History of Somerset, (Perry County) Ohio United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Somerset, (Perry County) Ohio, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Biographies:

Jerome Joseph Green, electrician, was born near Somerset, Ohio, Dec. 26, 1865; son of Joshua and Emily (Flowers) Green; grandson of Joshua and Sarah (Hughes) Green, and of Matthias and Mary (Elder) Flowers; and a descendant of Captain Joshua Green of the Kent County, Md., militia in war of 1812, who came to America from England in 1800. He studied and taught in the district schools, and learned the carpenter's trade. He was graduated from the Ohio State university, M.E. in 1893, and during the college vacations designed cash registers and worked in photograph galleries. He was employed as a tester of the electrical apparatus for the bureau of awards at the World's Columbian exposition in 1893. He was engaged at the installation of the electrical apparatus at the Atlanta exposition in 1895, and was connected with the Chicago Edison company and the National school of electricity in Chicago until 1895. He accepted the chair of physics and electrical engineering at Notre Dame university, Indiana, in 1895. He conducted a series of experiments in wireless telegraphy at Notre Dame university, 1899, with apparatus made up in the laboratories and shops of the university, first from one room to another, then increasing the distance till signals were distinctly received three miles away, ?the apparatus used in the last trial being an improvement on the first. He made another series of tests in the business district of Chicago and on Lake Michigan, where a message was sent out a mile and a half.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Hardy Doyle, Attorney-at-Law, was born on a farm near Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, April 23d, 1843. His parents, who were among the earliest settlers of the Maumee valley, were married at Providence, on the Maumee river, in 1835, or thereabout. They subsequently moved to Perry county, Ohio, and from there, in 1846, removed to Toledo in the same State, where they have since resided. He was educated primarily in the public schools of Toledo, and completed his literary education at the University in Granville, Ohio. Upon relinquishing school life he entered the office of his uncle, who was then, 1859, Recorder of Lucas county, Ohio, and acted as his deputy for two years. At the expiration of that time he commenced the reading of law in 1863, entered the office of Edward Bissell, and in 1865 was admitted to the bar and to a partnership with his preceptor. The firm thus constituted still exists, and is a leading one in Toledo, where there are to-day more than one hundred resident legal practitioners. He has exhibited great skill and well-directed energy in the conduct of various important cases. On one occasion he successfully conducted a suit for the occupants of one hundred and sixty acres of land in the centre of Toledo, valued at over one million of dollars, the title to which was involved in the suit; the claimants were the heirs of one Ford, a privateer in the war of 1812, who was then living at Fell's Point, Baltimore, Maryland. The case hinged on the legitimacy of a daughter who, the claimants alleged, was born while the aforesaid Ford was a prisoner of war in Plymouth, England, and was illegitimate. He spent a large portion of the spring and winter of 1874 in Maryland and the District of Columbia in taking testimony in this important case. The final result established the legitimacy of the child, and hence the title of his clients. Political office of a partisan nature he has never either sought or accepted. He was one of the organizers of the present excellent public free library of Toledo, and for many years served efficiently as Chairman of its Lecture Committee. In connection with Hon. De Witt Davis, of Milwaukee, he organized also the Northwestern Lecture Bureau in 1865, in Chicago, Illinois. He has frequently contributed articles on law and literary subjects to the magazines of the country, and is the possessor of a varied and valuable fund of information of a very diversified character. The Republican party has always commanded his sympathies and support. He was married, October 6th, 1868, to Alice Fuller Skinner, daughter of Dr. S. W. Skinner, of Windsor, Connecticut, now of Toledo, Ohio.

From: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century. Columbus, OH, USA: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1876.

Lieutenant-General Philip Henry Sheridan was born in the village of Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, March 6th, 1831. His parents were recent emigrants from county Cavan, in the north of Ireland, and were devout Catholics. He was scrupulously reared in this faith. About his native village there had long been gathering a Catholic population, and the "Church of St. Joseph" there was noted as one of the oldest houses of worship in the State. He received the usual advantages of the rural schools, and when old enough to help in the support of the family, he was placed as store clerk with a Mr. Talbot, a small hardware dealer, where he remained for some time. His employer, taking an interest in him, taught him mathematics and encouraged him to study history. The boy was intelligent, active, and faithful. An opportunity to do better being offered, he entered the service of a Mr. Henry Dutton, also as a store clerk. Meantime his studies in mathematics and history were progressing with success, and he began to aspire to something better than the life of a clerk in a country store. There was quite a pressure being brought upon General Thomas Ritchey for the appointment to a vacancy at West Point, and he tells this story: "At last there came a letter accompanied by no testimonials, no influential recommendations or appeals from wealthy parents. It simply asked that the place might be given to the writer, and was signed 'Phil. Sheridan.' The boy needed no recommendation, for I knew him and his father before him, and I appointed him at once." When the future general entered West Point he was seventeen years old, and he found himself in the same class with James B. McPherson, afterwards general, and who met his death in the late war. Among his other classmates were Schofield, Terrell, Tyler, Sill, and the rebel General Hood. His high animal spirits made his career at West Point a troublesome one for his preceptors, and though above the average, he was not high in his recitations because of his frequent appearauce in the column of demerits. He was continually transgressing the rules, and on one occasion flogged a classmate for an alleged insult. For this he was compelled to stay an additional year at the academy. This little incident explains why, though the date of his admission was in the year 1848, he was not admitted to the service till 1853. His suspension had thrown him over into the class succeeding that in which he should have graduated. When in his twenty-third year, having finished his course, he was assigned to the 1st Infantry as Brevet Second Lientenant, and was soon promoted to a full Second Lieutenancy in the 4th Infantry. His first service was on the Texas frontier against the Indians. One story of the way his promotion was brought about is as follows: