The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 113

Author: W.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1214


USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county > Part 113


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).


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WILLIAM DICKEY, deceased. Among the successful self-made men of Day- on, few were better known or more thoroughly respected than the gentleman whose ame stands at the head of this biography. His father, Adam Dickey, was born in ounty Antrim, Ireland, in the ycar 1768, where he lived until seventeen years of age, hen, with that love of freedom characteristic of his race, he emigrated to America, cating in Pennsylvania, where, about 1790, he was married to Mary McKee, and ine years later, with his wife and three children, he started for the West and settled at ort Washington (now Cincinnati), where he was afterward joined by two of his rothers, who had also left their oppressed fatherland to seek a home in the New World. Lere he began the manufacture of brick, making the brick for the first house of that ind erected at that point. He followed brick-making until about 1804, when he re- loved to near Middletown, Butler County, Ohio, where he engaged largely in mill- ag, farming and distilling, building his own flatboats and shipping the produce to New rleans, following this business until 1828, in which year he died, his wife surviving im about fifteen years and dying in 1844. Adam Dickcy was a very successful busi- ess man, but, owing to reverses by fire and otherwise, his affairs were crippled to such extent as to render him a comparatively poor man previous to his death. The sub- et of this sketch was born near Middleton, Butler County. Ohio, August 10, 1805, id was the seventh in a family of cleven children, of whom only one survives. His cilities for obtaining book learning were exceedingly meager, but, reared upon the soil d inured to hard labor, hc acquired, by contact with the world, that practical knowl- Ige which is the indispensable condition of success. Having arrived at his majority,


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he took a contract for work on the Miami Canal, and of all the contractors on that public work he was the last survivor. He was subsequently engaged, for several years, in a similar capacity on the Ohio Canal. On April 19, 1832, he married Miss Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Van Cleave, of Butler County, and for some years was employed in farming, having a short time previous purchased, in connection with his brother, the homestead of his father. In April, 1839, he became a resident of Dayton, where he engaged respectively in the manufacture of brick, in contracts on the Miami & Erie Canal, and, in connection with his brothers, in quarrying limestone in the vicinity of Dayton. This last industry has since attained great magnitude. For a number of years succeeding. he conducted a line of canal packets between Cincinnati and Toledo and between the latter city and Terre Haute, Ind. During some twenty years of frugal industry, he saved up quite a respectable capital, and in 1850 became a private banker, in company with Joseph Clegg, Esq., and Daniel Beckle, Esq., the latter since deceased. He was subsequently, in connection with the above named gentlemen, one of the organizers of the Miami Valley Bank, of Dayton. He was one of the incorpo- rators of the Dayton Gaslight and Coke Company and for some twenty years its President. He was also one of the organizers of the Ohio Insurance Company, in 1865, of which he was President until his death. In 1866, he had the misfortune to lose the sight of his right eye by cataract, and nine years afterward his left eye became similarly affected. so that he was entirely deprived of the power to read and could distinguish his friends only by their voices. Mr. Dickey was a man of sound judgment and thoroughly good sense. Though deprived of the polish that education gives, he was characterized by great kindness of heart, deeidedly modest manners and a quiet benevolence that never publishes its deeds to the world. He was distinguished for sterling integrity from his youth to his death. His caution and prudence, combined with the industry of his business life, have rendered his career a gratifying success, so that he ranked amoug the wealthiest citizens of Dayton. He died July 15, 1880, leaving a wife, son and twe daughters. The son, Samuel A., who was President of the gas company and a prom inent coal merchant, died in August following the death of his father. The daughter! are Mrs. Henry C. Graves, of Dayton, and Mrs. Charles B. Oglesby, of Chicago.


