they have a charming family, consisting of one boy and two girls.
WRIGHT, JOHN C., jurist, was born August 17th, 1784, at Weathersfield, Connecticut, and died February 13th, 1861, at Washington, D. C. Having lost his parents when quite young, he received such early education as the com- mon schools of New England at that time afforded, and at sixteen years of age was placed, by his guardian, in the print- ing office of Thomas Collier, at Litchfield, to learn the trade of a printer. This naturally led him, afterwards, to the pur- suit of a journalist. During his early manhood he assisted in publishing a newspaper at Troy, New York, and studied law at the same time. Soon after Ohio was admitted into the Union, however, he removed, with his family, to this State, and settled at Steubenville, where he was engaged in writing up the records of the courts by day and continued his law studies by night. He was admitted to the bar in August, 1810. From 1811 to 1822 he filled various offices-county prosecuting attorney, collector of taxes, and United States district attorney. At the October election of 1822, he was elected a representative in Congress from the fourth Congres- sional district of Ohio, and served three successive terms. In 1830, he was elected a judge of the supreme court of Ohio, and, in 1831, was commissioned for the term of seven years, but resigned his seat upon the bench in 1835. On the-death of Charles Hammond, having meanwhile removed to Cincin- nati, he assumed the editorial management of the Cincinnati Gazette, which he exercised until 1853, when, his eyesight failing, he retired to private life, which he only left early in 1861, when chosen a delegate to the peace convention at Washington, where his death by paralysis occurred. Through the years of a long life he enjoyed his full share of the public confidence and bore a full share of the public burdens; and it is not too much to say that he never betrayed a trust re- posed in him. To illustrate the views he entertained of public faith and personal honor, it may be mentioned that, having been elected to Congress in October, 1821, and hav- ing received the executive certificate, he declined to avail himself of the legal right to his seat in that body, because the election had been close and was disputed, until, by a new election the ensuing fall, his successful choice was undoubted. As a representative in Congress, it was generally admitted that he was able, energetic, diligent, and faithful to his con- stituents. But in the Presidential election of 1825, which came into the House of Representatives, he voted for John
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Quincy Adams in preference to Andrew Jackson. It was no disparagement to General Jackson that one of the first minds in America or any other country, versed from early youth in every department of statesmanship, should have been thought fitter for civil rule than he. And when the Constitu- tion gave the House of Representatives the power to elect, in case the people failed to make a choice, it was not that they should be tellers merely, either of the popular or the electoral vote, but that they should use their soundest judgment in a choice between the two highest candidates, and there is no reason to believe that this was not done. But the partisan cry of "bargain and sale," invented to destroy Mr. Clay, pur- sued Mr. Wright as one of Mr. Clay's coadjutors, till, in his fourth canvass for Congress, he was defeated. This brought Mr. Wright back to his natural and congenial element- the practice of law. As a lawyer he stood in the first rank of his profession. He was well read in the elementary books of the law, and familiar with the reported cases. He was an ac- complished special pleader, and thoroughly versed in the rules of practice. As a forensic debater, he had few equals at the bar. What he lacked in strength he made up in dex- terity ; and what he lacked in eloquence he made up in wit. His voice was shrill, rough, and full of meaning. His diction, save only the nomenclature of the law, was purely English - free alike from classic ornament and affectation of learning. His logic was not massive, but always clear. His action was exceedingly graceful, except for a shrug of the shoulder, which he was accused of copying from John Randolph. As a man, Mr. Wright's honor and integrity were never ques- tioned. By the majority voice of the people alone would he be influenced to accept office. As a neighbor, he was kind and obliging. His law and miscellaneous libraries, both ex- tensive, were always free to every young man seeking knowl- edge from books; and the principle on which he acted is illustrated by a very unimportant anecdote. When he re- sided in Steubenville, he kept a carriage and a span of horses, a luxury not very common in those days, and used to lend them to his neighbors on occasions. Some friend reminded him that such property should never be lent. His reply was that he would keep nothing about him that would make a bad neighbor of him. But the best aspect of Mr. Wright's char- acter was to be found in his domestic life. In his own house he was always amiable, cheerful, witty, animated, kind, and affectionate; and he was, as he deserved to be, the idol of his family.
