The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 120

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 120

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In 1842, when a city charter was granted to Dayton, and the public schools organized under it, he was appointed by the City Council a member of the Board of Education. This position he filled by repeated re-elections for thirty years, and served for twelve years as President of the board. In 1847, he was one of the founders of the Dayton Library Association, and for many years a Director and President. When, in 1860, the Library Association was united with the Public Library, he was appointed by the Board of Education Chairman of the library committee and served in that capacity until 1875, when he retired from the Board of Education.

On his retirement from the board the following resolutions were unanimously adopted :

WHEREAS, Mr. Robert W. Steele retires from this board after a continuous service of more than thirty years ; Therefore be it

Resolved, That we desire in the name of the people of Dayton, whom we represent, to thank him for his faithful and efficient service as a member of this board, for the interest he has always manifested in the cause of popular education and for his untiring efforts to increase the efficiency of our common school system.

Resolved, That for his constant, able and unremitting attention to the Public Library is in a great measure due the establishment and growth of an institution which is a just source o pride to the people of Dayton ; and that we sincerely regret the decision which deprives the schools and library of the benefit of his judgment and experience.

Resolved, That these resolutions be enrolled upon the minutes of this board, and that copy of the same be furnished Mr. Steele by the Clerk.

In 1844, he was one of the incorporators of Cooper Female Seminary, and server as a member of the Board of Trustees until the institution passed into private hands In 1857, he was appointed by Gov. Chase a Trustee of Miami University and serve nine years.

He was one of the earliest members of the Montgomery County Agricultura Society and served as its President. He has also been an active member of the severa Horticultural Societies which have been established, and has been Treasurer from th

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beginning of the present successful one. 1n 1852, he was elected a member of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture and had charge, in 1853, of the first State Fair held in Dayton. At that time the labor of preparing for the fair, now performed by a salaried officer. was largely thrown on the member resident where the fair was held.

In the early history of the railroads centering in Dayton, he was active in pro- moting that interest. He has been a subscriber to the stock of all the railroads, ex- cept three, entering Dayton. He served as a Director in the Dayton & Western and Dayton, Xenia & Belpre roads.

The war of the rebellion warmly enlisted his sympathies for the cause of the Union, and he took an active part in all measures to promote enlistments and to pro- vide for the comfort of the soldiers and their families. He was appointed by the Gov- ernor of Ohio and served as a member of the Military Committee for Montgomery County ; was a member of the Sanitary Commission and Chairman of the Citizens Committee to assist in raising the Nincty-third Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

In 1853, he was elected Secretary of Woodland Cemetery Association to succeed Robert C. Schenck, who had been sent Minister to Brazil. On the death of John W. Van Cleve in 1858, he was elected President, and has filled the position to the present time, a period of twenty-three years.

In 1866, he was appointed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (New School) a member of a committee to meet a similar committee on the part of the Old School branch of the church to devise measures for the re-union of the two churches. This committee did much of the preparatory work which resulted in the cordial and happy re-union of the churches.

When the Montgomery County Children's Home was established in 1867, he was appointed a Trustee by the County Commissioners and served nine years. During his trusteeship the grounds for the Home were purchased and the present building erected.

In 1867, he was appointed by Gov. Cox, a member of the Ohio State Board of Charities and served five years. The duty of this board is " to investigate the whole system of the public charities and correctional institutions of the State, and recommend such changes and additional provisions as they may deem necessary for their econom- ical and efficient administration."

Mr. Steele has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since 1841, and has served as an Elder in the Third Street Church since 1854.

JACOB STICKLE, brewer, Dayton, was born in Neckar-Thailtingen, Wurtem- berg, Germany, February 26, 1825, and emigrated to America in 1849, landing in New Orleans, La., on the 1st of May in that year. His father, John Jacob, and mother, Katerina, were natives of the above place in Germany, the former having been born there October 22, 1798. Our subject on his arrival in this country came straight to Dayton, where he arrived on June 1. 1849, and, for two years thereafter, he butchered, that being his tr de, for Adamn Hopple. He afterward opened a stall in market, which he attended for seventeen years, or until 1868, when he purchased the brewery of Saunders & Stopplemann, in which he now does about $50,000 worth of business annu- ally. He was married, August 31, 1851, to Barbara Drecksel, by whom he had two children-Katerina and William, the former dying in early childhood. William grew to manhood, and is now assisting his father in his business, to which he will eventually succeed. On arriving in Dayton, Mr. Stickle had but little money and no friends ; to- day he is considered one of the wealthy men of the city, which standing he has obtained by honest dealing with his fellow-men, shrewd business sagacity and close economy.

