USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 2 > Part 60
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ESSENDEN, JAMES M., Mechanic and Manu- facturer, was born in the year 1816, at West Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the historic bat- the-ground of Lexington, which engagement was witnessed by both of his parents. Ilis father was a prominent merchant of the Revolutionary times, and was largely engaged in the grain trade. Ilis carly education was complete, and he enjoyed every pos- sible advantage to be obtained at the schools and academies of his native section. About the year 1833, he was appren- ticed to learn the file and saw making trade, and, after fully mastering the mysteries of these arts, he was appointed Manager of a hardware manufacturing company, located at Woburn and Boston, Massachusetts; from Clerk he rose to the position of Director in this corporation. He subse- quently bought a saw factory, located at the same place, with sales rooms in Boston, in which enterprise he remained for two or three years. For the following ten or twelve years he was particularly engaged in the manufacture of
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files at West Cambridge and Boston ; a portion of this time he resided in Rochester, New Hampshire, and was hon- ored by being elected to the Chairmanship of the Select Council and to the post of Treasurer of that town. About 1859, he assumed the direction and charge of the Whipple File and Slate Works, and here he remained for ten years, closely engaged in bringing to perfection machinery for the complete manufacture of files, and he was entirely success- ful. Prior to this time files had been cut by hand labor exclusively, but these remarkable inventions have caused machine-cut files to entirely supersede those made by hand. The most successful inventions of this kind are of American origin, and quite a number of the machines have been ex- ported to England, France and other parts of Europe. In IS69, in company with David Blake, he founded the Western File Works, removing his residence to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. The prosperity of this enterprise has been continuous, and they are now the largest works of the kind in the world, doing an annual business of over half a million of dollars. Ile is the father of the machine file-cut- ting trade in this country and the oldest manufacturer now engaged therein. 'He is public-spirited and ever active in advancing the interests of the localities in which he resides. Ile is at present Chairman of the Committees on Finance and on Roads in the Council of the Borough of Beaver Falls ; is also a Director of the Beaver Falls Gas Company. Ile was married, in 1843, to Eliza, daughter of James Leb- bets, a wealthy land-owner of New Hampshire, and sister of Judge Noah Lebbets of the Supreme Court of that State.
RANSON, COLONEL DAVID, Mechanic, Sol- dier, Merchant and Politician, was born in Bris- tol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in IS40. His parents, both honored members of the Society of Friends, removed to Philadelphia while he was quite young, and in this city he received a thorough scholastie education. At an early age he volun- tarily apprenticed himself to learn the trade of a carpenter, and after acquiring it proceeded to travel. He was work- ing in the State of Mississippi in ISGo, when the Civil War commenced. Ilis sentiments upon the Slavery question were most pronounced and his patriotism unbounded. Through much peril he gained the borders of the Free States, and at once enlisted as a private in the Union army. In his regiment, the 2Stli Illinois, his promotions were rapid and all earned. In the battles of Fort Henry, Pitts- burgh Landing, Siege of Corinth, Hatchie river, Indson- ville, Siege of Vicksburg and numerous other engagements, he gave ample evidence of his valor as a soldier and ability as a commander. Upon the organization of Colored Troops, he, as a matter of principle, appeared before the Board of Examination as an applicant for a position, and though but twenty-three years of age he was recommended by them
for a Colonelcy of the first class. After organizing and drilling several battalions at Benton Barracks, Missouri, he was assigned to the 62d United States Colored Infantry, and served with it during the entire war, commanding it at the last fight of the conflict, Palmetto Ranche, on the Rio Grande, May 12th and 13th, 1865. Through IS65-'66 he was Regimental, Brigade and Post Commander on the Rio Grande frontier, and in the latter part of 1865 he made a tour of observation into the interior of Mexico during the Franco-Austrian invasion, the report of which was most important. Ile quitted the army only when his military services were no longer required. Ilis regiment, during its term, he educated in general knowledge as well as soldier- ship. The Lincoln Institute, Jefferson City, Missouri, for the education of colored teachers, now in successful opera- tion, was founded and endowed by himself and command. At the close of the war he returned to Philadelphia and engaged in the coal business, and by his energy, system and ability soon became one of the most prominent dealers in the city, having at one time three different establish- ments directly in his charge. He was married, December ISth, 1866, to Sallie L. Woolman, of West Philadelphia, and has a charming young family. Ilis reputation is national; his friendships are wide-spread; by a number of papers of the Western States his name was brought forward, in IS72, as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency, and there was a strong feeling in his favor. Since 1866, spite of the demands of his extensive private business, he has been active in public affairs. IIe has travelled over the entire Union, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and also in a literary and editorial way (through a trade newspaper pub- lished by him) has taken a prominent and able part in the discussion of the great questions of the day, especially that of resistance to corporation monopolies. Ile is one of those men who always desire to be in the front of the fight for the right. Ile is a politician in the best sense of the term ; his ambition is not solely for his own aggrandizement. At this time his friends and the best portion of the citizens of the First Congressional District are urging his clection to Congress from that district. The election to the National Legislature of such men-the industrious mechanic, brave soldier and honest merchant-would insure to the country a new lease of prosperity and glory.
