100 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. As in amaze he stood to gaze, The truth can't be denied, sir; He spied a score of kegs or more, Come floating down the tide, sir." "The soldier flew, the sailor, too," and spread the news that mischief was brewing,that the "rebels," packed up like pickled herring, were coming down to attack the town, and the most frantic scenes were enacted. "The cannon's roar from shore to shore, The small arms made a rattle ; Since wars began, I'm sure no man E'er saw so strange a battle." LYONS' FALLS. There are traditions that are not historically correct. For years past it has been generally believed in these parts that Lyon's Falls were named for the old Indian chieftian, Tom Lyons. It may seem like uncalled for iconoclasm to dispel belief in such a mythical personage as Lily Pipe, or to rob Lyons' Falls of Indian traditions. But history should be accurately given; and its correct narration is more instructive than the erroneous one, and can be as entertainingly told as though its warp were woven with the woof of fiction. Lyons' Falls are situated in Ashland county, about fifteen miles southeast of Mansfield. There are two falls, and the place, which has been a noted picnic resort for many years, is wild in its primitive forest and grand in its rugged picturesqueness. During the past summer a party of ladies and gentlemen, whose names are conspicuous on the list of Mansfield's "400," took a day's outing at these falls, and a grave was pointed out to them as that of "the noted Lyons ;" and like many others they inferred that the Lyons buried there was the notorious Indian chieftain of that name. Upon their return to Mansfield they told entertainingly of the wooded hills and sylvan dells, of the overhanging rocks and of the eighty-foot leap of the waters from the edge of the precipice to the basin at the bottom of the chasm, casting its sprays into the cool grottos which the hand of nature chiseled out of the everlasting rocks. And the further fact that the party had seen the grave of a great warrior lent additional interest to the story and to the locality. With such allurements it was not long until another detachment of t "400" also visited these noted falls, and the gentlemen of the party fir CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 101 volleys over the grave, danced a war dance and gave Indian funeral whoops and came home satisfied that they had held suitable commemorative ceremony over the earthly resting place of the body of an Indian chieftain ! Tom Lyons, the Indian, who took a prominent part in the Wyoming massacre (1778), and was afterward a notorious character in the early history of Richland county, was killed by a young man named Joe Haynes, to avenge the murder of a kinsman, and he buried the old chief in Leedy's swamp in Jefferson township, Richland county The Lyons buried at the falls was Paul Lyons, a white man. He was not a hermit, as one tradition states, for he took to himself a wife, who bore him a son, and he did not particularly shun his neighbors, although he did not admit them into his confidence. What Paul Lyons' object and motives were for leaving the civilization of the east and seeking a home amid the rocks and hills of that wild and uninhabited part of the country are matters only of conjecture, for he never gave his antecedents, and refused to explain or to give reasons for hiding himself away in the forest and leading such a retired life. He had "squatted" on land too rough to till, and he never attempted to clear off the limber nor to cultivate the rocky soil. He simply built a cabin amid the trees and passed his time principally in hunting and fishing; but, as the country became settled around him and farmers needed help to harvest their crops, he often assisted them in such work. He never made any exhibition of money, yet always paid cash for what he bought. He has been described as a large man, and that he had ability and education is shown by the statement of a lady now living, who says that he was an intelligent and entertaining conversationalist and that at the funeral of a neighbor he read a chapter and sang a hymn, and that it was the best reading and singing she ever heard. About 1856 Lyons, while assisting in hauling logs, met with an accident which resulted in his death, and he was buried upon the hill, between the two waterfalls. The late Rosella Rice had a headboard, painted and lettered, put up at the grave, but visitors shot at the board for a target until it was riddled into slivers by bullets, and later the body was exhumed and the skeleton mounted by a physician. A slight depression in the ground is now the only sign showing where the body had been interred. Lyons' wife was not an intellectual woman, and it is said that she was sent away and died in an asylum. It is also reported that the boy was taken to an eleemosynary institution after his father's death, and that when he grew to manhood he went west and prospered. The most noted personage for many years in the region of the falls was Lewis M. Lusk, who in his time played the fiddle for hundreds of dances. 102 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. In past seasons there were dancing floors at the falls, and Lusk furnished the music with his "fiddle and his bow," while the dancers kept step to its enlivening strains. He is now deceased, but tourists will long remember seeing him sitting in the door or in the yard of his cabin playing his fiddle, while the ripples of the waters of the Mohican seemed to echo the refrain of the music as the current of the stream swept around its graceful bends in front of the humble dwelling, the rugged rocks forming a rustic background to the picture framed by the encircling hills, all combing to impress the passers by with the thoughts how sweet is music, how dear is home and how inspiring is all the handiwork of the Creator. ANCIENT MOUNDS. There are a number of ancient mounds in Ashland county, the majority of which are no doubt of prehistoric origin and were built by the "Mound-builders." It is claimed by some who have made archaeology a study that a number of these mounds are of a more recent period,—that they were built in the seventeenth century by the Eries to protect their people from the invasions of the Iroquois tribe. It is claimed by many that the "Mound-builders" were of Asiatic origin, and were as a people immense in numbers and well advanced in many of the arts. Similarity in certain things indicate that they were descendants of the ancient Phoenicians. Of the "Mound-builders" we have speculated much and know but little. But the mounds at Greentown are so small and so unlike the others that they evidently do not belong to that class. CONCLUSION. We should not ignore our obligations to the pioneers, but rather congratulate ourselves that we live in au age of improved utilities. They were the manufacturers of almost everything they used, not only their farming, implements, but also the fabrics with which they were clothed. How different now ! All earthly things are given to change, and the firesides of the pioneer period have given place to the furnaces and registers of to-day. Still the remembrance of the associations of the past has an attractive charm and a strong hold on our sentiments and affections. Though the scenes of our memory may be darkened with shadows, yet still it is a sweet indulgence to recall them. The rose and the thorn grow on the same bush ; so the remem- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 103 brance of our friends who have "crossed over" is mingled with both pleasure and sorrow. The "fireside" is typical of a home and is endeared by many affectionate