SAMUEL A. DICKEY, deceased. The skill of the workman chisels the rough marble block into a shaft of beauty and fashions the letters that tell of the birth, age and death of the silent sleeper beneath, but age defaces the inscription, covering thi monument with the mosses of decay, while history preserves in its pages a record o the departed one that time renders more prized and valuable. In the gentleman whos name heads this sketch we have a member of one of the leading families of Dayton and although he had but reached the meridian of life when stricken down by diseas and death, had yet attained, by his own exertions and business capacity, a commanding position in the commercial arena of the Miami Valley. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, March 16, 1840, and was the son of William and Sarah Dickey, a sketch of whor will be found in this work. His boyhood days were passed in attending the schools o. his native city, going thence to Wittenberg and Oxford Colleges, receiving a thorough English education. He began his business career by starting a wholesale aud retai coal and general fuel depot, which he operated successfully for about seventeen years or until failing health compelled him to retire from aetive business. He was married, October 12, 1865, to Miss Sarah E. Hayner, the daughter of Lewis Hayner. of Troy Ohio, to whom was born two children-Bessie H. and Arthur C. In business circle Samuel A. Dickey was always recognized as one of the most energetic, practical me" of Dayton, and in August, 1866, he was elected a Director of the Dayton Gas Com pany, and President of the same May 10, 1876, which be held until his death. Th: sad cvent occurred August 9, 1880, from what is known as progressive locomoto attaxia, with which he had suffered for about two years. Mr. Dickey was a man of quiet, unassuming disposition, kind and ebaritable, devoid of all ostentation, a ma of actions rather than words, whom the poor and afflicted never sought help from i vain, and in his home he was ever the fond father and affectionate husband. As Pres ident of the Gas Company he was looked upon as a shrewd, efficient and capabl


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'official, firm and unyielding in what he believed to be just, and exhibiting a knowledge lof men and affairs far beyond his years ; but the brightest page in his record was that his honesty and integrity were never doubted, his word always being considered as good as his bond.


R. R. DICKEY, President of the Gas Light and Coke Company, Dayton, was born near Middletown, Ohio, October 26, 1816, and is the son of Adam and Mary (McKee) Dickey who are spoken of in the sketch of William Dickey, deceased. Our subject was the youngest of a family of eleven children, and is to-day the only surviver. At the age of eleven years, through the death of his father, he was thrown upon his own resources, and at this tender age he became employed in a brick yard, working fourteen hours per day at $4.87 per month, and, afterward worked upon a farm at $5.00 per month, where he became imbued with that spirit of industry which has characterized him through life. Under those circumstances his advantages for an education were very limited, but by observation and rough contact with the world he acquired that knowl- edge of men and affairs that cannot be gained in the school room. When but a lad, he began working upon public works in Ohio and Indiana, for his elder brothers, who were prominent contractors, and at the age of seventeen he was made superintendent of a large gang of men, continuing for several years on the public works of those States. In 1842, he became a resident of Dayton, where he engaged with his brothers, John and William, in quarrying stone, which he followed until 1853. In 1847, he was connected with the firm of Dickey, Doyle & Dickey, in placing a line of packet boats on the Wabash and Erie Canal, and under the firm name of Doyle & Dickey built the reservoir lock at St. Mary's, and the locks at Delphos. In 1845, he was one of the or- ganizers of the Dayton Bank, and for several years was one of its Directors. In 1852, he became a partner in the Exchange Bank with Messers. Jonathan Harshman, V. Winters and J. R. Young, and in 1853, became one of the largest stockholders in the Dayton Gas Light & Coke Company, of which he has ever since been a Director. Mr. Dickey served as President of the Gas Company from 1855 to 1858, retiring on ac- count of ill health, but at the annual election in August 1880, he was again elected President, and is at present filling that position in such a manner, as to reflect much credit upon his business capacity and integrity. In 1852, he became identificd with the Dayton Insurance Company, and also held an interest in the Dayton & Western R. R., being President of the latter company from 1854 to 1856, inclusive. In 1856, he went to Kansas and invested largely at the first sale of the Delaware Indian trust lands, and the following year put two hundred acres under cultivation, raising the largest crop of corn grown in the State up to that time. Mr. Dickey was one of the organizers of he Dayton National Bank in 1865, and, since 1868, one of its Directors. By this it will be seen that R. R. Dickey has been one of the most active and prominent business nen of this city for nearly forty years, doing his full share toward building up its moral and material interests. He was married June 27, 1850, to Miss Martha J. Winters, daughter of V. Winters, Esq., of Dayton, of which union three sons have been born, the wo cldest, William W. and Valentine B., being now extensive stock-growers in Col- rado. From the rough experience of his early life Mr. Dickey learned the virtues of self-reliance, industry and frugality, elear-headed, shrewd and cautious in business affairs. Hc is, withal, a man of genial manners and generous impulses, one who is trusted and respected throughout the community of which he has been so long a leading citizen.


