DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO. JOHN W. DONAVIN, deceased, formerly proprietor of the Hotel Donavin, Delaware, was born in Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 18th day of February, 1833, and died in Delaware. Ohio, June 28, 1893, in the sixty-first year of his age. He was the second son of Levi K. Donavin and Mary K. Donavin, nee McConnell. His parents were born in the same village, his father in 1799, and his mother in 1800. His father died in 1882 in Delaware, and his mother passed away August 18, 1894, in her ninety-fourth year. J. W. Donavin's forefathers came from the north of Ireland, counties Tyrone, Armagh and Down. The McConnells emigrated to the United States in 1713, spent a few years in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, and then crossed the Susquehanna river, and settled on a tract of land containing four thousand four hundred acres, lying near the Conojoquimet creek, forty miles west of the Susquehanna river. The settlement of the region was very sparse at that day, and was made up principally of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, of which the head of this branch of the McConnell family, David McConnell, was a prominent and devoted member. On the banks of the creek running through his estate, he erected a flouring mill, in the year 1724, which was the first structure of the kind in that section of the Cumberland valley. He became a prominent and influential member of society and prospered in worldly as well as in spiritual affairs. David McConnell was twice married. Mr. Donavin's mother was a descendant of the third son of the second marriage. Her father's father was William McConnell, and her father bore the same name. Two of the sons of William McConnell, Sr., were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. William McConnell, Jr. (Mary McConnell's father), was too young to enter the service. When the patriotic army was lying at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777, William McConnell, Sr., determined to visit the army that he might see his sons. Accordingly he put twenty-one barrels of flour into a large English wagon-bed (which he had imported) and started for Valley Forge, over a hundred miles distant. The weather was very severe, snow and intense cold prevailing. He delivered the flour and was given a receipt therefor, the flour being valued at ,:20 ($100) per barrel. When he met the 2 - MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF younger of his two sons in camp, he found him marking the snow with blood from hi: feet. The father took the boots from hi: own feet, and placed them on those of hi: suffering boy. Tying up his own feet with pieces of blankets, he started with his six-horse team for home. On reaching Harrisburg he was taken with the pleurisy, and runners were dispatched to carry the new of his illness to his wife, forty miles west. On hearing of the distress of her husband, the wife took her baby girl in her arms, got into the saddle and started for Harrisburg in a driving rain storm. On reaching the river the waters were so high that she waw compelled to remain three days on the west bank, unable to communicate with Harrisburg. On the fourth day she rode upon a flat-boat and vas ferried across the river. As she rode up the street of the town, she met a funeral. Stopping the driver of the hearse she inquired, "Whose body does that coffin contain ?" The driver replied, “William McConnell's !" She turned her horse's head and took position immediately behind the hearse, and, with her baby girl asleep in her arms, followed the body of her husband to the grave and saw him buried. She did not long survive her husband, but within two years died, leaving three sons and a daughter. She was of the family " McCollister." In the early forties a young man, a clerk in the State Auditor's Department of Pennsylvania, with a penchant for delving into musty records, discovered an open account in the books of the Colonial period, unsettled, in favor of 'William McConnell, amounting to $2,100, for twenty-one barrels of flour delivered to the Pennsylvania troops at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777. The attention of J. W. Donavin's father was called to this by the young clerk of the auditor's office, and Mr. Donavin, accompanied by the clerk, called on his father-in-law. The old gentleman was sitting on his front porch when the young clerk told him of his discovery, at the close of which Mr. McConnell said, " O, yes ; that twenty-one barrels of flour marks an important incident in the history of my family—my father's death. I have the receipt in my secretary which was given for that load of flour." Rising from his seat he walked into his library and in a few minutes returned with the receipt. On learning of the incident, the member of the legislature from Cumberland called on Mr. McConnell and induced him to visit Harrisburg. The old gentleman was introduced to the House and the Senate. Immediately a bill was introduced directing the Auditor of State to draw his warrant for $2, 100 in favor of William McConnell in payment for that flour. The rules were suspended and the law enacted, so that Mr. McConnell returned to his home in the evening with the $2,100 in his pocket. The Donavin family came from county Armagh. They were landed gentry. John, the grandfather of J. W. Donavin, got mixed up in the Irish rebellion of 1797-8, and was compelled to leave the country. He arrived at Philadelphia in March, 1798, but remained in the city but a day or two, going to a point in Lancaster county, where he lived a short time and where he married Jane McElroy, who had accompanied to America her brother, Rev. William McElroy, an ordained priest of the Church of England, but who had quit the established church and was a follower of John Wesley. John Donavin had been converted when a boy of sixteen, under the immediate preaching of the great Wesley, and was personally DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO - 3 acquainted with the brothers, John and Charles. He accompanied Mr. Wesley on one of his trips through Ireland, and was full of sweet reminiscences of the founder of Methodism. He erected the first log church in which the Methodists worshiped in Shippensburg. He was full of piety and zeal, and his home was the home of the itinerant. L. K. Donavin, J. W.'s father, was a highly honored citizen of the people with whom he was reared, sharing in the honors of local government, and was Postmaster of the town during the administration of. James K. Polk. For years he was the foremost Methodist of Cumberland valley, and entertained the pastors, from the bishops to the humblest circuit riders. He spent the last twelve years of his life in Delaware, where he died in 1882. It was from this sterling stock that John W. Donavin sprung. He had all the characteristics, strong qualities, and peculiar traits which distinguish the Scotch-Irish race. He was honest in all things, small. as well as large, and in his dealings and intercourse with his fellow men, was innately prompted to justice; was fervent in his attachments, persevering in his intents, full of conscience, the approval of which he demanded for every action of his life, was fast in his friendships, loving and lovable, gentle and sympathetic, the latter always accompanied when necessary by tangible evidence of sincerity; was courageous without bravado, and tender without weakness. He was a complete exemplification of the lines, " The bravest are the tenderest. The loving are the daring." John W. Donavin was a successful man in business. From his early youth he manifested a disposition for business pursuits. At the age of ten he insisted on his father letting him have money with which to make money. He was not in love with books, and attendance at school was akin to pun, ishment. He acquired his lessons easily and rapidly, but still the work was irksome. He was always glad when Saturday came, and the preceding days of the week were employed in devising some matter of trade or pursuit whereby he could make money on Saturday. At the age of twelve he was in the live-stock and butchering business. His native town was located on the principal highway between the East and the West, and daily droves of swine, sheep and cattle passed through it. Fie would go out a mile or two on the road and meet the droves, with the hope of finding some animal that was lame or suffering from some temporary injury which care and attention would soon restore, and which could be bought at a figure much below its real value as a well animal. He secured pasture lots, and it was no unusual thing to see a number of crippled animals corraled and under his care. In this way lie made money. When about seventeen years of age he went into his father's hat and cap store as a salesman. In another part of the town his father had a cigar manufactory. John was not long in picking up the business, and in a brief time he had a bench erected back of the counter in the hat and cap store, on which he rolled cigars. He was soon an expert cigar-maker. During these years and up to his leaving home, his pleasures were found in music and horseback riding. As a vocalist he excelled all other persons in the village. He was passionately fond of it, and selecting three companions he formed a quartet which was known from the Shenandoah to the Potomac. He was the best horseman in the valley, and was always in possession of a 4 - MEMORIAL ANDS BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF saddle horse which obeyed not merely his command, but the nod of his head or the wave of his hand. In 1853 he came West, stopping briefly at a number of points until he reached Mt. Vernon, Knox county, Ohio. There his necessities compelled him to come to a per manent halt. He had but sixteen cents in his pocket. He sought work and found it in a woolen mill. He was unfamiliar with the work and about a week after his first employment he came near severing the fingers of his left hand while he operated a large pair of shears, which moved by machinery. His escape from the accident startled him. He held up his hand and soliloquized, " On you and your mate largely depend my success in life. Some other body may take the hazard of losing his fingers : I will not. He stopped the machinery, walked to the office and remarked, " I have resigned," assigning the reason for doing so. He found employment in a cigar manufactory run by Reuben Kendrick. In a brief time Kendrick and he became partners and the business was greatly enlarged. Mr. Donavin took charge of the sale department, and with a span of horses and a wagon he sold the entire out-put, covering all of northern, Ohio and southern Michigan. In 1855 he returned to Shippensburg and married Laura C. Trone, who survives him. She was his boyhood's sweetheart and his manhood's wife, and in the thirty-nine years of their married life he never had a disloyal thought. In 1856 he retired from the firm of Kendrick & Donavin. The Fremont campaign was on that year. There was a grand rally of Republicans in Mt. Vernon. Mr. Donavin had been a Democrat, but a visit to the valley of Virginia, where he witnessed slavery as it was, changed all his politics. He returned to his home an abolitionist. When the Republican party was formed he united himself to it. On the morning of the grand Re- publican rally, Mt. Vernon was filled with people. A man was present endeavoring to sell at a dollar a copy a large and well bound life of Fremont, which also contained fifty campaign songs. The man was doing but little business. Mr. Donavin stepped up to hiM saying, Hand me one of those books, and I will show you how to sell : them. He opened the volume and the first song was the tune, " Do they miss me at home." Turning a box over he jumped on top of it and in. a voice " sweet as silver bells" he commenced singing. In a few minutes several thousand people had gathered around him, and in less than one hour the stock of hooks was all sold. Among those who gathered to listen was George B. Potwin, the largest wholesale and retail dealer in groceries in the town. As Mr. Donavin stepped from the box, Potwin came up and said, Donavin, what are you engaged in ?" — Selling the life of Fremont," he replied with a laugh. " When does your engagement close ? " To-morrow after the speaking at Fredericktown." "Well," remarked Potwin, ''I need you in my business." " I'll call on you tomorrow night, replied Mr. Donavin. On that night business arrangements were made between the two men, which lasted until within a few days of the death of Mr. Potwin, first as head clerk, then as partner and conductor of the retail store, and afterward, in the spring of 1864, in the establishment of a branch store in Delaware with Mr. Donavin in control. In 1873, at the instance of the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau of the Methodist DELAWARE, UNION, MORROW COUnTIES, OHIO - 5 Episcopal Church, he went into the Southern States and organized a troupe of colored Jubilee Singers to raise money to complete the Central Tennessee, College buildings at Nashville. The troupe organized and drilled. he brought it North and commenced a most successful tour. "Donavin's Original Tennesseeans" became famous throughout all the land. He sent $18,000 to the college, which completed the college buildings, and in May, 1876, this work was accomplished: and the members of the troupe being anxious to continue their pursuit, Mr. Donavin reoganized them and conducted the concerts for his own benefit. In 1882 he purchased a one-half interest in the American House property, and two years later, in conjunction with his sons, L. K. and George B. Donavin, he purchased the other half. In 1885 the building was thoroughly remodeled and greatly improved and in August of that year, under the firm name of J. W. Donavin & Sons, it was opened for business under the name of —Hotel Donavin," with Mr. Donavin and his sons in charge. John W. Donavin was a "host- in the full meaning of the word. His aim was to make the hotel a home for the traveling public, and no man ever succeeded better. He was unusually beloved by the traveling commercial life. When a guest who was a frequent visitor of the house entered and J. W. had not met him, the registry was scarcely completed when the question came, "Where is the old gentleman?" His guests were his friends, and many of them, not haying heard of his death, when in answer to the almost invariable inquiry they were informed that he was dead, manifested the most profound and tenderest sorrow, many of them weeping like children. His death was from apoplexy. Its suddenness shocked the community. As the news spread rapidly through the town, it aroused the deepest sympathy in all hearts. His departure developed the . beauty of his life. Scores of the poor who had been the recipients of his benevolence came to weep at his bier and mourn their loss. His left hand had not known what his right one had done, and death was necessary to prove the sweetness of his everyday walk. None mourned him more than the youth of the city. He had touched their lives and they were better and stronger that John W. Donavin had lived. Tele, grams and letters from all parts of the country came from traveling men, expressing sorrow and sympathy, many of them assuring the family that their success in life was largely owing to the counsel and tenderness they had received from him. He was an earnest, honest Republican, and though not given to seeking office, he was not averse to the appreciation of the confidence of his party friends. In 1887 he was Republican nominee for Senator in the district. His plurality in Delaware county was 1,056, while the normal plurality of his party was 350. He was strong in his convictions, but was not intolerant. Was always firm in the defense of right, but there was no room in his heart for revenge. With him forgiveness was a cardinal virtue, and compassion and pity dwelt in him as constant guests. Flattery could not cajole him into compromise, nor power awe him into silence. All men were his brothers, when their cause was just, and all sufferings were his own when they arose from affliction, misfortune or disaster. It may be truly said that " he wept with those that wept, and rejoiced with those who rejoiced." He attracted the 6 - MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL HPHICAL OF young who were struggling with the contrary currents of life, as the sun lifts the flower which the storm has prostrated. Young people loved him because they felt that his strong arms were ready to sustain them. He was always cheerful. Loving God, and trusting to the uttermost in the saving power of the ‘'Man of Sorrows," there was no moment of his life when he was not ready to attest the cause of the Master.. On one occasion when surrounded by friends who were rejoicing over a political victory, he was urged to sing a song. He complied, and the song was, "Jesus, lover of my soul." As his rich voice poured forth the exalted melody, his auditors burst into tears. He was never looking for special blessings, but constantly prayed for general ones. He was without envy or jealousy, and rejoiced in the prosperity of every man he knew. He was an affectionate son, a devoted husband, a kind, indulgent father, a tender, sympathizing brother, a good citizen, a distinct man, and an humble, patient, Christian gentleman. John W. Donavin lived a life of usefulness and died lamented by a community. DAVID W. HENDERSON.—The record of a busy life, a successful life, must ever prove fecund in interest and profit as scanned by the student who would learn of the intrinsic essence of individuality; who will attempt an analysis of character and trace back to the fountain head the widely diverging channels which mark the onward flow, the constantly augmentive progress, if we may be permitted to use the phrase. of such individuality. All human advancement, all human weal or woe; in short, all things within the mental ken, are but mirrored back from the composite individuality of those who have lived. The proper study of mankind is man, says Pope, and aside from this, in its broader sense, what base of study and information have we Genealogical research, then, has its value. be it the tracing of an obscure and broken line, or the following back the course of a noble and illustrious lineage, whose men have been valorous, whose women of gentle refinement. We of this end-of-the-century, democratic. type cannot afford to scoff at or to hold in light esteem the bearing up of a 'scutcheon upon whose fair face appears no sign of blot, and he should be thus the more honored who honors a noble name and the memory of noble deeds. The lineage of the subject of this review is one of distinguished and most interesting order, and no apology need be made in reverting to this in connection with the record of the individual accomplishment of the subject himself. Dr. David W. Henderson, who stands forth as one of the most able and honored physicians and surgeons of Union county, Ohio, has been a resident of said county from his boyhood days, though he is a native of Indiana county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on the paternal farmstead, Octocber 4, 1823, the son of John and Anna (Jack) Henderson. The Henderson family is of Scotch origin. The great-grandfather of our subject was one Hugh Henderson, a prominent resident of the town of Fordell, county of Fife, Scotland. Three sons of this ancestor, Alexander, William and John, came to the American colony of Virginia about the middle of the seventeenth century. After their arrival the three brothers became separated, DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO - 7 locating in different colonies and thus being lost sight of by the original family in Scot- land. They were disinherited by their family in Scotland by reason of their sup- porting the Colonial cause, each of them having participated in the war of the Revo- lution. One is supposed to have settled in Kentucky; another to have remained in Virginia, though his family in time scattered through northeast Georgia and Texas; while the third, the grandfather of our subject, took up his abode in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, near Chambersburg. The male line of the original house, as represented by Robert Bruce Henderson, has become extinct in Scotland, but the name is being perpetuated by George William Mercer, son of Douglas Mercer, the former of whom married one of the women of the Henderson family and who assumed the name of Henderson by royal license. George W. (Mercer) Henderson is Lieutenant General and Colonel of the Sixty-eighth British Foot. The Henderson family is of ancient Scotch origin, and has been from time immemorial seized of estates in Cathness and Fife. One of the first baronetcies was held by a member of the family. Sir Robert Bruce Henderson, of Fordell, was the last Baronet, having been successively Member of Parliament for the counties of Fife and Sterling. The family was allied with the famous houses of Stuart, Calderwood, Clerk, Hamilton, Chalmers, St. Clair (or Sinclair), Laing and others. The family has always been prominent in a military line, having furnished to the British army, navy and honorable East India service more gallant soldiers than probably any other one Scottish family, being distinctively a race of patriots. Upon the crest of the coat-of- arms of the family appears the motto: “Tola Virtus Nobilitat,” (Our valor alone ennobles us). On the maternal side the ancestry of our subject traces back to the north of Ireland. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Henderson was James Jack, who came from Ireland to America when a lad of fourteen years, locating in New Jersey, and subsequently removing to Indiana county, Pennsylvania. He served in the war of the Revolution. John Henderson, father of our subject, was born near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1780, and passed his boyhood days with an uncle, who was a Presbyterian clergyman. He remained with this uncle until he had attained his majority, and in the succeeding year he was united in marriage to Miss Anna Jack, soon thereafter settling on a farm of 222 acres, owned by his wife and located in Indiana county, Pennsylvania. Their nearest neighbors were eight miles distant, though there were many Indians in the immediate vicinity. They remained there until 1837, when they came to Ohio, locating one mile south of Watkins, Union county, where Mr. Henderson purchased 160 acres of land, : and where he remained until his death, which occurred September 15, 1847, at which time he had attained the age of sixty-seven years and eight months. His widow died in 1869, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. They were old Scotch Presbyterians in their religious faith; in his political views the father was a stanch Democrat of the Jeffersonian type, and was often importuned to accept public preferments but as often declined. Of the family of children we offer the following epitomized record: Margaret H., wife of Thomas Mc' Kee, of Brookville, Pennsylvania, is de- 8 - MEMORIAL BlOGRAPHICAL RECORD Of ceased; James died at the age of twenty-one years; John, who was engaged in farming in Indiana, is deceased; Sarah A., wife of David Gill, is deceased; Joseph, a resident of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, has been prominently identified with the political affairs of said county, having held many important offices; Jane, widow of William Liggett, is now a resident of Denver, Colorado; Levinah is the wife of S. B. Woodburn, of Marysville, Ohio; David W. is the subject of this review; William C. resides on the old home farm in Union county; Mary E. is the wife of Charles McCampbell, of Indiana. David W. Henderson was a lad of thirteen years when his parents removed to this county, and upon the parental farm he remained, assisting in the duties of the same. He attended the public school in Marysville for two years and then secured a two years' course of instruction in the Marysville Academy, an institution of considerable note in an early day. He then attended school at Delaware, Ohio, one year, and on the 2th of May, 1847, he enlisted for service in the Mexican war, becoming a member of company E, Fourth Regiment, under command of Colonel Brough, serving until July, 1848. Within this time ,he encountered some hard service and made an honorable record as a valiant soldier. On his return home he, in company with his brother William, bought out the interest of the other heirs to the old home place, the father having died within his absence. A few weeks subsequent to this he sold his interest in the estate to his brother William, after which he went to Delaware, Ohio, where he entered the office of Dr. Ralph Hills, with whom he read medicine for three years, after which he became a student in the Starling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio, and graduated in the class of 1852, the first class graduated at the present college building. After his graduation he located in Marysville, where he has ever since remained in the active practice of his profession. It is particularly interesting to note that Dr. Henderson now occupies the position as the pioneer physician of the little city, claiming professional seniority over all other practitioners. His life has been an active one and one which has gained to him a high place in the esteem and affection of the people of the community, who I lo value his worth of character not less than his professional ability. At the outbreak of the late civil war he was made Surgeon of the Ninety-sixth regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, receiving his commission in September, 1862, and serving until April 8, of the following year, when his resignation, on account of disability, took effect, though he had served beyond its date of acceptance, which was in April, 1863. Since that time his practice, which has been one of representative order, has been uninterrupted. The marriage of our subject occurred December 29, 1857, when he espoused Miss Anna Hathaway, daughter of Ebenezer P. Hathaway, and a native of Union county, where she was born October 21, 1836. They have two children living: Lutrelle, who is a graduate of Starling Medical College, class of 1886, and who is associated with his father in practice; and Graily, who graduated at Starling Medical College in 1893, and who has now entered into active practice with his father and elder brother. William died at the age of three years, and the fourth child, a daughter, died in infancy. Dr. Lutrelle Henderson was united in marriage, October 26, 1887, to Miss Lottie D. DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES - 9 Dolbear, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Dolbear, of Marysville; Dr. Grails Henderson married Miss Ida Turner, daughter of Velorus and Louisa Richey Turner, of this city, the date of the ceremonial having been June 20, 1894. Both of the sons of our subject are thoroughly informed in the line of their profession, and in the character and extent of their practice are taking rank with those who have been in the field for years. In August, 1893. Dr. Lutrelle Henderson was appointed a member of the Board of Pension Examiners for Union county, and received incidental preferment as Secretary of the Board. Fraternally he is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta college order and politically he is a Democrat. In addition to other technical preparation for his professional work, he completed a special course in chemistry at the State University. In his fraternal relations our subject is identified with the Masonic Order, being a member of Palestine Lodge, No. i 58; Marysville Chapter, No. 99; and Raper Commanders, No. 19, of Urbana, Ohio. He is also a prominent member of Ransom Reed Post, No. 113, G. A. R. Our subject is an honored member of the State Medical Society and he is the only physician referred to in Union county in the Record of the Prominent Surgeons of the United States. GENERAL J. S. JONES.—Back to that cradle of our national history, the Old Dominion, must we turn in tracing the lineage of the honored resident of Delaware, Ohio, whose name initiates this review. We find that William H. Jones, a native of Virginia, and doubly orphaned while still a child, left Westmoreland county, that State, when a youth of fourteen years (in the year 1818) and came to Ohio for the purpose of making for himself a home and a place in the great economy of human activities. Though a mere boy he entered claim to eighty acres of land in Johnston township, Champaign county, Ohio, and with an undaunted courage prepared to bring the same to a point of yielding returns for labor expanded. To the securing of this unimproved claim he applied the first $100 which he had been enabled to earn. Time and consecutive toil brought about the desired end,—he cleared up the farm and eventually brought the same to a high state of cultivation, there passing his declining years in peace and comfort. Having established a primitive abode upon his farm the young man next sought a companion to share his lot. Accordingly, at the age of nineteen years, he was united in marriage to Miss Rachel Sills, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and about the same age as himself. The young couple, scarcely more than children, established themselves upon their place and calmly prepared to face a frowning world. There they lived, prospered in a material way, reared a family of four sons and four daughters and there fell into that rest which is eternal,—their life work ended, their course well run. Such in brief is a record of the parentage of General J. S. Jones, to whose individual biography we now direct attention. He was born in Champaign county, Ohio, February 12, 1836, passing his boyhood years upon the parental farm and in attending the district schools. March 3, 1853, at the age of seventeen years, he entered the preparatory department of the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, and by ap- 10 - MEMORIAL BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF plying himself to such manual labor as he could secure in and about the town, he succeeded in defraying the expenses of his college course, showing great self denial, living with extreme frugality and bending every effort to the accomplishment of the desired end, a good education. He graduated, in the scientific course, June 13, 1855, and then turned his attention with equal vigor to preparing himself for his chosen profession, that of law. He prosecuted his studies in the office of Powell & Vandeman, at Delaware, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. Recognition of his ability and of his eligibility for a