recollections. At the fireside our parents recounted the history of their earlier years, the difficulties they had encountered and the objects they had sought to attain; and of all the members of the family circle who gathered around that fireside the mother is the most lovingly recalled. "My mother ! " is an expression of music, of melody and of love. It takes us back to the days of our childhood and places us again kneeling by her side to receive her caresses and loving benediction. BIOGRAPHICAL. GENERAL R. BRINKERHOFF. compendium such as the province of this work defines in its essential limitations will serve to offer fit memorial to the life and accomplishments of the honored subject of this sketch,—a man remarkable in the breadth of his wisdom, in his indomitable perseverance, his strong individuality, and yet one whose entire life has not one esoteric phase, being as an open scroll, inviting the closest scrutiny. True his are "massive deeds and great" in one sense, and yet his entire accomplishment but represents the result of the fit utilization of the innate talent which is his and the directing of his efforts along those lines where mature judgment and rare discrimination lead the way. There is in General Brinkerhoff a weight of character, a native sagacity, a far-seeing judgment and a fidelity of purpose that command the respect of all. A man of indefatigable enterprise and fertility of resource, he carves his name deeply on the records of Ohio. General Brinkerhoff was born in Owasco, Cayuga county, New York, June 28, 1828. The Brinkerhoffs of America are all descended from Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff, who came from Drentland, Holland, in 1638, with his wife, Susannah, and settled in Brooklyn, New York, then New Netherlands. The members of the family are now numerous, for the most part residing on Long Island and in the valley of the Hudson, but a few of the representatives of the name can be found in almost every western state. Most of these are descended from Hendrick, son of Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff, who settled in New Jersey in 1685. General Brinkerhoff, of this review, is of the seventh generation in America. His father, George R. Brinkerhoff, was born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but his grandfather, Roeliff Brinkerhoff, came from Hackensack, New Jersey. His ancestors on his mother's side—the 106 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. Bouviers—and on his grandmother's—the Demarests—were French Huguenots, who, fleeing from religious persecution, found safety and a home among the tolerant Dutchmen of New Netherlands. Roeliff Brinkerhoff, the subject of this sketch, was employed as a school teacher in his native town when but sixteen years of age, and at the age of eighteen he was in charge of a school near Hendersonville, Tennessee. At nineteen he eras the tutor in the family of Andrew Jackson, Jr., at the Hermitage, and there remained until 1850, when he returned to the north and became a law student in the office of his kinsman, the Hon. Jacob Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield, Ohio. In 1852 he was admitted to the bar and entered the practice, remaining in active connection with the profession until the war of the Rebellion. During that time, from June, 1855, until 1859, he was also one of the editors and proprietors of the Mansfield Herald. In September, 1861, he entered the military service as first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of the Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in November of the same year he was promoted to the position of captain and assistant quartermaster. In the succeeding winter he was on duty at Bardstown, Kentucky, and after the capture of Nashville he was placed in charge of the land and river transportation in that city. Subsequently to the battle of Pittsburg Landing he was ordered to the front and placed in charge of the field transportation of the Army of the Ohio, and after the capture of Corinth he returned home on a sick furlough. He was then ordered to Maine as chief quartermaster of that state. Later he was transferred to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in charge of transportation and army stores and thence to Washington city as post quartermaster, remaining on that duty until June, 1865, when he was made a colonel and inspector of the quartermaster's department. He was then retained on duty at the war office with Secretary Stanton until November, when he was ordered to Cincinnati as chief quartermaster of the department. In September, 1866, he was brevetted a brigadier-general of volunteers and was also tendered a commission in the regular army, but declined the honor. On the 1st of October, at his own request, he was mustered out of service, having completed five years of continuous service in the army. General Brinkerhoff is the author of a book entitled The Volunteer Quartermaster, which is still the standard guide for the officers and employees of the quartermaster's department. On the 3d of February, 1862, General Brinkerhoff married Mary Lake Bently, of Mansfield, a (laughter of Baldwin Bently and a granddaughter of General Robert Bently, by whom he had four children,—two sons and two daughters : Robert Bently, Addie Horton, Mary and Roeliff. Robert is a CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 107 lawyer in New York city ; Addie is at home ; Mary is deceased ; and Roeliff is judge of the probate court of Richland county. It so happened that the most active years of General Brinkerhoff's life covered the most important events of the anti-slavery period, commencing with the repeal of the Missouri compromise and closing with the war of the Rebellion and the reconstruction and reconstructive incidents growing out of it. During that period it was his fortune to know intimately many of its leading men, and again and again he has been at the turning points of history and has taken a part in shaping events. During all these years, in many ways, as educator, lawyer, editor, soldier, statesman and philanthropist, he has been active and prominent. Among the close friends of General Brinkerhoff at that time, and for years afterward, were Salmon P. Chase, James G. Blaine, General Garfield and General R. B. Hayes. For several years after the war General Brinkerhoff was an active factor in politics, and was prominent in conventions and upon the platform, in many directions and in many states. In 1873 he retired from active politics and accepted the position of cashier of the Mansfield Savings Bank, with which he has been associated ever since, and for years past has been its president. In 1878 General Brinkerhoff was appointed a member of the board of state charities and has continued in that position under all administrations and is now serving his eighth term. As a philanthropist there are but few men, if any, more widely known. He has visited and inspected, probably, more benevolent and correctional institutions than any other man in the world, for he has traveled for that purpose in every state in the Union except one, South Dakota ; also in the Dominion of Canada, the republic of Mexico, and all the countries of western Europe; and the record of his observations in these directions is a history of all modern progress in dealing with the dependent, defective and criminal classes. The great advance made in the last two decades in the care of the insane by the abolition of mechanical restraints, and other improvements, was inaugurated in Ohio, and no one, perhaps, has done more to educate public opinion upon these subjects than General Brinkerhoff. The establishment of the Toledo Hospital upon the cottage system, which really marked a new era in the treatment of the insane, was largely due to General Brinkerhoff, who was a member of the commission to locate the asylum and select plans for its construction, and his earnest advocacy for the segregate or cottage system secured its adoption. For a time it was known as "Brinkerhoff's Folly," but it is now recognized as the model asylum of the nation. 