MUHLHAUSER, GOTTLIEB, president of the Wind- isch - Muhlhauser Brewing Company, Cincinnati, O., was born in Germany, January 24th, 1836, and came to America with his parents when five years of age. Five years later the family settled in Cincinnati. Gottlieb was sent to a school conducted by Professor Holferich, but in consequence of his father's death shortly afterward he was obliged to discon- tinue his studies and seek employment for the support of his widowed mother and several younger brothers, he being the oldest of the family. He found work in a pottery, on Freeman Street, and went home every Saturday night with one dollar and twenty-five cents, his week's wages, all of which he gave to his mother. This amount, small as it was, constituted the chief means of support for the family for a long time. However, he finally bettered his situation by getting employment in a mineral water establishment, where he remained till 1854, during which time he denied himself
of all luxuries, and indeed many necessities, by which means he saved ninety dollars. With this he established himself in the mineral water business, and in the following year started a branch in Chillicothe, and success following, he opened another in Hamilton, Ohio. He then took his brother, Henry, as partner in his Cincinnati business, and both con- ducted the manufacture and sale of mineral water until 1859. Having accumulated some capital they bought a mill for cracking or grinding malt, and shortly after opened a steam flouring-mill, out of which they turned out from one hundred and fifty to two hundred barrels of flour daily, which were principally furnished the government. In 1867 Mr. Muhl- hauser, in company with Mr. Windisch and his brother, Mr. Henry Muhlhauser, organized the Lion Brewery, and erected extensive buildings, the construction of which was superin- tended principally by Mr. Muhlhauser. He was not, him- self, an experienced brewer, but he at once entered into a thorough study of the business, in which he was aided greatly by Mr. Windisch, who had had years of experience and was thouroughly conversant with every detail. It was not long before Mr. Muhlhauser had learned all the technicalities connected with the various processes of manufacture, and soon became master of the situation. He at once assumed the management of the manufacturing department, and, in- deed, the general superintendency of the entire institution. None but those conversant with the magnitude of this con- cern, which is one of the largest in the United States, can understand what great responsibility is attendant upon its man- agement-the great number of men to control, the varied and complicated machinery to superintend, the extensive pur- chases to make, and numerous other interests of the com- pany to oversee. If there is any one member of the company to whom the business specially owes its success that one is Mr. Gottlieb Muhlhauser, for the conduct of affairs and the policies pursued have been left chiefly to his good judgment and thorough knowledge. He has all the characteristics peculiar to the stolid Teutons-thoughtful deliberation, sa- gacity, thoroughness, and uprightness. One of the greatest acquisitions to their industry was introduced by them in 1882, viz .: two large Arctic ice machines, used for cooling their great cellars, which is accomplished by a chemical process through the agency of these machines. In their cellars there are no less than twelve miles of pipe, ramifying every part, giving off a frigid atmosphere, induced by the ice machines with which they connect. This supplants the old method of packing their goods with ice, and is one of the greatest in- ventions of the age. From its organization the company has established a wide reputation for the excellent quality of goods manufactured, which continues to this day. In 1882 the firm was changed to a stock company, with a paid-up capital of one million dollars, with Mr. G. Muhlhauser as president. The success of this company has been really mar- velous, and can be attributed to no other cause than the supe- rior ability of those who had its management in hand, and chiefly its head. Mr. Muhlhauser's career is a most worthy example of what possibilities wait on resolution, industry, frugality, and uprightness. What valuable lessons can be drawn from the lives of many of our fellow Germans! There was a boy just entering his teens when denied the privileges of education by the death of his father, whose place and responsibilities he was obliged to assume. To him had a widowed mother and brothers to look for support. Stern realities confronted him, to meet which he summoned all his
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resources, and succeeded. It was undoubtedly this severe ordeal so early in his life that fixed in his mind those funda- mental and invaluable principles and business ideas which have so characterized his entire life, and to which his great success is undoubtedly attributable. Besides having a large interest in their mammoth brewery, Mr. Muhlhauser owns large landed and city property. In 1857 he was married to Miss Christina Windisch, a native of Egloffstein, Bavaria, a sister of Mr. Conrad Windisch. Of this marriage were born six children, five of whom are now living. Henry, Jun., the oldest son, has for several years filled the position of treas- urer of the company. Mr. Muhlhauser is a man of retired and regular habits. He has never mingled with politics nor public affairs. He is a man of generous impulses, and always has a hand open to melting charity.