OOD, E. A., M. D., Physician, was born in Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1834. Ilis parents were both honored members of the Society of Friends and were fully alive to the value of knowledge as a means of success in life. Ile was afforded every opportunity for the acquirement of a thorough education, and after the com- pletion of his scholastic course at the seminary in Cali- fornia, Pennsylvania, he decided upon the adoption of the
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medical profession. With this object in view, he matricu- lated at the Western Reserve College, at Madison, Ohio, and, after devoting himself for two years to his medical studies, received his diploma from that institution. Imme- diately upon his graduation he removed to Allegheny county, l'ennsylvania, located himself in Pittsburgh, and proceeded to establish himself in the practice of his pro- fession. Ilis industry, social qualities and devotion to his art soon brought him into notice, and he quickly built up a large and lucrative connection. Not only among the citi- zens of his section did his attainments receive their full measure of credit, but he rapidly rose to distinction and gained a front rank amongst his professional brethren. In 1872, he was honored by political preferment, being elected to the Common Council of the city, and in the same year he attained the high position of President of the Alle- gheny County Medical Society. He is devoted to the science which has been the study of his life, is a prominent member of all the principal medical societies and holds a post of honor or trust in most of them. 1Je is conspicuous in every good work, and his reputation as a man is fully equal to his high rank as a Physician.
ARTIIOLOMEW, HENRY LUZERNE, M. D., Surgeon and Physician, was born at Mendon, Illinois, September 21st, 1841. His parents, Darwin F. and Sarah HI. F. Bartholomew, were of Connecticut origin, and carly instilled into his mind the lessons of that thrift and morality which have marked his life. lle was afforded ample op- portunities for the acquirement of knowledge, his scholastic and classical education being received at the academy at Galena, the Mendon Academy, Cooperstown Seminary, Illinois College and Dartmouth College. Thoroughly pre- pared in such schools as these to enter upon the study of any profession, he chose the career of a physician. IIe matriculated at the Dartmouth Medical College, and after pursuing the prescribed course of study he graduated with honor from that institution in 1860. With a view to gain- ing a practical knowledge of his profession, immediately after graduating he removed to Boston, Massachusetts, and entered the Deer Island Hospital as an Assistant, and here remained for one year. Anxious to participate in some way in the struggle in behalf of the Union, he entered the army in 1862 as an Assistant Surgeon, and in that capacity served in the field during the campaign of General Grant along the Mississippi river. Unable to stand the exposure incident to field life, and suffering from illness contracted therefrom, he was obliged, reluctantly, to resign from the army. Immediately upon his recovery to health he ac- cepted an appointment as Assistant Surgeon in the navy, and was at once assigned to duty as Surgeon-in-Charge on the " Hendrick Hudson " Hospital.boat, stationed off Key
West, Florida. After about three years service in the navy, he resigned his commission and settled in Westfield, New York, where he remained for a year and a half, engaged in professional practice. He then removed to Warren, where he is now located, busily engaged in a successful practice. llis abilities are acknowledged not only in private but in professional circles, and he ranks high among the leading physicians of the country. IIe is Censor of the County Medical Society, and is also a member of the State Medical Society.