108 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. The Ohio Archeological and Historical Society was organized in October, 1875, at General Brinkerhoff's home in Mansfield, and he was its first president. After serving for several terms he declined a re-election, and was succeeded by General R. B. Hayes, and upon the death of ex-President Hayes General Brinkerhoff again became the president of the society, which position he continues to hold. General Brinkerhoff early took an interest in historical matters. He came to Richland county to make it his home in 185o, and conceived the idea of preserving the annals of its early history. He married the daughter of one of its best known pioneers, and his associations brought him in contact with the men and women of those days, and he felt that a record of their lives should be preserved for the instruction of the generations that would follow them. With this object in view he began to gather information in regard to pioneer times. The results of his labors have been given to the public, not only in newspaper articles but also in book form. Pioneer meetings were held at irregular intervals and in November, 1898, the Richland County Historical Society was organized, with General Brinkerhoff as the president and A. J. Baughman, secretary. General Brinkerhoff is a charter member of the Mansfield Lyceum, and for the past thirty years has been one of its principal supporters. He was also active in the establishment of the Mansfield Library and the Museum. The Sherman-Heineman park is one of General Brinkerhoff's creations. He conceived the idea of the park and worked indefatigably until the same became a beautiful reality, extending for a mile and a half along the western border of the city. He is one of the park commissioners and is the president of the hoard. Future historians will proclaim the fact that General Brinkerhoff was a benefactor of his day and generation. Professor A. H. Currier, of Oberlin College, in the April number of the Bibliotheca Sacra, 1901, reviews General Brinkerhoff's book, Recollections of a Lifetime, from which the following extracts are taken : "The `Lifetime,' whose 'Recollections' are here garnered and dwelt upon, has certainly been filled with memorable, and marked by an extraordinary, public service. On this account the writing of the book and all that is implied of personal satisfaction in the record are justified. He would be a captious critic who would accuse the author of unbecoming egotism. There is no more egotism here than is needful to give an autobiographical sketch of this kind an interesting personal flavor, like that given to conversation by a person of wide experience, who takes us into his confidence and talks with CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 109 us freely of the notable people lie has met, the important events he has witnessed, the impressive scenes and places lie has visited, and the enterprises of public concern he has had a hand in promoting. This is in substance what General Brinkerhoff does in his book. Among the prominent events he witnessed and describes were the Pittsburg Convention of February 22, 1856, at which the Republican party, previously existing only in a few states, became national in extent. He was present likewise at the national Republican convention in Philadelphia, June 17, 1856, where Fremont was nominated for the presidency. He was present in Washington at the inauguration of Lincoln in 1860. He was present four years later at Ford's theater when Lincoln was assassinated,—heard Booth's pistol shot, saw the assassin scramble over the front rail of the president's box and to the stage, run across it and disappear, and felt the horror and dread that thrilled the audience as the truth gradually dawned upon them of what had occurred." "Few men have traveled so much with such open-eyed intelligence as he. We have interesting accounts of cities and states, east and west, north and south, and over the sea. He confesses that lie has been a man of 'hobbies,' —using the word 'hobby' as signifying 'a favorite theme of thought and study outside of regular business pursuits.' Into these avocations his mental power and public spirit have overflowed or found congenial employment. In them, moreover, he has manifested not simply a brief superficial interest, like that of most men in such things, who take them up to gratify a transient curiosity or passing whim, but an interest so deep and thoroughgoing that he has achieved in each a notable success, which has made him through them a great public benefactor." "General Brinkerhoff has come to be widely known as one of the foremost authorities of our country and times upon the subject of charity organization, penology and prison reform. The fact that he was selected to write the article on Prison Discipline, in the American Supplement to the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, is proof of this." While undoubtedly he is not without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and useful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best efforts. His is a noble character—one that subordinates personal ambition to public good and seeks rather the benefit of others than the aggrandizement of self. His is a conspicuously successful career. Endowed by nature with high intellectual qualities, to which are added the discipline and embellishments of culture, his is a most attractive personality. 110 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. HISTORY OF THE OHIO STATE REFORMATORY. The Ohio State Reformatory had its origin in the teachings and continuous recommendations of the Board of State Charities, commencing with its first report in 1867. After fully considering the conditions then existing in the. Ohio state penitentiary the board declared that "it has become apparent that the capacity of the penitentiary iS insufficient and that the state must either enlarge it or build a new prison. There are several very strong reasons why we should establish a new prison instead of enlarging the old one." The board then gave, very fully, its reasons for such conclusions, from which the following are brief extracts : "In reaching the best method of treating criminals for reform, the first step in advance of our present system must be classification, made indispensably necessary from this fact,—that among all criminals the inevitable tendency is for the worse man to drag the better down to his level instead of the worse rising to the plane of the better. Taking the men now in our penitentiary, we could safely range them under one or the other of these two classes, _namely : Those who desire to be better men, and who would be such under favorable circumstances; and men who have no such desire, but are incorrigibly, willfully bad. But as it is not for man to look into the heart of man, probably the best basis of classification as a beginning would be age, antecedents, kind of crime and number of convictions,—scrupulously keeping young men, and those susceptible of good influence, from those more hardened in crime." "Such a system would require the establishment of one new prison exclusively for young men. This would give us the foundation of a grand system of model prisons, with the reform farm on one side of the new prison for