The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 116

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 116

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JOSEPH LIGHT, Superintendent Gas Works, Dayton, is a son of George Light, native of the South of England, and Ann (Rutherford) Light, a native of the north f England, who were married in London, and had twelve children, seven girls and five oys, of which Joseph was the youngest. He was born in London June 16, 1833, and ntil thirteen years of age attended the pay schools in his native city. He afterward

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worked in a factory, where gas machinery was made, until nineteen years of age, whe he emigrated to America, and after landing in New York, eame straight to Cincinnat Ohio, where he remained three years. In 1855, he was engaged as Superintendent the Dayton Gas Works, and in that capacity, came to this eity where he has since su perintended the works of the above-named company. In 1855, he married Catharin Lee, daughter of Richard Lee, of Cincinnati, and by her has had six children, thre girls and three boys. Mr. Light is a man of thorough business qualities, understand his work perfectly, and during his twenty-seven years of service here, lias given th best possible satisfaction. He is a member of the Park Presbyterian Church, and ( the following societies : I. O. O. F., Masonic, Knights of Pythias and Knights c Honor.

JOSEPH E. LOWES, physican. Dayton, Ohio. Among the men who merit place in the history of this county, none are more worthy than Dr. Lowes, who cam among us fresh from the lecture room, and by close attention to business and profe! sional worth, has established a praetiee second to none of his school in the city. Hi father, John, called by the Indians " Honest John," was born in Cumberland County Eng., in 1811, and eame to Canada a short time before the " Six Nation " war. After ro maining here six years, he returned to England, where he married Miss Isabella Bate man, of Cumberland County, and with her again came to America, settling in Brant ford, Brant County, Ont., where he still resides. He was the father of five boys an seven girls, of whom our subjeet was born July 25, 1848, in Onondaga, an Indian va ley close to Brantford, where his father was at that time engaged in farming. He wa educated in the common and high schools of Brantford, and then took a years' privat instruction under an eminent Irish teacher, named Moore. He was only twelve year old when he entered high school, and commeneed the study of the higher branches ( literature and the sciences, and at fifteen he graduated therefrom with the higher honors. At sixteen years of age, he commenced reading medicine in Brantford wit Prof. Allen, and afterward attended lectures in Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical Co lege, where Prof. Allen was Professor of Anatomy. At twenty, he completed his medica course and graduated, but could not get his certifieate, which was withheld until he arrived at age. During the year intervening, he entered the office of Dr. S. A. Boyr ton as partner. In 1868, he came to Dayton, where he entered into a partnership wit Dr. Bosler, who died five months thereafter, leaving his practice to our subject, wh has ably conducted it since with the best suceess. In the fall of 1868, he was marrie to Dr. Bosler's daughter, Meloezene, by whom he had one ehild-a daughter. H wife died in 1870, and in 1879 he was again married to Emma Jane Robbins, daugl ter of Ira Robbins, of Union County, Ohio. By her he also had a daughter bor December 1, 1879. Dr. Lowes has the reputation of being the best Homoeopathic phys cian in the county, and the best surgeon in the county, with a single exception. Ho a Republican, and has always taken an active part in politics. He was Vice Presider of the School Board for five years ; was a member of the County and City Republ ean Central Committees, and Surgeon of the Fourth Regiment. He has always bee' an active, influential and energetie partisan leader.

THOMAS O. LOWE, Dayton, lawyer and cx-Judge of the Superior Court . Montgomery County, was born in Batavia, Clermont Co., Ohio, February 11, 1838 is a son of Col. John W. Lowe, of the Twelfth Ohio Infantry, who was killed at th battle of Carnifex, W. Va., September 10, 1861. Judge Lowe is a grandson of Judy Owen Fishbaek, of Clermont County, Ohio, and great-grandson of John Fishbac! who fought under Morgan at the battle of the Cowpens, South Carolina, in the wa which resulted in the independence of the colonies. The boyhood days of our subjer were spent in Batavia, Ohio, where he aequired his primary education to such a degre as to fit him for " Farmers College," near Cincinnati, at the age of fourteen. From tl year 1852 to 1854, he diligently and judiciously applied himself in that institution learning, when it was under the Presideney of Freeman Cary and the venerable D Bishop who was professor of Political Economy and History. In May, 1855, he can to Dayton, and entered the banking house of Ellis & Sturge, of Cincinnati, wit