HENRY STODDARD (deceased) was born in Woodbury, Conn., March 18, 1788, and died in Dayton, Ohio, November 1, 1869. He was a son of Asa Stod- dard, a descendant of the Rev. Anthony Stoddard, of London, Eng., who settled in Bos- ton in 1670, and whose numerous descendants have, for more than two centuries, occu- pied honorable positions in several States of the Union. Senator Sherman and also Gen. Sherman are descendants from the Stoddard family. Having received such edu- cation as the common schools of this day afforded, our subject spent the last five years

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of his minority in the capacity of store clerk. He then read law and was admitted to the bar in 1812. Four years later, he came West on horseback in company with the late Hon. George B. Holt, of Dayton, and, in 1817, permanently located in that city. At that time, Dayton was a village of some 600 inhabitants in the center of a vast unbroken wilderness, and for many years, Mr. Stoddard made the circuit of the courts in the different counties on horseback, riding for days through the storms of winter, aud at night often sleeping in the bush. Of the early lawyers of Dayton, Mr. Stoddard was one of the most prominent and successful. From 1840 to 1844, he was in part- nership with Judge D. A. Haynes. Having by the latter year acquired a handsome competency, he retired from regular practice and devoted himself to the management of his private affairs. He was one of the constituent members of the First Presbyterian (Church of Dayton, in which body he was, for many years, a ruling deacon. He also held the office of Vice President and Life Director of the American Colonization So- ciety. For many years previous to his death, he was an invalid. His first wife was Harrict L. Patterson who died October 1, 1822, leaving one son, Asa P., now a resi- dent of St. Louis, Mo. His second wife was Susan Williams, the daughter of an early pioneer of Dayton. She died April 5, 1861, leaving three sons and one daughter to honor her memory. The daughter is Mrs. Col. S. B. Smith, of Dayton. The oldest son is a resident of California. The two youngest, John W. and Ebenezer F., con- stitute the manufacturing firm of John W. Stoddard & Co., one of the most extensive of its kind in the country. In 1861, Mr. John W. married Miss Susan, daughter of Daniel Kiefer, a retired business man of Dayton, and has had five children born him, three living. He is a man of modest manners and great kindness of heart. He gradu- atcd from Princeton College, N. J., in 1858; studied law with his father and was admitted to practice in 1860. He continued, however, but a short time in the pro- fession and then turned his attention to manufacturing business. Ebenezer F., the youngest son of our subject, graduated at Yale College in 1867, and in the autumn fol- lowing engaged with his brother in the manufacture of linseed oil, in which business they continued five years. In 1872, he was made Superintendent and Secretary of the Dayton Steam Gauge Company, and, in 1875, became a member of the firm of John W. Stoddard & Co., and has since been Superintendent of their manufactory. Oui November 10, 1868, he married Miss Bessie W., daughter of Col. John G. Lowc, of Dayton, and has had four children, two deceased. He is a gentleman of a genial, accommodating spirit, and is very systematic, prompt and energetic.