juvenile offenders, and the penitentiary on the other for all the more hardened and incorrigible class." This recommendation of the new prison "intermediate" between the penitentiary and the reform farm was not acted upon by the general assembly. The next year (1868) the board said "another year's experience of very close relation with our convicts has only strengthened the conviction that the plan proposed embodied the foundation of a most successful prison system," and additional reasons therefor were given. In 1869 the board again renewed its recommendations for an intermediate prison and gave the results of such systems in other countries, and especially of the Crofton system in Ireland. In response to their repeated recommendations a bill was introduced by Representative Lewis D. Campbell, of Butler county, to carry them into effect, but no action was taken upon it. This bill met the hearty approval CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 111 of the board, and in its report for 1870 it urged its passage. Nothing came of it, however, and in 1871 the board was abolished. In 1876, however, through the recommendation and influence of Governor Hayes, the board was reorganized, with the governor as ex-officio president, and in its first report at again pressed the subject upon the attention of the general assembly ; but no action was taken. Again, in 1877, the reason for such an intermediate prison or reformatory was fully presented. In 1878 Governor Bishop, in his first annual message, called the attention of the legislature to the importance of providing a reformatory, and the board in its annual report gave his recommendations hearty endorsement. On the 21st of January, 1879, General R. Brinkerhoff, representing the board, delivered an address before the general assembly in which, after referring to the recommendations of the governor, he said : "We take it for granted that early action will be taken, and that the present session will not be adjourned without providing for at least one additional prison. I say one, for the time is not far distant when two additional prisons will be needed, and this fact should be borne in mind,, in view of the proper location of the one first built. The best experience of the world condemns our present system of aggregating all our convicts in one place. It prevents proper classification and thereby inflicts great harm upon the work of reformation which, after all, should be the great aim of all proper prison discipline. Two moderately-sized prisons would cost but little more to build and manage than one large one like that at Columbus, and the beneficial results would be more than double. One such prison, accommodating five or six hundred, would answer for a number of years to come, and should be located near the center of the north or south half of the state, leaving the other location for occupancy when another prison is required. Both of these prisons should be reformatory, leaving that at Columbus for the more hardened criminals. The punishment of criminals and the prevention of crime present more difficult problems for 'solution than almost any other department for legislation, and they are now occupying much of the very best thought of the world. The recent International Prison Reform Congress at Stockholm is an indication of the interest taken, and it is very evident that we are approaching very revolutionary changes in our existing systems ; but in the line of prison management the changes will be in the direction of reformatory classification and a more intelligent, supervision. In fact in all our public institutions, if we keep pace with the times, we must have a more cultured management. We cannot extemporize men for that position any more than we can extemporize navigators for our navy or generals for the army. They should be trained 112 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. for their work. Prove their growth upward. To direct efficiently such an institution as our Ohio penitentiary requires as much capacity and trained experience as it does to command a ship of war; and, until we recognize this fact to its fullest extent our public institutions will never be what they ought to be and are capable of being." Among the recommendations adopted by the late international congress, and about which there was no difference of opinion, was this : "Resolved, That we favor the professional education, in some form, of prison officers and employes, and the payment of such salaries as will attract and retain competent persons in prison service. Such education, we think, should be in the prison itself, in the prison service. Those entering it should do so at merely nominal wages, and their promotion to higher positions and better pay should be in accordance with their capacity and fidelity." No action was taken upon these recommendations, and the board in its next annual report again pressed the subject upon the attention of the legislature and presented very fully the methods in operation at the State Reformatory at Elmira, New York. Nothing, however, was done, and the board in various ways renewed its recommendations, year by year, until at last its perseverance was rewarded by the enactment of a law entitled "An act to establish an intermediate penitentiary and to provide for the appointment of a board of managers to locate, construct and manage the same." This act was introduced into the senate by Hon. Elmer White, of Defiance, and was passed April 14, 1884. (0. S., vol. 81, page 206.) Section 1 of this act provided "that there be established an intermediate penitentiary for the incarceration of such persons convicted and sentenced under the law of Ohio as have not previously been sentenced to a state penitentiary in this or any other country." Section 2 provided "that, for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this act, there shall be and hereby is appropriated for the years 1884 and 1885 ten per centum of all the moneys received under an act passed April 17, 1885, entitled 'An act further providing against the evils resulting from the traffic in intoxicating liquors.' " Section 3 authorized the governor to appoint, by and with the consent of the senate, three persons to act as a board of Managers, not more than two of whom were to belong to the same political party. Section 4 authorized the board of managers to locate and construct said intermediate penitentiary, and fixed their salaries at one thousand dollars a year. The other five sections provided for the government and discipline of the reformatory. CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 113 In compliance with the provisions of this act the governor appointed, as a board of managers, John M. Pugh, of Columbus; John Quincy Smith, of Clinton; and Frank M. Marriot, of Delaware. Various sites in different portions of the state were proposed for the new institution, and the board after spending several months in their visitation and consideration finally selected that now occupied by the reformatory at Mansfield and comprising one hundred and eighty-two acres of ground. The board then selected as the architect Captain Levi T. Scofield, of Cleveland, Ohio, and proceeded to the consideration of plans, and finally selected those which are now ( I9oo) approaching completion. The estimated cost of the entire structure, including all of the different trades, was one million, three hundred and twenty-six thousand, seven hundred and sixty-nine dollars and ninety-five cents; and thus far all contracts have been let inside these estimates. The corner-stone of the intermediate penitentiary was laid with fitting ceremonies on the 4th day of November, 1886. The newspaper reports of this