position of public trust came in 1860, when he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Delaware county. The dark cloud of the civil war soon cast its gruesome pall over the national horizon and, in 1861, Mr. Jones resigned his official position to go forth in the defense of his country, enlisting, on April 16, of that year, in Company C, Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was soon elected First Lieutenant of his company, his commission dating from the day of his enlistment. That he saw much of active service and that he never flinched from duty, is shown in his war record. He participated in the battles of Rich Mountain, July t 0 and II, 1861; Romney, October 26; and Blue Gap, January 7, 1862. March 11, 1862, he was assigned to duty on the staff of General James Shields, after which he was in the following memorable engagements : Winchester, March 22 and 23, 1862; Mount Jackson, April 17; Port Royal, May 25; Port Republic, June 9; Fredericksburg, December 18; Chancellorsville, May 2 and 3, 1863; Gettysburg, July 2 and 3; Mine Run, April 27 and 30; Poe River, May 14, 1864; North Anna River, May 22, 23, 24; Cold Harbor, June 3. Lieutenant Jones was promoted to a Captaincy September 25, 1862, and as such was mustered out with his regiment June 21, 1864. Within the same year he was nominated by acclamation as the Republican candidate for Representative of Delaware county in the State Legislature. This position he resigned on September 21st of that year to accept the appointment of Colonel of the One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He participated with his regiment in the following engagements: Decatur, Alabama, October 28, 29, 30, 1864; Overalls Creek (near Murfreesboro. Tennessee), December 4; Shelbyville Pike (in the vicinity of the same city), December 7; Kingston, North Carolina, March 10, 1865. On the 27th of June, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier General for "gallant and meritorious service during the war.- The great conflict having been brought to a close and the supremacy of the Union forces determined, General Jones was mustered out July 27, 1865. Crowned with laurels won by patriotic services upon the field of battle, our subject directed his attention once more to the accomplishment of the no less renowned victories of peace. He returned to his home at Delaware, and on the 2d of April, 1866, he was honored by his townsmen by election to the office of Mayor. In October of the same year he was once more elected Prosecuting Attorney of Delaware county, to which position he was twice re-chosen as his own successor, finally refusing the third renomination in 1872. He was appointed, in 1872, trustee of the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES - 11 one of the most noble institutions of the State, with which he has been officially connected from the time of its inception to the present, being now president of the board of trustees, and ever maintaining a lively interest in the success of the home. In 1873 there was conferred upon the General by his ohna neater the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He was Presidential Elector on the Grant and Wilson ticket in 1872, representing the Ninth Congressional District of Ohio. In the Centennial year he was elected a member of the Forty-fifth Congress, as Representative from the same district, proving himself a discriminating and conservative legislator. At the close of his first term in Congress he was the victim of a “gerrymander,” by which his county was placed in a district overwhelmingly Democratic. He was a member of the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth General Assemblies of the State, serving during four years as chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. August 8, 1865, General Jones was united in marriage, at Delaware, Ohio, to Miss Louise S. Campbell, a native of Knox county. They are the parents of three children, of whom we offer brief record as follows: Clara L., who graduated at Vassar College in 1887, is at present preceptress of the East Greenwich Academy, Rhode Island; William Bernard graduated at the Ohio Wesleyan University in 1889, and is a member of the law firm of Jones, Lytle & Jones, having been admitted to the bar in March, 1892; Carroll H., also a graduate of the Ohio "Wesleyan University, is reading law in the office of the firm of which his father and brother are members. General Jones has gained a marked precedence in his profession, and his labors have been brought to successful issue, —standing in evidence of his ability and of the confidence begotten of careful methods. His life has been a superlatively active one and an equally useful one, and there is not need that more be written than is shadowed forth in the epitome of his life here offered. In his fraternal relations the General is identified with the F. & A. M., the G. A. R. and the Loyal Legion. PHILIP SNIDER.—At this point we are permitted to touch upon the life history of one who, if for no other reason, merits recognition in the connection by reason of nearly a lifelong residence in Union county, of which he may well be termed a pioneer. But superinduced to this circumstance are others which render the appearance of his biography within these pages all the more consistent. Suffice it to say, in general terms, that Mr. Snider stands forth distinctively as one of the representative men of the county, as will be shown by even the epitome which follows. The parents of our subject were Peter and Catherine (Goodhart) Snider, the former of whom was a native of Bavaria, Germany, where he was born in October, 1791. When but eight years of age he came with his father and his elder brother, John P., to America. It is supposed that they located at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, soon after their arrival, and there Peter Snider grew to manhood. Attaining mature years he was united in marriage to Catherine Good-hart, a native of the Keystone State. After this important event in the lives of the young couple the husband assumed the conjugal responsibilities, engaging in huxtering, 12 - MEMORIAL BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF which occupation he followed for a number of years, after which he assumed the keeping of a tavern, known as the Gap Hill Tavern, and located fifteen miles below Lancaster. Later he was keeper of a tavern near New Holland, ten miles east of Lancaster. In 1833 he resigned the management of this hostelry and came to Union county, Ohio, locating 150 acres of land three miles south of Marysville. He first purchased loo acres, paying for the same at the rate of three dollars per acre; shortly afterward he secured an additional fifty acres continguous to the original purchase, paying six dollars per acre for the same. The 100-acre tract was partially cleared and had an orchard of young trees, but no improvements in the way of buildings. He promptly began the erection of a house of hewed logs, and in this primitive domicile the family took up their residence. They-arrived in May and the following September the purchase of the additional fifty acres was made, the same haying a comfortable log house, an orchard and other improvements. Peter Snider remained upon this farm until 1841 or '42, when the family removed to Hannibal, Missouri, leaving our subject on the old home farm, over which he remained in charge until 1846, when he removed to Marysville, as will be noted later on. In the following year he effected a sale of the farm, acting as agent for his father. The mother of our subject died, in Union county, the fall after her arrival here, and the father, after his removal to Missouri, remained there until 1849,—the year which marked the great gold excitement in California,—when he became affected with the "fever" and joined the great throng moving over the weary stretch of plains and struggling through the perilous mountain passes en route to the new Eldorado. He finally reached the Golden State and at once made his way to the diggings, there to commence his search for the precious metal. A man of fifty-eight years at the time, he endured the manifold vicissitudes so familiar to the old –Forty-niners," meeting with considerable success in his quest for gold, and accumulating quite a snug sum. But fortune smiled for a moment only to frown for an hour, for he was attacked with the scurvy, and in his efforts to free himself from this loathsome disease he succeeded in expending all his hard-earned money, finding himself, in the year 1855, literally penniless in a strange land. Desirous of returning to his home in Missouri, he was not able to raise even sufficient funds to defray the expense of the long trip, but was finally favored in securing a loan from an old friend whom he chanced to meet on the streets of San Francisco. The funds thus secured proved sufficient to transport him as far as Nicaragua, where, in order to secure means to enable him to complete his eventful journey, he entered the employ of the Government, assisting in putting down the insurrection of the natives. In due time he arrived in St. Louis. Missouri. and there passed the remainder of his days at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Philip Thomas, his demise occuring in June, 1863. Peter and Catherine Snider were the parents of seven children, of whom we make brief record as follows: Philip is the subject of this review: Henry, a farmer, died in Missouri; Mary Ann, wife of Philip Thomas, died in St. Louis, Missouri; Louisa C. died at Modesto, California; David died in Missouri; Epha, widow of Frederick Storch, is a resident of LaCrosse, Wisconsin; DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO - 13 Susan, a resident of Modesto, California, is the widow of Ruhl C. Gridley, who attained a wide reputation from his connection with the sanitary commission at St. Louis, Missouri, being particularly referred to by Mark Twain in his “Roughing it at Silver City." Mr. Gridley was the man who was defeated for Mayor at the first municipal election of Silver City, and as the unsuccessful candidate he carried out his part in the way of a previous wager on results, carrying a sack of flour from a certain point to another at some considerable distance. This flour was sold and