CCAMANT, HION. JOEL B., Lawyer and I.egis- lator, was born in December, IS28, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His father was a very prominent physician of that county, as well as an influential politician, having at one time been a candidate for Congress against the Hon. Janics Buchanan. The son was afforded every opportunity for the acquirement of knowledge, and finished his education at Churchtown, in Lancaster county. After serving for some time as elerk in the Farmers' Bank, of Schuylkill county, he entered upon the study of law under the tuition of the Ilon. Thomas II. Walker. lle was duly admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession. llis ability being quickly recognized, he soon formed a large and valuable business connection. The active in- terest which he ever exhibited in regard to all local or general political questions gained him prominence as a leader and a great reputation as a thinker. The Demo- cratic party have elected him to all conventions where wise management or mental ability of a high order werc re- quired. He was a member of the Convention to amend the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, and his services in that body and in the committees upon which he was appointed were most valuable to his party and to the citizens of the Commonwealth in general. In 1870, he was appointed Cashier of the Shenandoah Valley Bank, located at Shenandoah, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where his financial ability adds greatly to the reputation which the institution enjoys for stability. IIe is an influ- ential politician, a fine lawyer, a thorough business man, and a worthy, high-toned citizen.
OODS, ROBERT, Lawyer, was born in Washing- ton, Pennsylvania, February 19th, 1814. Ile is the oldest practising attorney at the bar of Pitts- burgh. His grandfather, Thomas Woods, was a well- known resident of Chester county, and died of yellow fever at Philadelphia during the preva- Ience of that epidemic at the close of the last century. Ilis son, the father of Robert, was born and educated in Chester county, and emigrated to Washington county in 1806,
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where he followed the profession of surveyor. IIe was surveyor for the State, and surveyed nearly all the land in Washington and Allegheny counties. Ile was widely known in the western part of the State. Robert, in IS28, while yet a boy, was employed in the post-office at Wash- ington, Pennsylvania, from which point was distributed all the mail matter for the West, and he made up the first package of letters for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the class of '34 of Washington College, Penn- sylvania. After leaving college he taught in an academy at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, for a short time, and studied law with N. P. Hohert, one of Governor Ritner's State officers. Having finished his reading of law with Walter II. Lowry, of Pittsburgh, he was admitted to the bar in April, 1837, and was Chief Clerk in the Pittsburgh post- office for several months after his admission. In October of the same year he associated himself with Thomas B. Beale, and opened a law office in the " Diamond." This partnership was dissolved in a year, and he then formed one with Richard Biddle, a brother of the well-known Nicholas Biddle, and they continued together until the death of his partner, in 1847. For over twenty years and up to the present time his brother, Stephen Woods, Jr., has been associated with him under the firm-name of R. & S. Woods. In politics, he was a Democrat until the firing upon Fort Sumter, but has never been active in polities. IIe is thoroughly devoted to the practice of his profession. Ile was President of the Pan Handle Railroad for two years and during the panic of '57; the road was laid out under his management. In 1842, he was married to Sarah L. Christy, daughter of Robert Christy, of Pittsburgh, by whom he has had fifteen children, nine of whom are living.
STZ, REV. IIENRY STYLES, Clergyman, was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, April 6th, 1826. Ilis mother was the daughter of a soldier of the Revolution; his father, George Getz, was an offi- cer in the navy of the United States during the War of IS12, and also a prominent citizen of Reading, Pennsylvania, who established the first English newspaper ever printed in Berks county, and which is still published. He is the brother of the Hon, J. Lawrence Getz, who for six years represented the district of Berks in Congress. He received a thorough academic education at the well-known schools under the direction of the Moravian Society at Litiz, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Upon starting in life he at first engaged in the book business, and for a short time was connected with the publishing trade in Philadelphia. But commercial life was not suited to his tastes or nature, and in 1856 he became a candidate for IIoly Orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Follow- ing the prescribed routine he was ordained to the Diaconate by Bishop A. Potter, in 1857, and to the Priesthood by
Bishop Samuel Bowman, in 1858. He was assigned to and had charge successively of the parishes of Christ Church, Media, Delaware county, Pennsylvania; of St. Peter's Church, Smyrna, Delaware; of the united parishes of the Church of Faith, Mahanoy City, and St. Peter's Church, Hazleton. At present he is the Rector of Trinity Memorial Church, Warren, Pennsylvania (Division of Pitts- burgh). Hle is now Dean of the Warren Deanery, one of the Clerical Deputies from the Diocese to the General Convention, and is also Editor of the Diocesan Missionary paper, Our Diocese. IIe was married, December 27th, 1852, to Caroline, daughter of Thomas Desilver, a promi- nent bookseller of Philadelphia.