GEORGE B. EVANS, M. D., Dayton, was born in Franklin, Warren County, Chic, April 1, 1855, where he received his primary education in the high school of his native village, which he attended until 1873. He then entered the Hanover Col- ege of Indiana, from which he graduated in 1875. Having some knowledge of medi- tine, he commenced reading it with Dr. O. Evans, Jr., of Franklin, in the summer of 1875, and afterward attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, from which he graduated in March, 1878. For two years thereafter, he practiced his profession in Middletown, Ohio. On the 17th of June, 1880, the Trustees of Hanover College con- erred upon Mr. Evans the degree of A. M., and in the following fall-September 15- le was elected Assistant Physician of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane, which posi-


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tion he now occupies. Mr. Evans has descended from a line of medical men, his father and grandfather both being physicians and men who have reflected honor to the profession, the former, Dr. O. Evans, Jr., now practicing in Franklin, Ohio, of which town he is a native and where his skill as a physician is duly recognized and appreciated. His wife, who was Jane Balentine, is also a native of Franklin. Our subject is a young man of promise, and we feel warranted in saying that in him will be sustained the reputation in the medical profession of the older Evans. He has recently been appointed to make the annual alumni address before the Alumni Association of the Medical College of Cincinnati, which meets in Music Hall, March 1, 1882.


HENRY C. EVERSOLE, merchant, Dayton. The subject of this sketch was born in Van Buren Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, October 2, 1842. His father, Abraham Eversole, onc of the oldest and most respected citizens of Montgomery County, was born October 9, 1804, near Shepherdstown, Jefferson County. Va. where he spent his boyhood. During his minority, he was apprenticed as a weaver and worked at the loom ; but his inclination was for farming, and when he attained his majority he commenced this occupation, at which he worked during his whole life, unti within three weeks of his death. When grown to manhood, he left that part of the beautiful Potomac Valley, the place of his birth, and located at Hagerstown, Md. where he united in marriage with Mary Logue, with whom he removed to Ohio, and who died shortly after their settlement in this State, leaving two children, of whom George, a prominent farmer living near Dodson, Ohio, is the only survivor. In 1834 Mr. Eversole was married to Margaret Folkerth, a lady of excellent worth, whose amiable qualities and Christian virtues endcared her to all with whom she came in con tact. By this marriage, Mr. Eversole had ten children, thrce sons, the youngest dying in infancy, and seven daughters, all of whom, with the exception of our subject, ar residing on farms in Montgomery County. Mr. Eversole died March 20, 1878, after forty-five years' residence in Montgomery County. Onr subject worked with his father on the farm until the age of twenty-one, dividing his time in tilling the soil, attending district school three to six months in the year, and acquiring what knowledge he could at odd times in reading and storing his mind with useful information, thus attaining a standing of literary culture seldom attained by young men under likc disadvantages Immediately after becoming of age, he enlisted in the war for the suppression of the rebellion at Cincinnati on the 4th of March, 1864, as seaman on board the receiving ship Grampus, and was afterward transferred to the United States steamer " Fairy, No. 51, of the, Mississippi Squadron, under command of Commodore Porter, and, afte; serving his country faithfully, was discharged by reason of disability. His ship wa: engaged in piloting transports up and down the Mississippi to Red River and the Gulf Though engaged in no great battle, he experienced some lively encounters with rebe bushwhackers along shore. Six hours after the terrible inhuman and bloody massaer of the Union troops at Fort Pillow, his ship ran up under a flag of truce, while For rest and his murderers, calling themselves soldiers, were still in possession of the Fort and aided in caring for the wounded and burying the mutilated and charred remains o the dead. During a part of his service on shipboard, Mr. Eversole commanded a 32 pound gun with its compliment of twelve men. In 1865, he came to Dayton and entered the clothing house of I. P. Straus & Bro., and, after a few years' service is that establishment, he entered into partnership with E. Rics, under the firm name of Eversole & Ries, and commenced the clothing business at the corner of Main and Fourth streets, giving to this establishment the name of "Oak Hall " Clothing House In 1879, the business was moved to more commodious quarters at No. 32 East Third street, and in the spring of 1881 Mr. Eversole became the sole proprietor. C'nde his judicious management the business of tailoring and manufacturing ready-made clothing has made his honse one of the most noted in the Miami Vallcy. He was mar ried, October 1, 1868, to Miss Nora B. Fairchild, an esteemed young lady, the fourth of five children born to Este and Susannah (Carlisle) Fairchild, both natives of Ohio Mr. Eversole is now serving his second term of two years on the Board of Education where he is considered one of the strongest members, thoroughly devoted to educationa