SUTLIFF, MILTON, lawyer and jurist, of Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, was born October 6th, 1806, in that county, in Ohio, the son of Samuel Sutliff, a respectable far- mer and soldier of the Revolution. His mother, Ruth Gran- ger, was a cousin of Gideon Granger, Postmaster-general under President Jefferson, who had also served in the war of independence. His mother was a remarkable woman, dis- tinguished for her piety and Christian virtues. Of a family of six sons, four became prominent lawyers. Milton was a graduate of Western Reserve College, in the class of 1834. After extended travel in the South, he returned to Warren in 1830, and at once took an active part in the measures set on foot by Garrison, Storrs, Wright, and others, for the abolition of slavery. He was one of the few who emphatically ap- proved of the radical views and course of these pioneers in the cause. In fact, he was a leader among them. In 1834, the Anti-Slavery Society of the Western Reserve was founded largely through his labors and ability. He volunteered his services as lecturer and disseminator of intelligence on the subject of slavery, and performed the self-imposed duties with courage and skill. His name was soon enrolled with Garri- son and Phillips as one of the able leaders of the anti-slavery cause. He traveled throughout the Reserve, lecturing and forming local societies. He was one of the members of the National Anti-Slavery Society, formed in Philadelphia in 1833, and took a prominent part in its deliberations and acts. In 1834 he was admitted to the bar, and engaged in practice at Warren. Chiefly for the meritorious part he took in bat- tling against slavery, and in stemming the tide of prejudice and opposition to the anti-slavery movement, he was elected to the legislature in 1849 by the free-soil party. This party held the balance of power in the assembly, and largely through his energetic labors and able management Salmon P. Chase was elected to the United States Senate over George E. Pugh, of Cincinnati. He was also credited with having exerted a powerful influence in the election of Benjamin F. Wade to the United States Senate, the same condition of parties operating at this time. In 1858 he was elected judge of the supreme court of Ohio, which position he held for five years-the last year as chief justice. His record while on the bench was that of a pure and able jurist. He was a sup- porter of Horace Greeley for the Presidency in 1872.