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hom he remained until their failure in November of the same year. The study of w was then taken up under the direction of his father, Col. John W. Lowe, and the immer of 1856 accepted a position in the bank of W. B. Shepard & Co., of Nashville, .enn., and January 1, 18-, took a better and more lucrative position in the bank of Middle Tennessee, at Lebanon. He adhered to the study of law while supporting him- lf in the employment of the above-named banks ; returned to Dayton in July, 1857, ad on November, 11, of the same year, his nuptial was celebrated with Miss Martha, dest daughter of the late ---- Harshman, Esq., of Dayton. The issue of this bion is four children, of whom two survive, one son in his twentieth year and a daugh- ,r in her twelfth year. The Judge has continuously resided in Dayton since his mar- age. He was admitted to the bar on Gen. Washington's birthday, 1859, but continued the banking business until May, 1862, when he first began the practice of his profession. in January 1, 1864, he was appointed by the County Commissioners as County Auditor, fill a vacancy caused by the death of B. M. Ayres. This office he filled until March 1865, when he resumed the practice of law, to which he was devoted until the October ection of 1870, when he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of Montgomery Coun- , which position he filled with undoubted ability for the full term of five years. At the piration of his term in July, 1876, he the second time resumed the practice of law, d is located on the northeast corner of Third and Jefferson streets. During his resi- nce in Tennessee, he was kindly treated by prominent gentlemen of political standing, ch as John Bell, ex-Gov. William B. Campbell, Robert Hatton and others, and be- me a very enthusiastic member of the " Crittenden and Bell" party that endeavored the border States to avert the inevitable conflict between the North and South. fter the outbreak of the war, he became a member of the Democratic party, and re- ived from it the official honors above mentioned. In March, 1855, he joined the hird Street Presbyterian Church, but on his return from Tennessee connected himself th the First Presbyterian Church, and in 1872 went with others to the assistance of urk Strect Presbyterian Church, which was then in difficulty, and to which church he ill adheres. ' He was one of the organizing members of the Young Men's Christian ssociation, and has ever been an active and valuable member in all enterprises tending the elevation and progress of the rising generation.

E. B. LYON, manufacturer, Dayton, is a descendant of one of the old Puritan 'nilies of Massachusetts. His grandfather, Peter Lyon, was born and raised in Massa- usetts, and was there twice married, once to a Miss Severn, a daughter of one of te first families, and the second time to Miss - -. By these two marriages he Id ten children. The father of our subject was of the issue by the second wife, i was born in Massachusetts in 1813.

He was a paper maker by trade, and flowed this business until his death, being the third generation of his family in the Ene trade. He was married in Newton, Mass., to Sarah Hager, by whom he had Irn to him one daughter and four sons. He came West with his family during the r of the rebellion and settled in Middletown, Ohio, to work at his trade, but left tere in a short time and went to Indianapolis, Ind., where he died in October, 1864. (ir subject was born in Chaplin, Windham Co., Conn., December 17, 1840, and spent 1 youth in the common school of his county. At sixteen years of age, he began clerk- i in a store, where he remained until November, 1861, when he enlisted in Company I Twenty-fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. He was in the engagements aRoanoke Island, New Berne, N. C., and all through Burnside's expedition and the Eith Carolina campaign. His regiment was also in the Forlorn Hope charge on Irris Island, and at the capture of the works in front of Fort Wagner, where each Din in Companies K and F had to carry two shovels and a pick in addition to their ans. Mr. Lyon was also on provost duty at St. Augustine and Jacksonville, Fla., al in the campaign of the Army of the James, through all their hard fighting. He wy discharged November 8, 1864, the day after the battle of Chapin's Farm, and, apr spending a month in Boston, came to Dayton, where his brother was living, and were his father was buried. He was married in April, 1866, to Ella Maria Broad- wl, of Dayton, who bore him three daughters, two now living. When he came to

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Dayton in 1864, he worked in a paper-mill for a time and then became receiving elerk in a freight depot, after which he commenced the manufacture of slats and trunk ma terial, in which he is still engaged. He is a member of the Knights of Honor and Old Guards. Before the redistrieting of the city, he was elected Councilman from the Fourteenth Ward, he being a staneh Republican and the ward being strongly Demo cratic. He was ousted from office by the abolishment of his ward.

GEORGE W. MALAMBRE, Dayton, was born in Baltimore, Md., May 20, 1827 His father removed with his family to Dayton in April, 1836, in a one-horse wagon being four weeks on the journey ; has lived in Dayton ever sinee with the exception 9 a short residence in Maryland from July, 1865, to October, 1868 ; in boyhood attender the common schools of the city and then at the old Dayton Academy preparing for col lege ; entered the Junior class at Miami University in October, 1846, where he remained till the latter part of January, 1848, and February of the same year entered the senio class at Center College, Danville, Ky., and graduated there in June, 1848; immediatel. came home and entered upon the study of law with the late W. J. Mckinney, whi was then Clerk of the Courts of Montgomery County ; in July, 1850, was admitted t the bar by the old Supreme Court on the circuit at Maumee City, then the count: seat of Lucas County-the present Chief Justiec of the United States and the distin guished and cocentric Spink, of Perrysburg, being on the Committee of Examination commenced the practice of law in Dayton, and has ever since continued in the practice was chosen City Clerk of the city of Dayton in 1851, and was continued in that offic till April, 1835, when he declined a re-appointment ; June 2, 1856, was elected to fi a vaeaney in the Council from the Fourth Ward ; sinee then has held no office of an kind ; on the breaking-out of the e vil war he, for about a year, edited the Unio Democrat.

ALBERT C. MARSHALL, manufacturer, Dayton. The subject of this skeie is a member of three large business firms of Dayton-senior member of Marshal. Graves & Co., manufacturers, Marshall & Baker, hardware merchants, and Cotteri Fenner & Co., manufacturers of tobacco. He was born at Connellsville, Penn., in 184 His father was Samuel Marshall, who came to Dayton in 1842, and became a memb of the firm of Gebhart & Marshall, stone manufacturers, and pioneers among the ma! ufaeturers of the Valley City. Mr. Marshall quit school at the age of sixteen year after having spent three years as a clerk. At the age of seventeen he purchased stock of hardware, and located in business in that part of Dayton ealled " Oregon being a pioncer merchant in that part of the eity. Although a young man, his natur business traits and energetic nature soon placed him among the solid business men that day, and his business has steadily increased to the present time. In 1875. Jol F. Baker was admitted as a partner, and the firm became Marshall & Baker, und which name it has since donc business. Mr. Marshall beeame interested in the firm Cotterill & Fenner, and soon after the firm name was changed to Cotterill, Fenner Co. He has sinee devoted almost his entire time and attention to this branch of bu ness. In 1879, he purchased the stoek and trade of the Dayton Machine Co., and 1880 Henry C. Graves bought a half-interest, changing the firm name to Marshal Graves & Co. This firm ranks among the prominent manufacturing industries Dayton. Mr. Marshall was united in marriage in 1864, to Laura Zeller, a native Cincinnati. They have two children-Bessie and Harry. Mr. Marshall and wife : members of the Third Street Presbyterian Church. Having been identified with t early growth of the castern part of the eity, Mr. Marshall's real estate operations ha proven very profitable. He has toiled early and late since commencing a mercant eareer, and by his own individual efforts has succeeded in winning a place among solid and substantial business men of the " Rochester of Ohio." The houses with wh he is connected oeeupy the front rank in business circles. A detailed history of ] Marshall's business career might justly be termed " a record of a busy life."

FRANCIS J. McCORMICK, merchant, Dayton, was born in Ross co mon, Ireland, November 25, 1843. His father, Frank MeCormick, was born in above place in 1798, and died there March, 1848. His mother, Elizabeth (Cox) M

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Jormick, was born in the same place in 1803. Francis J., our subject, eame to merica with his mother in 1848, and after a two years' residence in Boston, moved to andusky, Ohio, where they lived until January 9, 1855, when they came to Dayton. 'rancis attended the common schools of the eity for three years, after which he served s railroad fireman and engineer twenty years. , At the expiration of this time, he pened his present store on Jefferson street, where he keeps a very large and hand- ome stock of all kinds of gis and lamp fixtures, and plumbing material. He was married, January 31, 1870, to Miss Bridget Gibbons, daughter of Martin and Ellen ribbons, natives of Ireland, but now residing in Northern Ohio. As a result of this nion they have had the following children : Frank, Elizabeth, William (since deceased), ad Martin. Mr. McCormick was a member of the City Council from 1878 to 1882, ad is a consistent member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