TTINGER, DOUGLASS, Captain in the United States Revenue Marine Service, was born in Ger- mantown, Pennsylvania, December 11th, 1804. The Ottinger family are, as the name would imply, of German extraction. The father of Douglass was Second Lieutenant of Infantry during the Revolutionary War. Having received an edu- cation in a common school of the city of Philadelphia, young Ottinger entered the Merchant Marine service when a boy, and rase rapidly to the post of Commander. When, in 1832, the Revenue Marine was reorganized, he accepted the appointment of Second Lieutenant on the cutter " Ben- jamin Rush," and in the following year was transferred to the cutter " Erie." Ilaving given much attention to the invention of life-saving implements for the usc and rescue of occan travellers, he was appointed, in 1848, to establish and equip the first life-saving stations in this country and put in methodical working order eight on the coast of New Jersey, for rescuing persons from wrecked ships. In 1849, by special request of a company of gentlemen, he was granted leave, without pay, to take their ship to San Francisco; and after reaching the California coast he was engaged by a company to explore the coast, and discovered and named Humboldt Bay, which he promptly reported to the Government, though at the time out of the service. For nearly two years he was a Commander in the Pacific Mail Line of Steamers between San Francisco and the Isthmus of Panama, and resigned this lucrative position to obey the orders of the Government and take a command that paid him but $1200 per annum, the Secretary of the Treasury having informed him the Government wanted his service, not his resignation. From 1851 to 1853 he com- manded the cutter " Frolic," having the onerous task of protecting the revenue on the whole Pacific coast, and the maintenance of order in the harbor and settlement of San Francisco, his being the only authority capable at all times of protecting the shipping and city from the lawless herd gathered there from every quarter of the globe. From 1853 to 1856, Captain Ottinger was stationed in the Gulf of
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Mexico and on the coast of Florida and Georgia; after- wards he was ordered to Lake Erie. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he took the Revenue Fleet of five vessels from the Lakes down the St. Lawrence and around to Bos- ton in midwinter. In IS62, he commanded a Revenue Fleet in the waters of North Carolina, enforcing the em- bargo on goods contraband of war and re-establishing the civil law. In 1864, receiving orders from the Treasury Department to superintend the construction of a vessel for the Revenue service, after the model he might think best, the " Commodore Perry," a vessel of great speed and seaworthi- ness, was built. In 1870, he was one of the Commissioners appointed to decide on the class of vessels best suited to the service, in which capacity he served nearly one year in Washington; his dissenting report is on record in the Treasury Department. Ile was then ordered to Lake Erie to take command of the " Commodore Perry," and after- wards to the coast of Massachusetts. Ile is the inventor of the " life-car," which may be described as a covered, sheet- iron compartment, capable of passing through the heaviest breaking waves, and holding three persons, and designed for the rescue of persons from stranded vessels in storms, where the ordinary open life-boat could not be used. On its first trial it was the means of saving two hundred and one lives from the British immigrant ship " Ayrshire," stranded on the coast of New Jersey in the month of Jan- uary, 1851, during a dreadful gale, and soon afterwards of two hundred and seventy.one passengers and a crew of eighteen from the ship " Georgia," driven ashore at another point on that coast. It has since been introduced into the life-stations in Europe, and an unofficial estimate places the number of lives already saved by it at over four thousand. This record places the name of the inventor beside that of the noble Sir Humphrey Divy as a benefactor of his race. The " Commodore Perry " is equipped with an outfit of this kind presented to the Government by her Commander. Captain Ottinger abandoned this valuable implement to the free use of mankind, under a manly conviction that the use- fulness of inventions calculated to save human life should not be restricted by patent. But, in the year 1858, Con- gress recognized the importance of the " life-car," etc., by voting him the sum of ten thousand dollars as a testimonial of his great service to mankind. Ilis contrivance is at once so simple and efficient that it will probably continue to rescue the shipwrecked as long as there are tempests on the sen.