resold by Mr. Gridley until a phenomenal sum was raised, and this fund he turned over to the sanitary commission. the incident being familiar to all who have read the book mentioned. Philip Snider, the direct subject of this sketch, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, November 20, 1817, being reared principally on a farm. His parents being in modest circumstances he was limited in the educational advantages afforded, attending the subscription schools as much as means would permit. After coming to Union county he secured about thirty days' schooling and this practically completed his theoretical educational training. However a retentive memory and a keen power of observation proved adequate to enable him to secure by absorption, as it were, a thorough business education, which, supplemented by subsequent reading and interest in affairs, has made him a man of broad general information. He remained on the paternal farm and assisted his father in making a home; after he had attained his majority he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Burns, daughter of John and Mary Magdalena Burns, the nuptial ceremony being celebrated on Christmas day, 1838. After his marriage he continued his residence on the farm until 1846, when he removed into Marysville, which has ever since been his home. In the spring of 1843 Mr. Snider was elected Justice of the Peace in Darby township, an office to which he was re-elected in the spring of 1846. In October of the same year a still more notable official preferment was accorded him, in his election to the office of Sheriff of Union county, to which he was re-elected as his own successor in 1848. In 1860 he was again chosen to the shrievalty of the county. In the premises it is interesting to note the fact that Mr. Snider is the only Democrat who has ever held the office of Sheriff of Union county, and the only individual who has filled the office for three terms. In his political proclivities he has been a life-long Democrat. January 19, 1849, Mr. Snider purchased an interest in the dry-goods business conducted at Marysville by the firm of Castle Kinkade. succeeding to the interest of the former. The firm title thereupon became P. Snider & Company, anci stin later Snider & Kinkade, which name and association continued in force until 1878, when our subject secured the entire control of the business, which has since been conducted under his individual name. The line handled in the salesrooms comprises a complete assortment of dry goods, carpets, hats, caps, etc., the establishment being recognized as one of the representative mercantile places in the county. In August, 1890, Mr. Snider assisted in the organization of the Union Banking Company, of Marysville, being chosen at the inception as president of the corporation,—an office which he has held consecutively up to the present time. He 14 - MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF is the heaviest stockholder in the institution, controlling fifty shares of $100 each. Mr. Sider has contributed in a conspicuous degree to the substantial upbuilding and improvement of the little city of which he has so long been an honored resident, having erected several business blocks and other structures devoted to semi-public purposes. He still retains an interest in and connection with agricultural pursuits, owning an excellent farm of 114 acres in the vicinity of the town. His career has been attended by a full measure of sucess and it is beyond cavil that this is the direct result of his own efforts, his well directed industry, native talent and unswering integrity, since he started out in life with nothing save willing hands and a stout heart and has realized his fondest hopes in making for himself an honorable and useful place in the world. He was made a member of the I. O. O. F. at the first meeting of the Marysville lodge, which was organized in 1847. Mr. and Mrs. Snider have been members of and intimately identified with the Presbyterian Church since 1842. In the final paragraph of this sketch we shall refer briefly to the six children of our subject: John F., died in 1885, leaving a widow and four children; Henry L., deceased, served for two years in the late war, making three enlistments, the last with Company C, One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Adam is associated with his father in the store: he married Miss Anna R. Hopkins, a native of Portsmouth, Ohio, and they have four children: he also served in the war of the Rebellion, enlisting June 22, 1863, in Company B, Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and being mustered out at Cleveland, February to, 1864: he re-enlisted, February 13, 1865, and was mustered out at Macon, Georgia, January 20, 1866; Louisa C. is the wife of J. B. F. Smart, of Marysville; Charles W., who is connected with his father's mercantile establishment, married Miss Susan E. Bowersmith, a native of Delaware county, Ohio, and they have six children; Mary is the wife of Rally Howard, of Marysville. and is the mother of three children. The attractive family home of our subject is located on North Main street. REV. FREDERICK MERRICK. D. D. L. L. D., who for inany years was connected with the Ohio Wesleyan University, of Delaware, and who was one of the best known figures in that city, was born in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, January 29, 1810. and was reared on the farm, his father being a New England farmer. During a portion of each year he attended the common schools of the neighborhood, and later secured a position in a mercantile establishment, becoming one of it.; proprietors ere he had attained his majority. Soon after, feeling that he was called to a different vocation, he commenced a course of study preparatory to entering the Christian ministry. His studies were prosecuted in the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Connecticut. Upon leaving the university he was elected principal of the New York Conference Seminary, located at Amenia, Dutchess county, New York, and after spending three years at that place. he accepted a professorship in the Ohio University, at Athens, Ohio, where he remained until 1842. Then for one year, he was pastor of a church in Marietta, Ohio, after which he was appointed DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO - 15 agent for the Ohio Wesleyan University and continued his connection with the same until his death. He served for two years as agent, fourteen as professor, thirteen as president, and during the remainder of the time was lecturer on natural and revealed religion. As a citizen of Delaware he was connected with all those interests calculated to aid in the upbuilding of the city and with everything conserving the progress of the county. His first plan, when abandoning mercantile pursuits, was to enter the ministry, and this he did, but educational work seem to be his special forte and in that field of labor he was most successful. It was largely through his instrumentality that the Ohio Wesleyan University was placed on a solid financial basis and made to rank with the leading schools of the State. It was also largely through him that the cause of Methodism grew to its present standing. His labors have been untiring and the lives of many men and women thrnughont the country attest his Christian and helpful influence. Doctor Merrick was married in April, 1836, to a lady whom he first met as a fellow student in Wilbraham Seminary, Miss Fidelia Griswold, of Suffield, Connecticut. Their married life of nearly fifty years, was uneventful but very happy, and together they traveled life's journey until July, 1883, when the loved wife was called to the home beyond. Alone the husband walked until March 5, 1894, when the summons came to him and he went to rejoin the companion with whom the greater part of his early career was passed. He left behind an unsullied reputation, and in the hearts of his many friends the memory of his good deeds will long linger as an encouragement in times of prosperity and of help in days of adversity. REV. WILLIAM G. WILLIAMS, LL. D., Professor in the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, February 25, 1822. His parents, Samuel Williams, and Margaret (Troutner) Will. iams, were both natives of Pennsylvania, but came with their parents to Ohio early in the century. The father was appointed clerk in the General Land Office, at Washington, about 1812, and, when the capitol was burned by the British in 1814, he was instrumental in saving the records of the office. Subsequently, before the close of the war, he served in two campaigns in Ohio. A few years later, his friend, Gov. Tiffin, of Chillicothe, was appointed Surveyor General of the Northwestern States and invited Mr. Williams to become his chief clerk. This position Mr. Williams held under many administrations for nearly forty years: and in this time planned and superintended the Government surveys in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. From his long services, he became the best informed man in the country on all matters connected with the United States surveys in these States; and his testimony was sought in cases of doubt or litigation. In 1828 the office was moved to Cincinnati, whither Mr. Williams accompanied it, and where he died in 1859, aged seventy-three years. His widow lived to the advanced age of ninety-three, and when she died, of an accident, in Springfield, Ohio, in 1883, her faculties were still unimpaired. The subject of this sketch was a boy of six years when the family moved to Cincinnati. Here he lived till 1844. For some years he was a clerk with his father in the Surveyor General's office, under General Robert T. Lytle, the father of the late Gen- 16 - MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF eral William H. Lytle, with whom the young Williams was for years a playmate and intimate companion. The young clerk's salary and earnings by extra work more than paid his way through college. In 1844, at the age of twenty-two, he graduated at "‘ Old Woodward," a school which commanded respect for the character of its faculty and the excellence of its teaching. The year of his graduation he was elected to a professorship in San Augustine College, Texas, and also to the principalship of the preparatory department in the Ohio Wesleyan University. The latter position he accepted, and in November of that year came to his new home in Delaware. Here he has since lived, now fifty years, in one continuous service, in the Ohio Wesleyan University. He is now, in 1894, the only member left of the first faculty in the service of the institution. His colleagues, Dr. Frederick Merrick and Dr. L. I). McCabe, both older men than himself, came to the university one year later. These three venerable teachers, respectively eighty-four, seventy-seven, and seventy-three years of age, stood side by side, in this university, for forty-nine years,—an instance of long co-service in college work without a parallel, perhaps, in any Western college. Doctor Merrick died in March, 1894. In 1847, Mr. Williams was elected to the adjunct professorship of languages, and in 1850 to the full professorship of the Greek and Latin languages. Later he gave regular instruction, for many years, in Hebrew, and also, for a time, in German. In 1864 the Latin language was separated from his chair, which was thence forward styled “The Wright Professorship of the Greek Language and Literature;" and in 1872 he was appointed acting Chrisman Professor of Biblical Literature.” These chairs bear the honored names of John R. Wright, Esq., of Cincinnati, and Mrs. Eliza Chrisman, now of Topeka, Kansas, who severally endowed them. The duties incidental to both these chairs he has since performed. In 1873 Mr. 