JOHN J. McILHENNEY, physician, Dayton, was born in Adams County, enn., Sept. 24, 1813. His parents, Samuel Mellhenney and Sarah Hunter, became ioneers of Brown County, Ohio, in 1814. Of a family of eleven children, our subject the only surviving son. At the age of fifteen, he was left fatherless, and thrown itirely upon his own resources. He at once entered a printing office, and followed lat trade for about four years, during which time he acquired more valuable practical nowledge than at any other period of his life. He then spent a short time at a manual bor school in Hanover, Ind., where he earned his way by chopping wood. Having losen medicine as his profession, he commenced study at the age of twenty, in George- wn, Brown Co., Ohio ; attended medical lectures in Cincinnati, and began practice in rown County in the spring of 1836. In the following year, he moved to Fairfield, reene Co., Ohio, where he remained eighteen years. In 1843, he became an alumnus the Willoughby University, near Cleveland, Ohio, now the Starling Medical College Columbus, Ohio. In May, 1855, he located in Dayton, which has since been his sidence. May, 1856, he was appointed Superintendent and Physician of the Dayton sane Asylum, and so remained for six years, during which time the duties which de- ilved upon him were discharged with remarkable precision and success. No man ever ft an institution with a better record. His patients were much attached to him, and s employes, to this day, regard him with a degree of kindness seldom equaled. For ree years subsequently, he was in professional service in the United States Navy, act- g as surgeon in the Mississippi Squadron. He then returned to Dayton, and has ice been in active practice, and occupies a leading rank in the medical profession of s adopted city. He was, in connection with a few others, one of the originators of e Ohio State Medical Society, and has continued a member of the same. In politics, rmerly a Whig, upon the organization of the Republican party he espoused its inciples, and subsequently became a liberal Republican, being a great friend to Horace reeley, but now votes Independently. Religiously, he is a Free Thinker. Per- nally, he is a man of strong, independent feelings, very decided in his connections, d plain and positive in the expression of his views. Though in his sixty-eighth year, : possesses the activity and vigor of a man much younger, and still commands a very tensive, successful and lucrative practice. He has ever been noted for great con- ientiousness and signal promptness and fidelity in the discharge of his professional ities, without regard to their recompense. No worthy poor ever left his office with- t some professional assistance, while his disinterested benevolence, genial manners, d kindness of heart, have won for him the highest esteem of his numerous patrons. April 26, 1837, he married Pauline J., daughter of Rev. Robert and Rowena Polsley) Graham, and has had four sons, the youngest of whom was drowned in a stern while an infant. The others received a good English education, graduated from e Cleveland Medical College, and are now practicing physicians-Scipio Solon, at elena, Montana Territory ; Julius Leonidas is associated with his father in Dayton. io, and Cassius A lams Mellhenney, is located at Zimmermanville, Greene Co., Ohio, PATTERSON MITCHELL, Dayton, President of the Dayton Leather and llar Co. The grandfather of this well-known and respected citizen of Dayton was illiam Mitchell, a native of Pennsylvania, who there married a Miss Patterson, and

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at an early day with his wife and ten children left the Keystone State for Ohio, flo ing down the river on a flat-boat and landing near the mouth of the Little Miami- afterwards, Columbia-which was a few miles above Cincinnati, then only a villag He purchased land from Gen. Symmes, upon which he settled, but subsequent removed to a farm on Sycamore Creek, near the Little Miami River. He was a sold in the Revolutionary war and his pension papers, signed by James Robb, Secretary War, under President James Madison, are yet in the possession of his descendants. his family of ten children, William, the father of Patterson, was born in Pennsylvan September 9, 1784; eame, as stated, to Ohio with his parents, and here married Ma Crane, who was born in Hamilton County December 26, 1793, and settled on lai adjoining his father's. Imbued with the same love of country and spirit of patric ism which his Revolutionary sire had exhibited on the battle-field thirty-six years befo: he shouldered his musket in 1812, and went out to fight the same old foe of freedo and liberty. He served as a non-commissioned ofieer, in Capt. Robinson's com par from Cincinnati, who, while under marching orders, with knapsacks on their bael were addressed by the Rev. Joshua L. Wilson, D. D., the pastor of the First Presb terian Church, who encouraged them to always do their duty. To William and Ma Mitehell were born four sons and two daughters, Patterson being the eldest in tl family. He was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, April 21, 1812, and when but twel years of age his father died, this event occurring June 21, 1824, leaving the widow. mother with six small children in charge of the farm, the former dying August 2 1859. At the age of seventeen, our subject went to learn a trade with John I Barnett, of Middletown, Ohio, whose brother Joseph was for many years one of t prominent citizens of Dayton. Having learned his trade, William Mitchell was 800 after married to Louisa Barnett, daughter of John M. Barnett, the marriage bei. consummated October 2, 1834. Of this union three sons and three daughters we born, viz., William H., Joseph B. (deceased), Mary E., Claude N., Louisa A. a Belle J. By the advice of his father-in-law, he commeneed in business for hims soon after marriage, upon a capital of $30, which he continued in Middletown un the spring of 1853, when he came to Dayton and entered into a eopartnership wi Isaac Haas in the leather and eollar manufacturing business, but in the year 1870. purchased Mr. Haas' interest, subsequently forming a joint-stock company with 80 of the principal operators as stockholders, he being President, and his son, C. Mitchell, Secretary and Treasurer, which organization continues up to the prese Politieally, Mr. Mitehell was an Old-Line Whig, and afterward a Republican, and } two sons, William H. and Claude N., went out in the defense of the Union, provi that the patriotism of the sire of 1776, had descended to his great-grandchildr The whole family are members of the Third Street Presbyterian Church, to which fa the parents and grandparents of our subjeet also adhered. Mr. Mitehell has been t architect of his own good fortune, having risen step by step, through constant, unren ting industry, until he stands in the foremost rank in the manufacturing arena of Miami Valley. Courteous, affable and kind-hearted, he has won and retained friendship of a large eirele of citizens, who respeet his sterling integrity and adm his shrewd business sagacity.