event are as follows : "Fully fifteen thousand strangers were in the city that day, and over ten thousand were present at the ceremonies. After prayer by pr. Bronson, General Brinkerhoff in a short address introduced Mayor Clugston, who delivered an address, after which Senator Sherman, the president of the day, was presented and spoke briefly concerning prisons, and then introduced John Q. Smith, the president of the board of managers, who gave a history of the work done. Governor Foraker and S. Sacker Williams performed the ceremony of laying the corner-stone, according to the ritual of Masonry. Governor Foraker then gave a brief address, in which he said that Ohio had been slow in prison reforms, but that this would be a new era and the 'intermediate' would be a credit not only to the state but also to the United States and the civilized world. Ex-President Hayes followed with a few remarks, in which he asked all who were in favor of keeping politics out of the penitentiary to lift up their hands, and twenty thousand hands were lifted up." Ex-Governor Hoadley was on the program for an address, but was unavoidably absent ; but ten years later, in a long letter published in the Columbus Dispatch of December 16, 1896, he gives the genesis and purposes of the reformatory as follows : "The Ohio Reformatory at Mansfield has been built since I left the office of governor. It was started while I was governor. The principal gentleman engaged in the enterprise was General Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield. He is not responsible, more than many others, for its location, but he is responsible that the state of Ohio started to build this institution. That its completion still lingers a dozen years after the laying of the corner-stone is 114 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. due, primarily, to the fact that the law (known as the Scott law) upon which its appropriations were based was declared unconstitutional, and thereby the revenues of the state were so badly crippled that only small appropriations could be secured from year to year, and therefore the completion lingered and its very existence was often jeopardized. However, patience and perseverance again triumphed and at last, in 1896, the institution was ready to accommodate a limited number of prisoners, and on the 15th of September of that year it received from the Ohio Penitentiary one hundred and fifty supposed first offenders, and the new era was inaugurated. "In the meantime the name of the institution was changed to that of the State Reformatory, and the laws governing it were made to conform to those governing the New York State Reformatory at Elmira, and a board of managers was created comprising six members, not more than three of whom should belong to the same political party. (Vol. 88, page 382.) On August 29, 1896, the prison proper was occupied, but everything was in a crude and unfinished condition both inside and outside ; but, as stated by the hoard of managers, with hard labor we managed to bring forth partial order out of the confusion, so that on September 15, 1896, we received one hundred and fifty prisoners from the Ohio penitentiary. Our first experience was with a very tough, incorrigible and vicious element, the influence of which we found to be very undesirable and hard to get rid of. "On September 3oth following we received the first prisoners sentenced direct from the court to the reformatory. Up to the present time we have received nine hundred and thirteen, of which number five hundred and ninety-eight have been discharged by parole and otherwise. So far as we have been able to learn, over eighty-five per cent. of those boys have become honest, upright, law-abiding citizens. These young men have been employed principally grading and farming. The grounds when we came were in a deplorable condition. We have up to this writing a number of industries, such as carpentering, stone-masonry, tailoring and the manufacturing of gloves. The occupation is of course varied. We are looking forward now to the completion of the east cell wing and the construction of new shops, at which time we hope to be able to adopt a much more thorough system of reformatory work." MRS. SARAH A. SUTTER. Mrs. Sarah A. Sutter, who resides on section 2, Sharon township, Richland county, and whose postoffice is Shelby, is the widow of John Sutter, who was born in Canton Basle, Switzerland, in 1818, and came to the United CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 115 States in 1840, landing in New York, after a voyage of six weeks on the Atlantic ocean. Coming to this country with small means, he first began working on a farm, which he continued for some time. Then taking up the business of peddling clocks, he worked his way west to Ohio about 1843, and was one of the first to volunteer in the Mexican war. After serving in the ranks fifteen months he returned to this portion of the state of Ohio, where he had known the family of Adam Hockingsmith, whose daughter, Sarah, he married. Adam Hockingsmith married Sarah Myers, she being of Pennsylvania and he of Maryland. They settled in Ohio in 1830, when Mrs. Sutter was one year old, and when this entire section was one wild, wooded wilderness, filled with deer, wild turkey and many other kinds of game. Mr. Hockingsmith took up forty acres of land, which he cleared of its timber and made for himself and family a good home. After getting his farm well under way in the matter of improvements, he began working at his trade, that of weaver, weaving linen and woolen cloths and renting his fields. He and his wife were the parents of four children : Sarah, the subject of this sketch; Margaret, who died at the age of two years ; Henry Peter, who died at the age of three years, and Ervilla, the wife of William Smith, who lives in the same township with Mrs. Sutter. The father of these four children died at the age of seventy-eight, and the mother about three years later, at the age of seventy-seven. They both quietly repose in the Myers churchyard, which was given for a burial place by Mrs. Sutter's maternal grandfather, Myers. Mrs. Sutter was married in 1847, on November 9, and settled with her husband on his forty-acre farm, mentioned above, which he purchased with such improvements as had been made upon it, which were but few and crude. Two years later Mr. Sutter rented a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre farm, which he purchased in 1876; but he died on his old farm in Plymouth township. Mr. and Mrs. Sutter were the parents of seven children—four sons and three daughters,—as follows : John A., who died at the age of two years; Sarah Ann Amanda, the wife of Butler Albertson, who is living on the old homestead farm; George F., who is living in West Unity, Williams county, Ohio, and has one daughter living; Alice, who died at the age of four years; Leona E., who died at the age of three years ; Henry F., a farmer, living some distance south of the old home farm ; and William J., living on his sixty-acre farm. Butler Albertson was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, in 1848, and is a son of William K. Albertson, whose biographical sketch appears following 116 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. this. He married Sarah Valk, and they came to Ohio in 1856, locating in Richland county. As stated in the brief sketch of William K. Albertson, he and his wife reared four daughters and one son : Lewis Butler Albertson, who married Sarah Sutter, January 4, 1872. After living on a rented farm some time they removed, in 1876, to their present farm, containing sixty acres, of which Mrs. Albertson inherited forty acres, to which Mr. Albertson added