HENRY W. STOUT, printer, Dayton. The history of this county would be incomplete without a brief sketch of Henry W. Stout, the veteran printer and publisher of Ohio. He was born in Somerset County, N. J., November 7, 1807, and in 1811 came with his parents to Warren County, Ohio. His father, George W. Stout, went out in the war of 1812, and died during that struggle. Henry was the eldest in a family of three children, and is to-day the only survivor. He began to learn the printer's trade May 11, 1822, in the office of the Western Star, Lebanon, Ohio, where he remained four years, then went to Cincinnati and worked eight months, dur- ing which time he made up the forms and worked off the first large-sized daily sheet published in that city. In the fall of 1826, he went to New York, and worked for nearly six years in Harper's Publishing House, four of which he was Superintendent of the composing room. In the spring of 1833, he was engaged as editor on the Wooster Journal, of Wayne County, Ohio; in the fall of the same year became editor and proprietor of the Ohio Argus. of Lebanon, Ohio; and the following spring moved his paper to Franklin, where he issued it under the name of the Ohio Argus and Frank- lin Gazette. This was the first printing establishment in Franklin. In 1839, he re- moved to Sidney, Ohio, and there published his paper under the title of the Ohio Ar- gus and Sidney Aurora. In 1841, he purchased the Troy Times, of Troy, Ohio. which he sold in 1847, and bought the Dayton Transcript, which he disposed of in 1850 to William C. Howells & Co. The same year he took back the Transcript, and its name was changed to the Dayton Gazette, with which he was connected until 1858. Since that time, he has been connected with various papers of Dayton in different ca-

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pacities. In 1872, he established the Franklin Advertiser, which he sold in 1876, and since then has run a job office in which several papers have been printed. In Septem- ber, 1837, Mr. Stout was married to Caroline A. McClisty, who bore liim one son, George K., who died as a veteran of the rebellion in 1864. Mrs. Stout died in 1843, and in 1845 he married Elizabeth Kennedy, to whom has been born one daughter, Esther Auna, who died in 1878. Although Mr. Stout is nearly seventy-five years of age, he is still able to look after his office and business, in which he has been engaged more than sixty years, a period unparalleled in the history of the Ohio press.

JOHN TEMPLE, deceased, was born February 3, 1821, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and was a son of Robert and Christina (Allen) Temple, people in moderate circumstances, who followed the quiet occupation of farming. His father was a Captain in the militia, and his mother a daughter of Capt. Robert Allen of the Royal Navy. John enjoyed the advantages of the parochial schools of his native country until seven- teen years old, when he was apprenticed to learn the trade of machinist and mechanical engineer at the town of Cubadona. He served five years at his trade, and after attaining his majority was employed for one year as a journeyman in Scotland. In April, 1843, he left home to seek his fortune in America, and having a natural proclivity for general mechanics, he soon became familiar with the details of mill building, which he carried on in Canada until the year 1848, when he entered the "States," first at Buffalo, and afterward residing at Sandusky, Ohio. In July, 1851, he arrived at Dayton, where he followed mill building along the valley of the Miami, and in 1854 became associated with two partners under the firm name of Stout, Mills & Temple, in the manufacture of mill machinery, which firm has long been widely known as being the most extensive and enterprising manufacturers of mill machinery in the West. In 1859, he obtained a patent for the American turbine wheel, an invention whose importance may be inferred from the fact that although it was followed by a great number of imitations as close as the law would permit, it continued for more than a decade to almost monopolize the market, and of which more than 5,000 have been manufactured at the shops of the firm. The case, as well as the wheel, is his invention, and the subject of a patent. In 1873, both of these patents were renewed by the Government. Mr. Temple was also the author or projector of several other inventions of importance, but on which he ne- glected to secure patents. Prominent among these are the universal feed for boring mills and drill presses, also an engine for the cutting and automatic counting of the teeth of wheels. The drill feed has come into general use, and would have been the source of a handsome income if he had secured the patent on it. From the above recital of the principal events of his career, it is not necessary to say he was a self-made man. He was married April 6, 1853, to Sarah Ann, daughter of Henry Riddick, of Preble County, Ohio, by whom he had five children, of whom only one survives, viz., John C., who now occupies his father's place in the firm. Mr. Temple died February 7, 1879, leaving a host of friends to mourn his loss. To the mechanical world his death was a calamity, as his fertile brain was continually devising new and important pieces of mechanism. He was a life-long Mason of the highest standing, and was buried with the ceremonies of the Scottish Rite degree. He was also an able and consistent member of the I. O. O. F. fraternity, and of the First Baptist Church of Dayton. In conclusion we would say the immense success of the firm with which he was connected. is largely due to his untiring energy, inventive genius and mechanical skill, in fact, we have been told by manufacturers and others who knew him throughout his business career, that John Temple was " the brains " of the Globe Iron Works.