T. COKE MITCHELL, railroad man, Dayton, was born in Greene County, ON December 31, 1822. In the early part of his life, he was engaged in farming and mereantile pursuits, but has for many years been a railroader. He was married to M Jane E. Miller in 1844, and has had by her four children, of whom three are marri

W. MITTENDORF, minister and editor, Dayton. This gentleman was born Oldendorf, in the kingdom of Hanover, December 30, 1830, to Adam and Elizab (Obermiller) Mittendorf. He was married in 1850 to Louise Remmert, a native the same place. In 1853, he and his wife accompanied his father's family to Amer The family consisted of the parents, three sons and five daughters. They settled in iron region near Portsmouth, Ohio, where the father died January 22, 1869, and mother six years afterward. In 1862, while among the iron furnaces, our subject be! preaching, and was soon sent to a charge at Pomeroy. He was raised in the " Old 3

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heran " faith, but afterward joined the United Brethren Church with twenty-six others. From Pomeroy he was sent to a eireuit in Hamilton County, Ohio, and from there to Shelby County, Ohio. While here in 1865, he was regularly ordained by the Confer- ence of his church, which was held at Dayton. He was then sent to Danville, Ill., where ic was appointed to translate the church history from English to German. June 22, 869, he came to Dayton and was cleeted editor of German literature in the U. B. Church, by the General Conference held that year in Lebanon, Penn. This position he as since continued to fill. He has seven children-four boys and three girls-now liv- ng, and four boys dead. His wife died January 17, 1879. He has written a work in Herman entitled "Spiritualism in the Light of the Word of God," and other smaller ooks. In 1881, he was appointed by the Church Executive Committee to go to Ger- hany to inspect the mission fields of the church, and to hold an annual district conference. OTTO MOOSBRUGGER, editor, Dayton, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, 1 1839. He is the son of Dr. Med. Alvis Moosbrugger, who was born in Wurtemberg where he still lives) in 1812, and Josephine J. (Ledaire) Moosbrugger, who was born Germany in 1808, and died in 1856. They had twelve children, four of whom came ) Ameriea, and three to Dayton. Our subjeet was among the latter number. He was ducated at High School, Tuebingen, Wurtemberg ; emigrated and settled in Dayton in 867, where he has sinee been engaged in various branches of business. He established ie first daily German paper in Dayton, September 1, 1876, in company with his brother, ad is still engaged in its publication. He was married to Miss Wilhelmina Foehren- ach, of Madison, Ind., in 1869. His paper is looked upon as one of the leading enter- rises of the eity, and, with its present management, it promises to become still better if meets with the encouragement it merits.

GEORGE NEDER, Dayton. George Neder, Esq., editor and publisher of the ayton Daily and Weekly Volkszeitung and Sunday Amanda, emigrated to America jom Germany, landing at New York May 29, 1862. He soon afterward located in Buffalo, Y., where he was for some years, employed as local and political editor on the German wspapers of that eity. In the spring of 1866, he removed with his family to Dayton, here he has sinee resided. Upon arrival in Dayton, he purchased the Dayton Volks- itung, which a few weeks before had been eommeneed as a weekly paper, but for laek of uterprise and patronage had suspended a few days before his arrival. Mr. Neder at ce infused new life into the eoneern, and at onee revived the weekly issue, and met ith such encouraging suceess that, within two weeks, he began the publication of a mi-weekly, and soon afterward a tri-weekly. In 1876, he ventured upon the pub- ation of the Dayton Daily Volkszeitung, and both daily and weekly have grown to ch size and importanee at present, as to be the recognized official German organ of the y of Dayton and of Montgomery County, and is elassed among the leading German pers of Ohio. Printed from elear-cut, new type, and with a large daily and weckly culation, not only in Dayton and Montgomery County, but throughout southwestern hio, they have grown to be very valuable as advertising mediums. The Amanda, e only Sunday German newspaper in this part of Ohio, was begun January 1, 1881, d has already grown greatly in popularity and cireulation.

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The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 116

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

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