twenty more acres. To the marriage of Lewis Butler Albertson and his wife has been born one son,—John William Albertson,—a musician and salesman of musical instruments, who received his education first at the home district school and later at a business college in Toledo. He is an accomplished business man in his line, which he has followed for the past six years, and intends soon to locate in Shelby, where he will establish himself in business on his own account. Mrs. Sutter is a woman of many fine qualities and is highly esteemed by all. WILLIAM K. ALBERTSON. William K. Albertson, deceased, formerly of Shelby, Ohio, was born in New York, a son of Cornelius and Margaret (Shiltz) Albertson, who removed to Columbia county, Pennsylvania, in the early part of the nineteenth century. The date of his birth was March 13, 1823, and on October 12, 1844, the autumn of the election of James K. Polk to the presidency, he was married to Sarah Valk, a daughter of Peter and Mary (Parkes) Valk, the former of whom was a native of Holland and the latter of New Jersey. She was a member of a family consisting of seven daughters and two sons. Mr. and Mrs. Albertson were the parents of one son and four daughters, as follows : Manervia Ann, the wife of Amos P. McBride, and who died in 1884, at the age of thirty-two years; Mary Matilda, who died in 1882, aged twenty-four years; two daughters that died in infancy; and Lewis Butler, who was born in 1848, and has always followed farming for a living. He married Miss Sarah Sutter, a daughter of John Sutter, of Shelby, and to this marriage there has been one son, William, in 1871. William K. Albertson, the subject of this sketch, four years after his marriage removed to Richland county, Ohio, driving through from his former home in Pennsylvania with a team of his own. For several years after reaching this county he followed farming, then buying a home in Shelby, where he lived the remainder of his years, making his livelihood as a millwright and carpenter. He was a most excellent citizen, was a stanch Demo- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 117 crat in politics, and attended the United Brethren church. His death occurred on August 25, 1889, when he was sixty-six years of age, and was keenly felt by all his friends as well as by his family and other relatives. He is well remembered for his many fine qualities, being an upright, honorable and highly esteemed member of the community in which he lived. GEORGE W. CHARLES. This honored and highly respected citizen of Mansfield has devoted much of his life to public service, and is now a member of the board of county commissioners of Richland county. A native of Ohio, he was born in Lake county, December 17, 1826, and on the paternal side is of Irish descent, his grandfather, John Charles, having emigrated to this country from Ireland when about forty years of age. He first located in New York state, on Lake Cayuga, where he married, and about 1836 moved from that place to Richland county, Ohio, settling in Washington township, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying at about the age of one hundred years. John Charles, Jr., the father of our subject, was born in New York, in 1799, and was married near Bedford, Ohio, to Harriet Comstock, a native of Connecticut and a daughter of George Comstock, who brought his family to this state when Mrs. Charles was only four years old. Mr. and Mrs. Charles lived in Lake county, Ohio, until our subject was three years of age and then moved to Cuyahoga county. On the 28th of March, 1841, they came to Richland county, and the father secured eighty acres of land in Washington township, upon which he made his home until called to his final rest at the age of eighty-one years. He taught school near Bedford, Ohio, in his younger days, and served as township trustee one term. George W. Charles attended the common schools near his boyhood home and at the age of eighteen started out in life for himself as a farm hand. In the winter of 1840-41 he came to Richland county, and after working for others for some time was finally able to purchase a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Washington township, where he employed himself for many years, but since 1896 has made his home in Mansfield. At the age of twenty-one years Mr. Charles married Miss Hester Young, a daughter of George Young, of Madison township, this county. Both her parents died before her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Charles were born four children, two sons and two daughters, namely : John Warner, a farmer of 118 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY Washington township, who married Lavina Robinson, a daughter of Thomas Robinson, of Jefferson township, this county ; William Sweeney, a farmer of Washington township, who married May Frederick, a daughter of Christopher Frederick, of Jefferson township; Harriet Elizabeth, the wife of H. C. Collins, of Mansfield; and Samantha L., the wife of George Snavely, of Washington township. The wife and mother, who was a consistent and faithful member of the Christian church from the age of fourteen, died at the age of sixty-four years. Mr. Charles also is an active member of the Christian church, to which his parents belonged. He now makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Collins, in Mansfield, and devotes all of his time to public affairs. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the Democratic party, and since attaining his majority has held some office continuously. He was a member of the school board in Washington township for sixteen years and the president of the same most of the time; for four years he was the treasurer of the township; was a trustee of the township from 1888 to 1896; was the supervisor a great many terms; in 1896 was elected a county commissioner, and was re-elected to the same office in 1899 for another three-years term. He has now been a resident of Richland county for almost sixty years, and is a public-spirited and progressive citizen, who has given his support to all measures for the public good. Over his life record there falls no shadow of wrong; his public service has been most exemplary, and his private life has been marked by the strictest fidelity to duty. NEWTON HERSH. A student of the history of Richland county cannot carry his investigations far before he will learn that the Hersh family has, through many decades, been connected with the agricultural interests of this section of the state. Newton Hersh is a prominent representative of one of the pioneer families of Monroe township. His grandfather, Abraham Hersh, was a native of Pennsylvania, belonging to one of the old Dutch families, and in the '20s he came to Ohio, locating in Monroe township, where he purchased a quarter section of land. The tract was covered with a heavy growth of wild forest trees. There he built a log cabin and began the work of clearing the land and developing the farm, continuing its further cultivation until his death. Joel Hersh, the father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania in 1806, and was a young man when his family came to Richland county. Here he CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 119 began work as a farm hand for John Tucker, and after two or three years he married and Mr. Tucker built a log cabin for him and his bride. Through the succeeding two years they lived in that cabin home and Mr. Hersh continued to cultivate Mr. Tucker's farm. He then leased the farm now owned by Marion Schrack. This proved a profitable business venture, and after four or five years, with the capital he had acquired through his energy and capable management, he was enabled