ARRIGAN, CHARLES WESLEY, Lawyer, was born in Philadelphia, on April 23d, IS27. On the paternal side his ancestry were Irish; his mother was an Englishwoman. He was pre- pared for college partly in the Academical De- partment of the University of Pennsylvania and partly at Pennington, New Jersey, afterwards graduating at Dickinson College ; he read law with Hon. John Read
at the same place. In 1549, at the early age of twenty-two, he was nominated for the State Senate, but was defeated. In 1855, he was elected Register of Wills and Jadge of Pro- bate of his native city, and served with ability for three years. Ile received the nomination for Congress in the Fifth Congressional District, in 1862, and was defeated by only sixty-two votes, his opponent being Judge Thayer, Re- publican. Ile contested the seat, but after a long investi- gation his claim was disallowed. Ile has been an active politician during the past twenty years, and has served in many National and State Conventions of the Democratic party. Ile was a Delegate to the Convention that nomi- nated James Buchanan for the Presidency ; to the Charles- ton Convention that nominated Breckenridge ; to the Chi- cago Convention that nominated MeClellan, and was one of the twenty-seven delegates who voted against and bitterly opposed the ratification of the nomination of Horace Greeley at Baltimore, in 1872. In 1874, he was appointed a Notary Public by Governor Hartranft. Always an carnest advo- cate of street railways in his native city, he was for a num- ber of years a Director of the Second & Third Streets Passenger Railway. Ile was married, in 1857, to a lady who is connected with some of the first families of Virginia, and at present resides at Germantown.
ICKINSON, SANDFORD, M. D., Physician, a distinguished practitioner of Erie county, Penn- sylvania, was born in Norwich, New York, Sep- tember 7th, 1808. His parents were Josiah and Prudence (Taylor) Dickinson ; on the paternal side he is of English, and on the maternal of Scotch extraction. Ilis elementary and preliminary edu- cation was acquired at the Norwich Academy, and, upon the completion of the usual course of studies in that insti- tution, he decided to turn his attention to the study of medi- cine, a calling for which he had evinced a warm attach- ment. When in his twenty-fourth year, he entered upon a course of medical studies, subsequently perfecting himself under the able instruction of Dr. Ilenry L. Mitchell, with whom he was connected as a pupil for about three years. HIe afterwards graduated from the old College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, in the class of 1831-'32. After duly receiving his degree of M. D., he visited Erie county, and deeming it a desirable and promising locality, began there the practice of his profession. Steadily acquir- ing patients he ultimately became one of the most prominent and highly respected practitioners in that section of Penn- sylvania, and since has made it his permanent place of resi- dence. In 1867, he became the purchaser and proprietor of a large drug and prescription store in Erie ; of this estab- lishment his son is at present the owner and manager, al- though he still holds a controlling interest m its direction himself, and, by his wide experience and thorough technical
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knowledge, tends to endow its affairs with that gravity and ; past fifteen years he has been actively engaged in the lumber carefulness so essential to success in such a business. For more than twenty-five years he has been invested with the charge of the Poor-House patients, and to him has been alloited the honorable duty of caring for the sick soldiers and marines of Erie county. Ile is a man of unusual cul- ture, and possessed of a large fund of varied scholarly at- tainments, and a medical knowledge that evinces thorough training and constant studiousness. To him is owing the valuable introduction of the alcoholic and opiate treatment in cases of poison by vipers, and punctures in the operation of dissecting, preparing and embalming; this treatment he introduced into his practice in 1845, and since that date many learned and eminent practitioners have availed them- selves of the result of his provings. Ile was married, in 1833, to Rebecca Judson, daughter of Judge Judson, of Columbus ; she dying of consumption, he was married again, in 1838, to Harriet Maxwell, who is still living.
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