BURNET, JACOB, LL.D., pioneer lawyer, jurist, and statesman, was born at New Jersey, February 22d, 1770, and died at Cincinnati, Ohio, May 10th, 1853. He was the sixth son of Dr. William Burnet, (born in 1730, and who died in
1791, he also being the son of Dr. William Burnet, who died at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1773,) and educated at Nas- sau Hall, Princeton, from which institution he graduated with honor in 1791. After remaining a year as a resident-gradu- ate, he entered the office of Judge Boudinot, at Newark, as a student, and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of the State in the spring of 1796. He then proceeded at once to Cincinnati, where in previous years his father had invested in land. At that time Cincinnati was a village of fifteen rough frame houses, and a score or two of log-cabins. There was not a brick house in it, and the population numbered 150 inhabitants -the entire white population of the whole north- western territory being then estimated at 15,000 souls. Two years afterward it was ascertained that the territory contained 5,000 white male inhabitants, and consequently was entitled to enter upon the second grade of territorial government pro- vided by the ordinance of 1787. This recognized a general assembly, consisting of representatives, elected by the citi- zens or legal voters of the territory, and a legislative council of five persons, nominated by the general assembly and ap- pointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. As the members of this council, Mr. Burnet, James Findlay, Henry Vander- burgh, Robert Oliver, and David Vance were elected and appointed by President John Adams, and Mr. Burnet re- mained a member until the dissolution of this council, four years afterward, by the organization of a State government. In the practice of his profession as a lawyer, being obliged to travel over the whole settled portion of the territory, as far as Detroit on the north, and Vincennes on the south, he was thus enabled to learn by personal observation the wants of the territory and shape legislation to meet them - he himself being the author of most of the important measures adopted by the Territorial legislature. Believing the proposition to organize a State government premature, he opposed it, and when it was adopted he resigned and confined himself to his professional practice, wherein his talents, as a brilliant advo- cate and excellent lawyer, enabled him to assume and main- tain the front rank until 1817, when he retired from practice. Four years afterward he accepted the governor's appointment to the bench of the supreme court, and was subsequently elected to that position by the State legislature. In 1828 he resigned the position, having been elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of General W. H. Harrison, and accepted the seat upon the express agreement that he should not be reelected. His term expired in 1833, and subsequently he refused positively any public office, and until his death, twenty years afterward, he took no active part in public affairs. Being, about the time he was elected to the supreme bench of the State, also elected professor of law in the University of Lexington, Vir- ginia, he received from that institution the honorary degree of doctor of laws, and had the same honor conferred upon him by Nassau Hall, his alma mater. In the territorial legis- lature, Judge Burnet was the moving spirit and master mind. During its first session in 1799, he prepared and reported no less than seventeen most useful and necessary bills, all of which became laws; and in 1800 he interested Congress and the administration to such an extent, by his proposition to re- lieve the settlers from the immense land debt due the various public land offices of the West, that it was adopted, and the serious evils which threatened to follow a forced collection of this debt were averted. At a very early period he recognized
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the importance, to the navigation of the upper Ohio, of re- moving or overcoming the obstruction caused by the falls or rapids in the river at Louisville, and was one of the first to advocate the construction of a canal there. Being appointed by the State of Indiana one of several commissioners for carrying out this project, considerable progress was made in the work on the Indiana side, when the rival project of a canal on the Kentucky side was started, and met with more general acceptance. Abandoning the work on the northern side, that on the southern was entered upon with vigor, and in a few years completed. The next improvement Judge Burnet advocated was the Lake Erie and Ohio canal, to afford water communication between the lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Under an act of Congress, the privilege, with aid to construct this work, were granted, and consider- able progress made when restrictions were discovered which interrupted the prosecution of work upon it. Judge Bur- net, on taking his seat in the Senate, secured the appoint- ment of a committee to modify the original grant, and ap- peared before this committee in behalf of its object, and which he represented so effectively as to induce the committee request him to prepare a report, embodying the principal requirements, and a bill to carry them into effect. The com- mittee reported the bill, with a recommendation that it pass, and it did pass both houses, and this act secured the comple- tion of the canal. The writings of Judge Burnet, other than those connected with his profession, are mainly confined to a very interesting contribution to western history, published in 1847, under the title of "Notes' on the Northwestern Terri- tory." On January 2d, 1800, he married at Marietta, Ohio, Miss Rebecca Wallace. She bore him eleven children, five of whom survived him at his death, and their mother lived fourteen years after that event. In person, Judge Burnet was rather above the usual or medium height, erect in carriage, having a healthy complexion, and very brilliant eyes. His manners were dignified and courteous, after those of the age in which he was reared. and attained to manhood. A fine colloquist and accomplished orator, he maintained himself in conversation with precision and energy. His likes and dis- likes were decided and held with great tenacity. He who once won his friendship, unless proved to be unworthy, en- joyed it for life. When Aaron Burr was in Cincinnati seek- ing to enlist influential persons in his treasonable designs, and by which he ruined the family of Blennerhassett, he was peremptorily refused an interview by Judge Burnet, who, though ignorant of the real character of his project, would not recognize him, but sent him word that he would never shake the hand of the murderer of his own and his father's friend. A firm believer in the inspiration of the Bible and the truths of Christianity, his morality and integrity both in public and private life were beyond question; and, while a Presbyterian both from conviction and choice, was far re- moved from sectarian bigotry.