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interests, and greatly esteemed by his colleagues. Mr. Eversole is the patentee of a aluable and ingenious invention for the use of invalids, known as the " Invalid Waiter : Extension Bracket," which is attached to a bedstead and forms a most convenient ilver or stand upon which edibles, medicines, ete., may be placed within easy reach of le patient. It is adjustable by extension by verticle movement, and has a free lateral movement by which it is carried out of the way, and serves the place of a flower stand hen not in use. This gentleman is deservedly popular with all classes wherever Down. His associations and acquaintance in this section of the State are large, having een with its people ever since boyhood to the present time, and like the popular and osperous in all communities, is a self-made man, a graduate of the field and farm, and ie possessor of an honorable record; respected and conscientious in all his business ansactions, he deserves the emulation of the young and aspiring for honors in the ercantile world.


ARNOLD C. FENNER, manufacturer, Dayton, was born in Miami County, hio, in 1826. He is the son of Augustus Fenner. He worked on a farm until after s majority, except at intervals, when he attended school and college. He began teach- g school in the fall of 1848, at the Ludlow Strect Schoolhouse in Dayton. He ught at the Perry Street Schoolhouse in 1851, and in 1852 was engaged at Troy, Ohio, om where he returned to Dayton in 1853, and took the Principal's position in the istern District, since known as the Turner Hall School. Herc he continued until the hool removed to Fifth street in the fall of 1862, when he assisted in organizing a mpany for the One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which is afterward consolidated with the Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. From the ne of the consolidation he served in the Army of the Tennessee. He was Aeting ljutant of the Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry during much of 1863, and Assistant djutant General on the staff of Gen. J. W. Sprague, commanding the brigade during e Atlanta campaign. He subsequently took command of a company and participated in the marehes of the Seventeenth Army Corps through Savannah, Columbia, Fayette- le, Goldsboro, Raleigh, Petersburg, Richmond and Washington, up to the muster- t at Louisville. In the fall of 1865, he was given the principalship of Ludlow Street hool which he retained until February, 1867, having on the previous January entered 10 a partnership with S. T. Cotterill in the tobacco-eutting business, in which he has ntinued up to the present time. Theirs is the North Star brand of fine-eut tobacco, ich is known by tobaceo users all over the United States.


HENRY FERNEDING, maltster, Dayton, was born November 10, 1812, in urtinus, Dunglage, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. At the age of 20 years, he came America, and arrived at Baltimore, Md., June 4, 1833. From there he traveled on ft to Pittsburgh, and thenee by river to Cincinnati, where he arrived in the following inth. For six months while in Cineinnati he drove a milk wagon, but being broken (rn in health he left and eame to Dayton, where he was employed as jigger and water rier to the men engaged in digging the Miami & Erie Canal; but being taken down chills and fever he gave up his job and for six months lay upon a bed of sickness. Is money being used during his siekness he sawed wood for a living, working every ( er day when the ehills were off. He next engaged in the distillery of Messrs. Horaee &Perry Pease, on Hole's Creek, where he remained until 1839. Part of this time he ( the work and received the pay of one and a half men. He next went to Milford, I milton County, Ohio, where he worked four months in John Koogler's distillery. fer a two months' illness in Milford he went to Hamilton and worked five months in t distillery of Huston & Harper, in which he was terribly scalded by the bursting of t slop pipe, and was confined to his bed for three months with his injuries. He arward returned to Dayton and worked for Snyder & Dryden in their distillery on Fle's Creek. On May 6, 1840, he married Miss M. E. Saphon with whom he became a uainted while at Milford. The result of this marriage was nine children, three of wom grew up, viz. : James S., who was in business, but died at the age of twenty yrs ; M. Elizabeth, who died in her fourteenth year, and Clem. J., who still survives a is the business partner of his father. Mr. Ferneding then worked one year in