'Williams, unexpectedly to himself, was elected to a chair in the new Ohio State University at Columbus, at a much larger salary than he was receiving in Delaware. 'While he was holding the acceptance under consideration, Mr. Wright generously increased the special endowment of the Greek chair, and negotiated for his release from the ;;tate University. Mr. Williams has been secretary of the Board of Trustees of the university for nearly fifty years, and was treasurer of the University for thirty-tive years. He was a member of the Delaware City School Board for twenty-one years, and for about the same length of time he was one of the Board of County School Examiners. He also served for three years as one of the State Board of School Examiners. His merits as a scholar and an educator have not been unrecognized in his own State. In 1847 he received the degree of Master of Arts, in cursu, from Woodward College, and the , honorary degree of Master of Arts from Miami University. In 1872 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Baldwin University. During the last twenty-five years his summer vacations have been largely devoted to work in teachers' institutes in the various counties of the State. In institute work his favorite topic is English grammar, to which subject he has given unremitting study during his whole professional life. His presentation of the subject is entirely original, his methods logical, and his conclusions clear and cer- DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO - 17 tain. In 1887 he published an English grammar, embodying his teachings, and this text book has received most favorable mention from many of the foremost scholars of the country. Mr. 'Williams became a member of the Central Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856, and for twenty-eight years filled the office of Secretary of that body, and until he declined further reelection. The minutes of the conference edited by him during that time fill seven large octavo volumes. When Governor Brough, in 1864, offered the Government 40,00o of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry for an ''hundred-days' service" Mr. Williams went out as Chaplain of the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment. The regiment was posted at Arlington Heights, opposite the city of Washington. It was during this summer that the famous Arlington Military Cemetery was opened on General Lee's place; and in the noble forest where the first graves were dug Mr. Williams conducted his first services as Chaplain. Soon after Mr. Williams came to Delaware he bought a tract of several acres on the western border of the town, along side of the place of his life-long friend and neighbor, Dr. Merrick. This lot then had no house between it and the college campus; but is now quite within the city, which has grown far to the south and west of it. Here at a distance from the street, he built his house, and planted a large fruit orchard as a screen from the street. In this quiet retreat his family has been reared; here he has passed through the various vicissitudes of joy and sorrow incident to the experiences of a life of fifty years. In 1847 Mr. Williams married Miss Mary Ann Davis, of Cincinnati, Ohio, a woman of rare personal charms, and always a social favorite. Three sons and three daughters were the fruit of this union, of whom all have left the family home, and are all happily engaged in the work of life, except the second daughter, who died in 1891. Seven grandchildren have been added to the family roll. Mrs. ,Williams died of a lingering illness in 1872. In 1877 Mr. Williams was married a second time to Miss Delia A. Lathrop, of Syracuse, New York, at that time principal of the Cincinnati Normal School. Two sons have been born of this marriage. Mrs. Williams has for twelve years been engaged in the work of instruction in the university. She is widely known also as an active worker and speaker in the Woman's Home Missionary Society, of the Methodist Church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Williams are members of the William Street Methodist Church; and both have for many years been workers in the Sunday school. The year 1894 was the Jubilee of the university, and of Mr. Williams' services, which began at the organization of the institution. This fiftieth anniversary of the university was celebrated by a great concourse of its friends, including several hundred of its alumni, some of whom, now themselves old men and full of honors, came across the continent to join in the celebration. Exercises appropriate to the occasion extended through commencement week. The senior professors. Dr. McCabe and Mr. Williams, received many congratulations for their long service, including a special vote of thanks from the Board of Trustees. On Memorial Day Mr. Williams delivered a historical address, which was published in full in the college and city papers. Since then, at the request of the trustees and the faculty, he 18 - MEMORIAL BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF has written a full history of the University. This history is published in the Tenth Quin quiennial Catalogue of the university. In personal appearance Mr. Williams is of medium height, some what stout in build, of light complexion and blue eyes. He is now quite bald and his beard is snowy white. In disposition he is quiet, gentle, unaggressive and reticent; but where principle is concerned the mountains themselves are not more firm. He is especially notable for an ardent attachment to his friends, for extreme caution in the adverse criticism of people, for personal integrity and upright- ness of character, for perfect fearlessness of consequences in matters of duty, and for his hospitality. He is never so happy as when his friends are at his fireside or seated at his table. He seldom leaves home after his day's duties are done. His library, which is large and well chosen, is to him the most attractive of places. His reading habit makes him an unusually well-informed man, in current topics as well as in general literature. As a writer his style is clear, direct, and logical. When he writes it is because he has something which he wishes to say, and ne says it in the most concise manner. He has been a life-long student of the Greek Testament, and has written much on Biblical topics. As a teacher he is thorough, exacting, rapid, and while he gives no quarter to laziness or shamming, he is patient and painstaking to the last degree with students whom he believes to be faithful and earnest. He is feared by the superficial and careless in his classes; but thoughtful pupils have only words of praise for the man who never allows a mistake to pass uncorrected. Mr. Williams loves the work of teaching, and has often said that Chaucer's description of the schoolmaster well describes his own attitude to his work: “And gladly would he learn and gladly teach." He is still vigorous, young in heart, firm of step and of will; and there is every prospect that he has before him years of excellent service for the institution he has served so long, and for the world. HON. JAMES W. ROBINSON.— The specific and distinctive office of biography is not to give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave the perpetual record of the verdict establishing his character by the consensus of opinion on the part of his fellow men. That great factor, the public, is a discriminating factor and takes cognizance not of objective exaltation nor yet objective modesty; but delves deeper into the intrinsic essence of character, strikes the keynote of individuality and pronounces judiciously and unequivocally upon the true worth of the man, invariably distinguishing the clear resonance of the true metal from the jarring dissonance of the baser. Thus, in touching upon the life history of the subject of this review, the biographer would aim to give utterance to no fulsome encomium, to indulge in no extravagant praise,—for such would ill comport with the innate and honest simplicity of the subject's character,—yet would he wish to hold up for consideration those points which have shown the distinction of a true, pure and useful life,—one characterized by indomitable perseverance, broad charity, marked ability, high accomplishments and well-earned honors. To do this will be but to DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES. OHIO - 19 reiterate the dictum pronounced upon the man by his fellowmen. There is still another element, which lends additional interest to the career of James W. Robinson, this being the fact that he is a native son of Ohio and of the county in which practically his entire life has been passed. (The history of the Robinson family has been intimately linked with that of the Buckeye State from the early pioneer