ELIHU THOMPSON. The subject of this sketch was born on the 13th day of October, 1837, in Randolph Township, Montgomery County, Ohio. His parents both emigrated from the State of Pennsylvania. his father, James F. Thompson, from Fayette County, in the year 1818, and his mother, Mary Ann Riley, in the year 1820, rom Bedford County, in that State. The father came with his parents, by means of lat-boat, from above Pittsburgh on the Allegheny, to Cincinnati, while the mother ame with her family by means employed on the overland routes in that day. The ands at that time in Randolph Township, were heavily timbered, and a great measure

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swampy in their character, and required a vast amount of labor bestowed on them before they could be fitted for cultivation. There was at that time considerable land held by the Government, which was taken up by these early settlers, and is now among the best farms in that part of the county. The first schoolhouse in that district was built about a half mile from where Mr. E. Thompson was born, and at which, for several years, lie at- tended school, and acquired his rudimental education. He excelled especially in spell- ing, it being said of him at one time, by an admiring teacher, that he could spell every- thing in Webster's spelling book, without missing a single word. In the year 1848, his parents removed to Jackson Township, near Farmersville of the same county, where until the year 1854 he remained with them upon the farm, engaged with them in its ordinary employment, and attending the common schools during the winter months. In 1855, he attended the southwestern Ohio Normal School at Lebanon, Warren County, and in September of that year, commenced teaching one of the schools in the immedi- ate neighborhood of Farmersville, which he continued in for several months, and again re- turned to the normal school at Lebanon, and engaged in the study of the higher branches of mathematics and the natural sciences. After becoming proficient in all the branches necessary to be taught in those schools of the country, in which he continued to teach for several years, he determined to adopt the practice of the law as his permanent pro- fession in life, and to this end provided himself with copies of Blackstone, Kent and Walker's Commentaries on the Law, along with Parsons on Contracts and Greenleaf on Evidence, and Bouvier's Law Dictionary, and while engaged in his ordinary occupation of teaching, gave all the time to reading these books of the law that he could command; and in the year 1862, attended one term of the law school at Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated with some thirty others, and was admitted to the bar of the State, and upon the recommendation of the professors. of the college, also to practice in the District Court of Northern Ohio. At that time the war was in progress, and after the close of the law school, upon returning to Dayton on the 6th of August, with a number of the young men of the neighborhood, he enlisted in the Ninty-third Ohio Regiment, under Capt. Allen, Company E, and in the latter part of the month went with his regiment into Kentucky, as far as Lexington, where he was taken sick and ordered to the hospi- tal, while the regiment itself was sent on that precipitate march to Richmond, Ky., to engage Kirby Smith, who was then advancing northward with a view of attacking the city of Cincinnati. The Union forces were driven back upon Lexington in the wildest disorder and confusion, and the town on the next week was captured by the forces under Gen. Morgan and Kirby Smith, and all who were then in the hospital declared to be prisoners of war, and as soon as they were able to march were paroled. About the middle of September, Mr. Thompson reported at Camp Chase, Columbus, and again in October, when upon being subjected to a medical examination, he was declared physically unable to discharge the duties of a private soldier and was honorably discharged, and entirely satisfied with all that is not derived from the pride and pomp and circumstan- stance of war. He again returned to his profession, teaching, in which he continued until March, 1864, when he came to Dayton and opened a law office, since which time he has closely devoted himself almost exclusively to the business and duties of that pro- fession. In the year 1869, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Montgomery County, ant re-elected in 1871, serving in this capacity for a poriod of four successive years, with a measure of success both gratifying to himself and the members of his profession. Mr. Thompson's parents are both now living at Johnsville, in this county, his father, at the age of seventy, and his mother at the age of sixty-eight years. The father served as a member of the Ohio Legislature for one term. in the years 1874-75. His father's family consists of the subject of our sketch ; L. H. Thompson, engaged in mer- chandising, at Troy, Ohio ; Franklin Thompson, farmer, and W. R. Thompson a physi- cian, and one daughter, Eliza Jane Lukens, all of whom are living, no deaths having as yet occurred in the immediate family of the parents. In 1865, Mr. E. Thompson was married to Elina Jane Gregg, of Springboro, Warren County, Ohio, who died at Day- ton on the 11th of September, A. D. 1865. In 1868, he was again married, to Miss Belle Whitmore, of Dayton, Ohio, who is the daughter of Jacob Whitmore, deceased.