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James Riddle's brewery on St. Clair street for $18 per month, after which he worke ยท it on the shares, until 1845, when in connection with his brother, John Casper, an Frank Otten, he purchased the site of his present malt-house on Kenton street, an carried on there the business of malting and brewing until the partnership was di solved by the death of F. Otten in 1847, after which the two brothers continued th business under the firm name of J. & H. Ferneding. In 1850, they purchased th old Riddle Brewery, and in 1851 built in its stead the present malt-house on St. Clai street. Before the completion of the new building, Casper died, whereupon Henr bought his interest, August 29, 1851, and carried on the business alone until 185: when Bernard Hollencamp became a partner and remained as such until 1857. Dur ing their partnership they purchased the brewery of James Kyle, at Xenia, and carrie it on under the firm name of Hollencamp & Co., Mr. F. attending to the business : Dayton and Mr. H. at Xenia. In 1857, Mr. H. became sole owner of the Xen brewery, and Mr. F. continued the business in Dayton. These men had also rented th malt-house of Henry Herman on Main street and carried on the grain trade for fit years. In 1859, Mr. F. feeling the want of better facilities for brewing lager bee built the City Brewery on South Warren street, now owned by Jacob Stickle. Th branch of his business he closed out in March, 1865, to Sander & Stoppleman. ] August 1861, he, in company with George and Andrew Mause, commenced the man facture of flour under the firm name of Ferneding, Mause & Co. In September, 186. Andrew Mause retiring, Mr. F. and George Mause purchased the Hydraulic Mills Eichelberger & Bro., and ran it until July 1, 1867, when Clem J. Ferncdiug su ceeded Mr. Mause. In 1871, they sold this mill to Simon Gebhart & Sons. In Jul 1870, Mr. F. and his son purchased the Hydraulic Brewery, which the conducted until January 1, 1871. when they sold out to N. Metz & C In August, 1872, Mr. F. with Hamilton M. Turner, Thomas Hcckathorn al James Niswonger purchased the Isaac Hay Distillery and warehouse at Brookvill Ohio, which they worked until August 1874, when Mr. F. exchanged his interest the distillery for the warehouse. In this connection he became agent for the Dayto & Union and Pennsylvania Central & St. Louis Railroad Cos. In July, 1878, was appointed one of the assignecs of Hollencamp Bros., brewers of Xenia. and 1 good management succeeded in again putting their affairs on a good footing. He now sixty-nine years old, and possesses a strong and vigorous constitution and bids fa to yet remain for some years in the world where he has spent a life of honest activit


LEO FLOTRON, deceased, was born August 12, 1846, in St. Imicr, canton


Bern, Switzerland. He learned the trade of jeweling and engraving in Chan-( Fonds, France, at which he worked until he was nineteen years of age, a period of fi years. He came to this country April 14, 1866, and arrived in New York City, whe he worked at his trade for some time. He then came to Osborn, where Mr. Shepher family lived, they being related to him. He stayed with them nine months, af which he came to Dayton, and worked at his trade with Mr. Mosher, on Main stre and with Mr. Tyler. He commenced business for himself October 19, 1870, on Ma street, opposite the court house. On the 14th of April, he married Miss Kate Rouz who was a native of Dayton, born June 16, 1852, and daughter of John and Mart, J. (Diehl) Rouzer, who were both natives of Ohio. By his marriage Mr. Flotron bj one son, John R., named after his grandfather Rouzer. In May, 1875, Mr. Floti embarked on the steamcr Ville de Paris for Europe, where he remained three mont He returned August 10, 1875, on the steamer La France. He died June 19, 18" about ten months after his return from Europe. He was a consistent member of 1 Presbyterian Church, in which he was baptized when three years of age. Ile to out his naturalization papers in 1866, in the Clerk of Court's office of this county. was a kind and indulgent father and a most estimable eitizen, having the respect of who knew him and leaving behind him a record of untarnished purity. To such I as he a published record of their lives is but a poor tribute to their worth.