days and is found in incidents and episodes which touch upon that epoch which marked the settlement of the commonwealth and the inceptive steps taken toward its development to its present prosperous status.) Our subject was born, November 28, 1826, in Darby township, Union county, Ohio, the place of his nativity being the paternal farmstead, which stretched along the rich bottom-lands of Darby creek. His agnatic ancestry is of Scotch-Irish derivation, the assimilation of the marked individual characteristics of which dual strains has eventuated in the evolution of a well defined type, familiar in the annals of American history as one possessing the persistency, strong integrity and deep-seated patriotism of the Scotch, conjoined to the spirit, dash and quicker mentality of the Irish element. The father of our subject, John W. Robinson, was a son of Rev. James Robinson, who was a Presbyterian clergyman, and a man of no little prominence in western Pennsylvania, where he labored for many years, subsequently identifying himself with the work of his church in Central Ohio, in whose early history he stood a conspicuous figure, zealous in the service of the Master, and with honor as un- flinching and unbending as his Presbyterian faith, which had been that of his ancestors for many generations preceding. John W. Robinson married Elizabeth Mitchell, a daughter of Judge David Mitchell, who came from York, Pennsylvania, to Ohio in the last year of the eighteenth century, locating in Union county, where he attained to distinguished preferment, having been one of the first associate Judges of the county. He reached a venerable age, and in his death the county lost one of its most useful, talented and honored public men. John W. Robinson died in 1853. He was a man of inflexible integrity, careful and methodical in his habits, just and honorable in his intercourse with his fellowmen and of much native ability in an intellectual way. His education was not a broad one, but was above the average that obtained in that period and locality. The respect and confidence in which he vas held in the community is shown in the fact that he filled the offices of Justice of the Peace and County Commissioner. His entire life was devoted to farming, and in this vocation, which ever demands arduous toil and a certain self-abnegation, he attained to consistent success. Like his fathers he was devoted to the Presbyterian Church, and for many, years he was an Elder in the same. His widow entered into eternal rest September 18, 1872, her life having been one of signal purity and Christian grace. John W. and Elizabeth Robinson left surviving them eight children, and of this number only one is deceased at the present time. We incorporate at this juncture a brief record concerning the family: David M. is one of the successful farmers of Union county and resides on the old homestead in Darby township; James W. is the imme- diate subject of this review; John W. is a farmer, and resides near Marysville; Colonel Aaron 13. was for many years one of the 20 - MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF most prominent merchants of Marysville, but has now retired: he is a lawyer by profession and is an ex-member of the State Legislature; Robert N. is a farmer, and resides near Marysville; Martha A. is the widow of the late William H. Robinson, a hardware merchant of Marysville; and Emily J. is the wife of Hon. Beriah Wilkins, ex-member of Congress from the seventeenth Ohio district, and still a resident of Washington, I). C., where he holds a position of national prominence and influence as editor and publisher of the Washington Post. Mrs. Wilkins is a woman of marked intellectuality and talent, and has gained a distinguished position in the social life of the capital; it is worthy of particular note in this connection that she was associated with Mrs. John A. Logan as representative of the District of Columbia on the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition held at Chicago in 1893.  There has been nothing esoteric in the life of James W. Robinson,—it has been as an open book, from which he who runs may read." His youthful clays were passed on the farm, amid those sturdy duties which develop independence, integrity, a vigor of constitution and the while quicken ambition to the point of action and consecutive effort. He was not slow in learning the truth of the statement made by the Greek philosopher, Epicharmus: Earn thy reward, the gods give naught to sloth." His boyhood was typical of what his entire life has been; it was not one of idleness,—he had no time for futile dreams, but bent him to the burden of hard and unremitting toil, offering no protest, but willingly doing his share. Such opportunities as were granted him in an educational line he seized with avidity, being enabled to attend the district schools a portion of each winter until he had attained the age of fifteen years. At this time his fondness for books and study and his delicacy of health conserved to bring about a parental decision that he was not adapted to farm work, and accordingly provision was made for allowing him to follow his natural inclinations. Near Milford, this county, a school was maintained by one Robert Wilson, an Irishman of eccentric character, but of fine education, and at this institution our subject became a student. Wilson was a successful teacher, was particularly strong in mathematics and had a wide reputation at that period. Young Robinson entered into his work with eager zest and enthusiasm and showed by his progress that the opportunities afforded him were fully appreciated. He was most desirous of taking up the study of Latin. and as there were then in that part of the State but few residents who were at all conversant with that classic tongue, he was somewhat at a loss as to how he might attain his desideratum. Finally he learned that at a point some thirty-five miles distant there lived “a man who could teach Latin," and, after due conference with the authorities, he set out on horseback to interview this wonderful individual and to secure him as teacher of the local school. He was successful in the object of his mission, and in due time could indulge in the mystic declensions and conjugations to his heart's content. After he had attained his seventeenth year, Mr. Robinson put his acquirments to practical test by engaging to teach district school at the princely stipend of eight dollars per month. Within this time (1843-4) he did not permit his beloved Latin to fall into disuse, but rode four miles daily, on horseback, to recite to "the preacher." In the sum- DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO - 21 mer of 1845 he finally saw the beginning o the end for which he strived, since at thi time he matriculated as a sophomore in Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Penn sylvania. At this institution, which was subsequently merged into the Washington and Jefferson College, at Washington, Penn; sylvania, he honorably graduated in 1848 in a class of seventy-two members. This educational discipline complete, Mr. Robinson turned his attention immediately to work. In the fall of the same year he taught a select school at Woodstock, Cham- paign county, Ohio, and, incidental to attaining his majority, proudly cast his first ballot, which helped by that much to swell the majority secured by the Whig candidate for President, General Zachary Taylor. Subsequently Mr. Robinson came to Marysville, where he taught in the old Academy, which was a flourishing institution at that time. He simultaneously began reading law, continuing this application until 1850, when he went to Cincinnati and took a course of lectures in the Cincinnati Law College, at which he graduated in 1851, being admitted to the bar in April of the same year. Now fortified for that profession which he had long before determined to make his life work, he at once formed a partnership with his former preceptor, Otway Curry, who was not only distinguished in the line of his profession, but for his marked poetic and literary talent. The firm retained a representative clientele and became one of the most prominent in the county. In the fall of 1851 Mr. Robinson was elected Prosecuting Attorney, on the Whig ticket, his opponent being the redoubtable Jackson C. Doty, a character of no little celebrity at that time. This served our subject as but the forerunner of other and more s distinguished official preferments. In 1857 he was elected a member of the lower house of the State Legislature and was chosen as s his own successor in 1859. His service was one of utmost fidelity to his constituents and to his interpretation of legislative polity and ethics. He took a prominent position, being for some time at the head of that important house committee, the judiciary. He was elected a third time, in 1864, to represent his county in the Legislature. During the war he was unequivocally leal and loyal and an ardent supporter of the administration of President Lincoln. He did all in his power to aid the Union during this crucial epoch in its history, serving most of the time as a member of the Military Committee of Union couuty. In the fall of 1372 our subject was elected, on the Republican ticket, as representative in the Forty-third Congress, defeating the strongest candidate the opposition could put forward— General G. W. Morgan. He represented the ninth Ohio district, comprising the counties of Union, Hardin, Marion, Morrow, Delaware and Knox. As a Congressman Mr. Robinson showed an all-round fitness for the work. He had both a capacity and intention of getting a full understanding of all the business submitted to his consideration. He had sufficient confidence of himself to render him capable of giving his views to his associates, and sufficient modesty to insure, on his part, a fair reception and honest examination of the views of others, thus arriving at conclusions by safe routes. On the floor he made no pretense to rhetorical eloquence, but was able to clothe his thoughts in acceptable verbiage, and to thoroughly defend his position. As a speaker he thus gained attention and re- 22 - MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPA1CAL RECORD OF spect, being clear in explanation and manly in defense. Within