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formerly a resident of Madison Township, adjoining the Soldiers' Home. In his polit- ieal faith, Mr. Thompson is a Democrat, but independent in his judgment upon all polit- ical subjects, believing in gold and silver as the only true theory of a curreney, an ardent advocate of free trade, believing that in the end the protection system will prove itself to be founded in the worst character of sophistry and selfishness, and be the means of en- foreing the oppression of many to enrich the comparatively few in number. In matters of religion, he may be said to be Unitarian, giving all religious discussion a fair hear- ing, but reserving all matters of faith to his private judgment. He is not a believer in the popular creeds of the day, but yields a hearty assent to the faith and doetrines of immortality. He has devoted much time and attention to writing upon these subjects, associating them with the seientific discussions of the day, and while having never ap- peared in public, has given several interesting lectures to select and private assemblies upon subjects of this charcater, and for his amusement, as well as eulture, has indulged in writing poems, most of which however, are of a humorous nature.

ISAAC N. THORNE, merchant, Dayton, was born in Waterloo, Seneca Co., N. Y., October 25, 1842. He is the son of Isaae and Eliza (Buddell) Thorne, of New York. Our subject is one of a family of two sons and two daughters. He at- tended the public schools of his native city until he was fourteen years of age, when he was obliged, on account of diseased eyes, to give up his schooling. He afterward clerked in a grocery, worked on his father's farm, learned tinning, and in 1863 enlisted in Battery L, Sixteenth New York Heavy Artillery, from which he was discharged at the close of the war. After the war, he returned to Waterloo, where he remained un- til 1870, when he came to Dayton and started a junk shop. He is still in that busi- ness, and has sixteen wagons constantly on the road. In 1867, he married Elizabeth Close, daughter of William and Mary Close, of Waterloo, by whom he has had three boys and one girl, the latter having since died. Mr. Thorne is a member of the Board of Education and Chairman of the High School Committec. He is also a member of the Knights of Honor, and Grace Methodist Church. He takes a good deal of inter -- est in educational matters, and is a valuable auxiliary to that board.

DR. H. A. TOBEY, Superintendent of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane, Day- ton, was born in the northern part of Union County, Ohio, April 6, 1852, where his early boyhood life was spent. In 1864, his parents located in Mt. Victory, Hardin Co., Ohio, where he acquired his primary education. During the years 1870-71, his time was devoted in Wesleyan University at Delawarc.

At the age of twenty, he commenced the study of medicine under the tutorship of Drs. Watt and Snodgras, of Kenton, Ohio, and graduated at the age of twenty- three, at the Miami Medieal College of Cincinnati, Ohio. He soon after located in Sidney, Ohio, where he practiced two years, the latter one in partnership with the able and established Dr. H. S. Conklin, the father of Dr. Conklin, of Dayton. While in Sid- ney, he received and accepted an appointment to the Columbus Insane Asylum, as As- sistant Physician under the well-known Dr. Richard Gundry, who was for sixteen years the Superintendent of the Insane Asylum at Dayton, Ohio, and one to whom mueh is due for the present standing of the institution. In May, 1877, a political re-organization of the Columbus Asylum took place, at which time some of the officials were removed, but Dr. Tobey was then promoted to First Assistant Physician, which position he held until May, 1880, when he was elected to his present position, of which he took charge July 15 following. To undertake to estimate the life and career of one so young as he, would be a premature proceeding ; but, marked as it has been by integrity and profita- ble exercise of sound abilities, there can be no danger in predicting that his future will satisfy every reasonable hope of his many friends.

CHARLES F. TOWER, manufacturer, Dayton. This gentleman is a member of the Tower Varnish Company, and was born in Hingham, Mass., twelve miles from Boston, April 19, 1823. His father was Isaiah Tower, a farmer of that county. When old enough, Mr. Tower served as an apprentiee at the painting trade at Roxbury, how a portion of the city of Boston. He then attended school two years at Worcester, Mass., and subsequently engaged to do ornamental painting for Downing & Son, man-

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The history of Montgomery county, Ohio, containing a history of the county, Part 120

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