to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land, the place upon which his son Newton now lives. This was a tract of wild timber land for which he paid four hundred dollars. Not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made, but he built a log cabin and soon acre after acre was cleared and placed under cultivation. Throughout his business career he continued to work that farm. When the Civil war broke out he permitted two of his sons, Joel and Albert, to go to the front, as members of the Sixth Ohio Battery. The troops were almost continually engaged in skirmishing for one hundred days near Marietta, Georgia, and in an encounter with the enemy Albert Hersh lost his life, from the explosion of a shell. While on a visit to Georgia to see his sons, Joel Hersh, the father, contracted a fever which terminated his life soon after he returned home. He gave his political support first to the Whig party, and afterward to the Republican party. He was a strong Abolitionist, and when the Republican party opposed the further extension of slavery he espoused its cause and became one of its stalwart advocates. He possessed an observing eye and retentive memory, and from reading and observation he became a well informed man. He was a leading member of the Odd Fellows lodge in his place, and in his life exemplified the beneficent principles of that fraternity. He died in 1862, at the age of fifty-six years. His wife bore the maiden name of Catherine Berry, and by her marriage became the mother of twelve children, of whom seven are yet living, namely : Newton ; Sarah, the widow of George Alexander, of Kansas ; Joel and George W., who are residents of Dickinson county, Kansas; Isabelle, the wife of James Chew, of Dickinson county, Kansas ; Monroe B., who is living in Great Bend, Missouri ; and Norman, a carpenter of Mansfield, Ohio. Newton Hersh, the eldest of his family, devoted his boyhood days to the work on the home farm, to the acquirement of a common-school education and the enjoyment of pleasures such as claim the attention of farmer lads. After he had arrived at the age of maturity he chose as a companion and helpmate on life's journey Miss Lydia Chew, a native of Richland county and a daughter of Samuel Chew. The wedding was celebrated in 1858, and 120 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. unto them have been born three children, of whom two are now living, namely: Lorenna C., the wife of Franklin Andrews, a farmer of Kansas ; and Joel G., an attorney at Lima, Ohio. The mother died about 1867, and Mr. Hersh afterward married Miss Hannah Huston, a native of Richland county and a daughter of John Huston. By the second marriage there were two children: Willis B., at his parental home ; and Mary L., the wife of Lavern Mitchell, a resident farmer of Monroe township. Mrs. Hersh passed away about 1876, and our subject subsequently wedded Mrs. Mary J. Smith, the widow of David Smith and a daughter of Samuel Henry, who was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and one of the highly esteemed residents of Richland county. By her former marriage Mrs. Hersh became the mother of three children : Emanuel, who is now in the oil fields of Wood county, Ohio; Effie, the wife of Marcellus R. Taylor; and Lawrence, a. farmer of Springfield township, Richland county. By the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hersh they have one child, Emma E. After his first marriage Mr. Hersh located on the old homestead, and after his father's death purchased the property. He has one hundred and forty acres of rich land and is engaged in general farming, his being one of the attractive and desirable farms of the community. An unswerving allegiance he gives to the Republican party. He was at one time a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, holding a dirnit from Monroe township. His business methods are progressive and his labors are guided by careful management. He deserves the success which has come to him, for in all his dealings he is honorable. His friends throughout the community are many, and the record of his life cannot fail to prove of interest to many of our readers. GENERAL WILLIAM McLAUGHLIN. William McLaughlin was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, February 3, 1802, and his boyhood years were passed on the farm of six hundred acres upon which his father had settled in 1792. He attended country schools until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to Beaver Court House to read law under the direction of General Robert Moore, then a member of congress. After his admission to the bar he came to Canton, Ohio, and entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1828 he came to Mansfield, where he resided until his death, July 19, 1862. General McLaughlin's father, Neal McLaughlin, was a native of Ireland, who after coming to America was a farmer ten miles from Beaver, Penn- CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 121 sylvania, and his mother, whose maiden name was Isabella Carr, was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, September 17, 184o. General McLaughlin married Mrs. Irwin, whose maiden name was Harriet Cairns. She had one child —Mary Jane—by her first marriage, who became the wife of John E. Ritter. Mrs. McLaughlin was the daughter of Joseph Cairns, who was a captain in the war of 1812 and settled in Mansfield soon after Hull's surrender. The Cairns family is of Irish descent. Mrs. McLaughlin was born July 31, 1816, in Mansfield, on the northwest corner of Main and Third streets, where her father had a store. The family later removed to the northeast corner of the same streets, where Mrs. McLaughlin was married. General McLaughlin had built a home on the west side of Main street, about midway between Fourth and Fifth streets, where he took his bride, which was ever afterward their home and where Mrs. McLaughlin lived as wife and widow for fifty-six years, until her death, April 14, 1896. She was a life-long member of the Presbyterian church. The home is now .owned by the youngest daughter, Miss Jennie.. General and Mrs. McLaughlin were the parents of four children, three daughters and one son, namely : Harriet Lucretia, who married George W. Smith,. and resides at Avalon, Pennsylvania ; they have one child, Edna by name ;. Isabella, who married Alphonse Mennel and resides in Toledo ; they have two children,—Louis Alphonse and Mark Neal ; Virginia, known among her friends as Jennie, who resides at the old homestead ; and William H., of Pittsburg, who married Lollie Christian and has two children,—William! and Marie. Mary Jane Irwin-Ritter was the mother of four children,—three daughters and one son,—Harriet, Lena, John and Katherine. The McLaughlin family are Presbyterians in their religious faith. Miss Virginia, the only representative of the family now in Mansfield, is active in her church work. She is a prominent member of the Woman's Relief Corps auxiliary to McLaughlin 'Post, No. 131, G. A. R., which is honored with the name of her father. She has served a number of terms as the president of the corps, and has been a delegate to its state conventions upon several occasions. General McLaughlin was a successful lawyer and was also a lawmaker, having served in the senate of Ohio from 1835 to 1841,—through six general assemblies. He was the speaker of the senate from 1839 to 1841, as the presiding officer of that body was called under the old constitution. When the United States declared war against Mexico General McLaughlin raised a company of volunteers, of which he became the captain. They left Mansfield June 9, 1846, for Mexico. This company was put into the Third Regi- 122 