his short term in Congress he voted for many important measures, among which were the Civil Rights Bill for the protection of the colored race in the enjoyment of equal rights under the law, and the act for the resumption of specie payments. As a member of the Committee on Elections he vigorously opposed the seating of George Q. Cannon, as the Mormon delegate from Utah, making a strong and convincing speech against thus countenancing the class who brought dishonor to the nation in their odious institutions. In 1874 he was unanimously nominated by his party for re-election, but the country was suffering from the commercial panic of 1873 and was also wrought upon by the agitation of the temperance question, which circumstances brought about a political revolution throughout the State and resulted in the election of a Democrat in the ninth district. In 1890 he was chosen a member of the State Board of Equalization as representative of the thirteenth Senatorial district, comprising the counties of Union, Logan, Hardin and Marion, where he proved a faithful and efficient representative of his district. For several years subsequent to his service in Congress Mr. Robinson made periodical sojourns through various sections of the Union, having traveled extensively and having familiarized himself with men and affairs in the many quarters which he has visited. He has given close attention to the practice of his profession in Marysville, where his services are in constant demand. In 1869 he formed a professional partnership with Mr. Leonidas Piper, and this association maintained until the election of the latter to the office of Probate Judge, in 1888, when our subject entered into partnership with R. L. Woodburn, his present talented coadjutor. Of our subject's professional ability and career, one who has known him long and intimately and who has also been a prominent member of the bar of Union county, speaks as follows: —As a lawyer he has been eminently successful, and has tried as many individual cases, perhaps, as any lawyer in the State. Never in all his practice has he intentionally taken a position that was not tenable, and this fact has made him a strong advocate before both court and jury. He has always been ready and fully prepared to try his cases when called, and it has been an exception for him to ask continuance or delay. He never loses sight of his client's interests, no matter how small the amount involved, and in all cases he has never al-owed his opponent to cause him to lose sight of any point important to his case. He has a versatile mind, keen perception, remarkable tact for the dispatch of business, is an able pleader and a strong trial lawyer. When a young man he united with the church to which his Scotch-Irish ancestors had maintained their allegiance, the Presbyterian, and he has ever since continued a zealous and active worker in the cause, having been ordained and installed an Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Marysville, November 17, 1855. He has not been solifidian in his devotion to the church, but he has shown his faith in good works, contributing liberally to the sustenance of the local organization, to church extension, and especially to the cause of church education, having for the past eighteen years been a member of the Board of Trustees of Wooster University. The marriage of our honored subject was consummated February 8, 1855, when he wedded Miss Mary J. Cassil, daughter of DELAWARE, UNION AND MORROW COUNTIES, OHIO - 23 the late Judge John and Drusilla (Gladden) Cassil, of Marysville. They became the parents of two children: Arthur H., who died in his sixteenth .year; and Alice B., who was born October 24, 1860, and whose death occurred January 13, 1894. A home life which had represented almost idyllic harmony in its mutual love and sympathy was swept by the relentless hand of death and the strings which had been wont to attune in sweetest melody quivered with the pathos of the score whose composition told of separation, of the ones taken, the other left. The cord was frayed, the cruise run dry, and into the life of eternal love was merged the finite. She who had been a devoted and loyal companion through all the years marked with "ceaseless toil and endeavor; she who had nourished his children; she who had comforted in the hours of sadness and depression; she whose had been the faith that makes faithful, was called upon to heed death's inexorable summons, leaving the home desolated and her place vacant. Not a great life was hers, but a good life. Hers had not been the opportunities nor the talents which beget greatness, but the beauty of the life, its consecration and its true womanliness will remain in benediction so long as memory holds sway upon its throne in the minds of those who knew her. Mrs. Robinson's death occurred October 6, 1893, and the bereaved husband turned the tide of devotion toward h.s motherless daughter, who now became his solace. But as the fairest flower of all the field is touched by the untimely frost, so did death claim this cherished one as its own. The health of Alice had been delicate for some time, and all was done by her father to preserve his loved one. After the death of her mother she was taken to the South, but without avail, for within Tess than a year after the death of his wife, Mr. Robinson heard the clods of the valley fall into the new-made grave into which were consigned the mortal remains of his daughter. She was a young woman of rare culture and a gentle refinement, and that sympathy which won to her the friendship of all with whom she came in contact. She was a graduate of Wooster University. Her later years marked the consecration of her life to her mother, and hers was a filial love and solicitude which made this consecration of that beautiful order into which enters naught of protest or reservation.. Doubly bereaved, and at an age when one's life centers in the home circle, our subject yet had the faith to –look up unto the hills" and to discern the element of consistency in what was seemingly the most cruel affliction that could be visited upon him. Death is the open door, not the seal of oblivion. A man in whose life have been blended the truest elements of manhood, whose career has been one of usefulness and honor, and whose character thus stands clear and distinct in the eyes of his fellowmen, we feel it both a pleasure and a privilege to have given this record and to have given representation in this volume a name well known throughout central Ohio and honored from its association with the character of the man who bears it. DR. JAMES M. SOUTHARD, deceased.—To indulge in prolix encomium of a life which was eminently one of subjective modesty would be palpably incongruous, even though the record of good accomplished, of kindly deeds performed and of high relative prece- 24 - MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF dence attained, might seem to justify the utterance of glowing eulogy. He to whom this memoir is dedicated was a man who stood "four square to every wind that blows," who was possessed of marked professional ability and was vitally instinct with the deeper human sympathies, and yet who during his long and useful life, signally avoided everything that smacked of display and notoriety,—and in this spirit would the biographer wish to have his utterances construed. Detailed reference to the parentage and ancestral history of our subject appears elsewhere in this volume in connection with the biography of his brother, Dr. John Q. Southard, and a recapitulation of the same is scarcely demanded at this point. Suffice it to say that James McCartney Southard was the eldest of the family of five children born to Isaiah and Elizabeth (Parnell) Southard, said family comprising four sons and one daughter, who lived to attain mature years. The place of our subject's nativity was Adams county, Ohio, where he was born December 16, 1825. He was reared in Licking county, and though his parents were in moderate circumstances he was enabled to secure a good common-school and academic education. After this preliminary educational discipline was complete, Mr. Southard followed out his inclinations and made ready to enter upon that career which he had formulated as his life work,—the profession of medicine. He accordingly entered the office of Dr. Roe, a well-known physician of Newark, Ohio, remaining under this preceptorage for a time and then matriculating at the Starling Medical College of Columbus, where he completed the prescribed course, graduating in the class of 1854. Prior to his graduation he was lo sated for a short time at Jacksontown, Licking county, where he practiced his profession successfully. Immediately after his graduation, however, he came to Marysville. Union county,—the point which marked the scene of his professional labors throughout the course of a long, active and useful life. Here he opened an office and entered upon th general practice of medicine and surgery, being distinctively one of the pioneer physicians of the county and soon holding as his own a large patronage ramifying into all sections contiguous to the village and standing as representative in character of clientage. That success attended his efforts was but in natural sequence, for his position became assured as an able physician, a man of sterling integrity and one devoted to his profession and to the interests and welfare of those to whom he ministered. Dr. Southard was a man of strong constitution and marked intellectuality, standing in exemplifying possession of that great human desideratum, "mens sana in corpore sang, "--a sound mind in a sound body. He was thoroughly en rapport with his profession; his heart was ever in his work and he gained not only the respect and confidence but the appreciative affection of his patients, as he was watchful, tender and sympathetic,—his humanity being ever paramount to his professional or scientific interest. He possessed marked judgment and disernment in the diagnosing of disease and was peculiarly successful in anticipating the issue of complications, seldom making mistakes and never exaggerating or minifying the disease in rendering his decisions in regard thereto. He was a physician of great fraternal delicacy and no man ever observed