HON. JOHN L. H. FRANK, Judge of the Probate Court, Dayton. This w known and trusted official of Montgomery County was born March 31, 1837, in Nc


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ausen, county of Brackenheim, Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, and was the second a family of five children, all of whom are now residents of this country. His parents ere natives of Kaltenwesten, on the Neckar, in Wurtemburg, but at the time of their marriage, in 1835, moved to Nordhausem, in the same county, where the Judge's father ecame proprietor of the Waldhorn Hotel. Subsequently they moved to Heilbronn, a the Neckar. Young Frank had an uncle and aunt living in Leroy, Genesee County, [. Y., who requested him to come to America, and in March, 1852, when not yet fteen years old, he started by steamboat down the Neckar to the Rhine, thence rough France by railroad to Havre de Grace, a seaport in France, alone and friend- ss, with not one soul on board whom he knew, or had ever seen before; but he pos- essed a determination to fight his own way through life, and this, coupled with his con- ant industry and rigid integrity, helped him to win success. Upon reaching his uncle's ouse, he soon became employed in the cultivation of fruit trees in his uncle's nursery, here he worked faithfully until 1855, when he removed to Rochester, continuing the ime business at the Mount Hope Nursery; the following year a branch of the Mount [ope Nursery was established at Columbus, Ohio, and here he prosecuted his labors, tending at intervals Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, until the summer of 359. He being then in limited circumstances, a kind lady offered to loan him money , complete his studies, but declining the generous offer from motives of economy, he ent to Missouri to work in the Herman Nursery, and while quietly prosecuting his bors, in the spring of 1861, the tocsin of war sounded, and at the first call for volun- ers he enlisted in Company B, Fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, in the three Months' service, but severe service brought on an attack of typhoid fever, and he as discharged in the fall of the same year. He soon after re-enlisted in the Tenth linois Volunteer Infantry, and although not perfectly recuperated, he stood the hard- lips of one campaign until the fall of 1862, when he was again discharged on account f physical disability. He was soon after given a position in the Quartermaster's office St. Louis, where he remained until 1864, using his spare moments in reading Black- one and other elementary works furnished him by Judge Eaton. About a year after ur subject left Germany, his father died, and in a few years he sent for his mother ad the rest of the family, the former dying in Dayton, April 27, 1877 ; two of his rothers and one sister reside in Dayton and one sister in Mattoon, Ill. In 1864 udge Frank came to Dayton, where he continued his law studies under the tutorship f Craighead & Munger, making rapid progress, and being admitted to the bar Septem- er 2, 1867. He at once opened an .office and practiced his profession successfully for veral years. He was married August 11, 1870, to Mary Lutz, a native of Germany, ho came to this country in childhood with her parents, and grew to maturity in Day- on. Six children have been the fruits of this union, four sons and two daughters, all f whom are living. Politically, the Judge has always been a Republican, and in the ill of 1875, was nominated and elected to the office of Probate Judge. Commencing le duties of his office February 14, 1876, and in 1878 he was re-elected to the same osition, which was one of the strongest indorsements of his official worth and integrity, hen we consider that Montgomery County is largely Democratic. In all the rela- ons of life, Judge Frank is trusted and respected because, whether in private or pub- c life, he has always tried to do his whole duty. In the hour of the nation's peril, he oud by the flag of his adopted country and, in this, as in every page of his career, he as guided by conscience alone ; affable and courteous to every one, he has won hosts f friends throughout the country.




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