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. ment, under Colonel Samuel R. Curtis, and took part in the principal battles of that war. After peace had been declared General McLaughlin left the vocation of war and returned to the occupations of peace, resuming the pursuits of his profession. At the commencement of the Civil war, when President Lincoln, on April 14, 1861, issued his proclamation for seventy-five thousand troops to serve three months, General McLaughlin was the first man in Richland county to respond to the call and raised the first company and was its captain. He was a model soldier, tall, erect and manly in his bearing, and patriotic to the heart's core. This company became Company I, First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the first battle of Bull Run. A number of men who were privates in that company later obtained position and distinction in the war. In October, 1861, General McLaughlin was commissioned to raise a battalion of cavalry for the Sherman brigade, of which he became the major, and was afterward brevetted general for brave and gallant service. Although the McLaughlin squadron was raised as a part of the Sherman brigade, it was afterward detached from that command. This squadron was through some of the hardest campaigns of the war. Owing to the hardships and exposure of the service, General McLaughlin became ill and was placed upon a hospital boat on the Big Sandy river in Kentucky, where he died on Saturday, July 19, 1862, at 9 A. m. The remains were brought to Mansfield, and buried with the honors of war. The funeral took place from the family residence on North Main street, and was one of the largest ever held in the city. During his service in the field General McLaughlin sent home to his wife the request that the flag of his country should be raised and kept floating over his home during his absence. In compliance with that request Mrs. McLaughlin and some of her lady friends made a flag, and a pole was raised on their lawn, from which the stars and stripes floated to the breeze and streamers of red,white and blue were extended from the windows of the second story of the residence to the pole, as beautiful in their artistic arrangement as they were expressive of patriotism. The occasion was an inspiring one and hundreds of people gathered to witness the ceremony. Colonel B. Burns was one of the speakers, and paid a handsome tribute to the husband and father of that home. At General McLaughlin's funeral this flag was draped around his coffin and buried with him, but the pole stood for many years as a memorial of the past. As a citizen General McLaughlin stood second to none in the community. He was universally respected and beloved. He was possessed of unbounded CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - 123 charity and kindness. He was bold, fearless and resolute in his advocacy of what he thought was right. He was a thorough patriot, who called the whole country his home and gave his life that the nation might live. ALEXANDER McBRIDE. Since an early epoch in the development of Richland county Alexander McBride has been numbered among its citizens. He was born in Monroe township, October 8, 1820, and is one of eight children whose parents were Alexander and Susanna (Pettit) McBride. Only three of the children are now living, however. The parents are mentioned at length in connection with the sketch of Calvin McBride on another page of this work. To know the early life of our subject we have but to picture the conditions common in Richland county six or seven decades ago. Much of the land was wild, awaiting the awakening energy of civilization to transform it into richly cultivated fields. Schools were primitive and the curriculum limited; the now thriving towns and cities were merely hamlets or had not been founded, and the settlers were deprived of many of the comforts and conveniences of the older east; but they were people of resolute spirit and with determined purpose well fitted to the work of making homes in the wilderness. Alexander McBride bore his part in the task of clearing and developing the wild land. Through the winter months he pursued his studies in the little log school house, where he mastered the common branches of English learning. On attaining his majority he began work as a farm hand, but continued to make his home under the parental roof until August 8, 1847, when he married Miss Hulda A. Keeler, a native of Richland county and a daughter of Stephen Keeler, one of the honored pioneer farmers of the locality. By this marriage one child was born, Stephen, who is now a farmer in La Grange county, Indiana. Mr. McBride and his young wife removed. to Crawford county, Ohio, where he and his brother John owned a farm of one hundred acres, but soon death came to the little home, for after two years Mrs. McBride was called to her final rest. Her husband then returned to Richland county, and in connection with a partner operated a threshing machine, also working on various farms until his second marriage, which occurred on the 16th of September, 1855, Miss. Catherine Plank becoming his wife. She is a native of Richland county and a daughter of John Plank, the founder and hotel proprietor of Planktown and one of the leading citi- 124 - CENTENNIAL BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY. zens of this section of the Buckeye state. In the meantime Mr. McBride's father made his will and at the wish of the father Alexander McBride purchased from the other heirs their interest in one-half of the farm and upon the land built his residence. Here he has since resided, devoting his energies to agricultural pursuits until recent years. He is now living retired, enjoying a well-earned rest. By the second marriage have been born two children, but only one is now living, Anna, the wife of William Page, of Cleveland. Mr. McBride is a member of the Lutheran church, with which he has been identified for more than half a century. For many years he has served as one of its officers and is now filling the position of elder. He is a man of sterling worth, of high moral character, and through his four-score years he has ever commanded the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. In the evening of life he can look back over the past without regret and forward to the future without fear. MAHLON DICKERSON. The name of Dickerson has long been prominently and honorably associated with the history of Shelby. Mr. Dickerson, whose name appears above, was for many years an esteemed representative of this locality. He was born in 1816, in Sullivan county, New York, and was the son of Peter Dickerson. At the age of twenty he left home and by way of the Erie canal proceeded to Buffalo, thence to Cleveland by boat and from Cleveland continued on his way to Richland county, which he found to be an almost unbroken wilderness. He immediately began work at the carpenter's trade and followed that pursuit in many sections of the state. When in Newark he formed the acquaintance of Miss Mary Calhoon Langley, a daughter of Joseph and Margaret Langley, both of whom were natives of the Shenandoah valley in Virginia, and came to Ohio in 1812, being numbered among the pioneer farmers there. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dickerson came to Shelby, where the subject of this review continued working at his trade until 1844, when he established the first sash, door and blind factory in this part of the state. He made his own frames and in fact did all of the work. He used a planing machine cutting ten inches in width, and horse power was utilized in the operation of the factory, the same being secured from Bolinger & Keller, of Sulphur Springs, Crawford county,