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HIBBS, GENERAL JOSEPH L., merchant, Ports- mouth, Ohio, was born in Scioto county, Ohio, April 8th, 1819, and is the son of Jacob and Rebecca Hibbs, née Lucas. His mother was a daughter of Judge Joseph Lucas, a brother of the late Robert Lucas, once governor of Ohio and Iowa. William Lucas, father of Joseph and Robert, was in the army, under Washington, at Braddock's defeat, and also served as captain in the Revolution. He afterward emigrated with his family from Virginia, and located in Scioto county, at a place which
has been known ever since as Lucasville. Edward Lucas, forefather of the Virginia Lucases, and his wife, née Dark, of Quaker descent, came to this country with William Penn, and first settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and afterward the family removed to Virginia, where they became quite noted. The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Aaron Hibbs, emigrated from England to America soon after the Revolutionary War; and Jacob Hibbs, the father of Joseph, was among those who were called out in the war of 1812, in defense of Detroit. When Joseph had reached the age of eighteen his father gave him three years of his time, and the young man started for himself with the trade of carpenter, which he had acquired at odd spells at home during his younger days. This business he followed very successfully for five years, during the first three of which he cleared five hundred dollars, besides attending school four months. He was a studious boy, and assiduously devoted his spare time to the acquisition of useful knowledge, being particularly in- terested in historical works, devoting much of his spare time to the reading of ancient profane and religious history. These books he read with pleasure, and, unlike many other boys, he had no time to devote to books pertaining to ro- mance or fiction. For several years subsequent to his car- penter business he was successfully engaged in farming and other pursuits, as manager for prominent persons in Pike county, Ohio. In 1851 he became clerk in a business house in Portsmouth ; and in 1853, with what money he had accumulated, he embarked in the hardware business, in co- partnership with Mr. George Hered. In 1859 he bought out Mr. Hered's interest, and to this day has continued the busi- ness successfully in his own name, and takes rank among the oldest hardware merchants of the State. During the war of the Rebellion Mr. Hibbs was commissioned by Gov- ernor Tod as brigadier-general in the State militia, and was furnished artillery and small arms for border protection by General Wright, quartermaster-general of the State. In 1866 he started a boot, shoe, and hat store, which, ten years later, he consolidated with his hardware business, which has re- sulted in great success. In the summer of 1875, his health having become impaired by intense application to business, he took a trip south during the following winter, in hopes of regaining his lost vigor, and visited Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, and other places of note, including the Florida State fair. Early in the year 1877, finding that he was but little improved in health, he withdrew from active participation in business, and took up his residence in New York City, spending a few days at Washington, District of Columbia, on his way, when the Electoral Commission was considering the validity of President Hayes's title to the Presidency, and remained until he was inaugurated. Since then General Hibbs has made his home in New York City, where he attends to the pur- chasing of goods for his Portsmouth houses and other houses, as orders are sent to him by his friends. In 1879, while in New York City, he sold for the commissioners of Scioto county forty thousand dollars' worth of county bonds, at a premium, and visited the United States Sub-treasury vaults and the leading banks of the city. In December of the year 1877 he went to California by way of the Isthmus, and spent several months in visiting places of note and interest on the Pacific coast, among which were San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Calaveras Grove of Big Trees, and the gorgeous and picturesque scenery of
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