History of Lebanon, (Warren County) Ohio United States of America

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Biographies:

John Sherman, statesman, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823; son of Charles R. and Mary (Hoyt) Sherman, natives of Norwalk, Conn., grandson of Taylor and Elizabeth (Stoddard) Sherman, and a direct descendant of Roger Sherman. His father, in 1810, removed from Norwalk, Conn., to Lancaster, Ohio, where he was a prominent lawyer; became a judge of the state supreme court under the constitution of 1802, and died at Lebanon, Ohio, June 24, 1829, leaving eleven children, John being the eighth. He was brought up by his cousin, John Sherman, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, attended Homer academy, Lancaster. Pa., 1835?37, and obtained employment on the "Muskingum improvement," under Colonel Curtis, as junior rodman of an engineer corps in 1839. He was given charge of the work at Beverly, Ohio, in 1838, studied law with his brother Charles S. Sherman, at Mansfield. Ohio, was admitted to the bar on reaching his majority in 1844, and entered into partnership with his brother at Mansfield. He was a delegate to the Whig national convention at Philadelphia, Pa., June 7, 1848, and served as secretary of the convention. He was married, Aug. 30, 1848, to Cecilia, daughter of Judge James Stewart of Mansfield, and established a mill for the manufacture of finishing lumber, which business he carried on in connection with his law practice. He was a delegate to the Whig national convention at Baltimore, Md., June 16, 1852, where he supported the candidacy of Gen. Winfield Scott for the presidency. He removed to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1853, and was elected a Whig and Republican representative from the 13th Ohio district in the 34th, 35th, 36th and 37th congresses, serving 1855?61. He was president of the first Ohio Republican state convention in 1855 and was foremost in the organization of the Republican party. He was a member of the committee of three appointed by the house of the 34th congress to investigate the Kansas troubles of 1855, and prepared the testimony and wrote the report, Representative Howard, the chairman, being ill. In 1856 he supported the nomination of John C. Fr?mont for President. He was chairman of the committee on ways and means in the 36th congress and introduced a resolution providing that a committee of fifteen be appointed to report on the subject of a railroad to the Pacific coast. He secured the passage of a bill authorizing the issue of U.S. Treasury notes, in 1860. He succeeded Salmon P. Chase as U.S. senator from Ohio, in March, 1861, and served by successive re-elections till March 4, 1877. He served as aide-de-camp without pay on the staff of Gen. Robert Patterson, in 1861, and raised largely at his own expense the Sherman brigade, consisting of two regiments of infantry, a cavalry squadron, and an artillery battery. He resumed his seat as U.S. senator, and in 1862, took charge of the national banking bill, and with Secretary Chase, secured its passage. He was chairman of the senate committee on finance and opposed the issue of 6 per cent. bonds; was the author of the refunding act which was passed in 1870, and was chairman of the committee that fixed the time for the resumption of specie payments. He supported the candidacy of Rutherford B. Hayes, for President, in 1856, and made a notable speech at Marietta, Ohio. After the election he was a member of the "visiting committee" sent to Louisiana to watch the counting of votes and on the inauguration of President Hayes, March 4, 1877, he was appointed secretary of the treasury. He secured the sale of $200,000,000 worth of 4 per cent. bonds of which $15,000,000 was used for refunding purposes. In less than six months he was able to dispose of 4 per cent. bonds at par, and in July, 1878, he resumed specie payments with a balance of $140,000,000 in gold. He was a candidate for nomination for the presidency in 1880, and in 1881 was returned to the senate, being re-elected in 1887, and serving as chairman of the committee on foreign relations and as a member of the committee on expenditure of public money. He was president of the senate pro tempore, 1885?87, and was a candidate for the nomination for the presidency in 1884, and in 1888. He resigned his seat in the senate in 1897 to become secretary of state under President McKinley, but his health failed and after a short term of service he resigned, April 23, 1898, and retired to private life, being succeeded by William R. Day, assistant secretary of state. He is the author of: Selected Speeches and Reports on Finance and Taxation, 1859?78 (1879), and Memoirs (2 vols., 1896). He died in Washington, D.C., Oct. 22, 1900.

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

Jesse Burgess Thomas, jurist, was born at Lebanon, Ohio, July 31, 1806; second son of Richard Symmes and Frances (Pattie) Thomas. He was educated at Transylvania university, Ky., and practised law for a number of years at Springfield, Ill., removing in 1845 to Chicago, where he thenceforth resided. He was for a time attorney-general of Illinois. He was judge of the circuit court, before whom Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, was on trial at the time of his assassination. He was twice elected to the supreme bench of Illinois, and served with distinction until his death at Chicago. Ill., Feb. 21, 1850.

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

Peter Perlee Lowe, pioneer lawyer, was born near Lebanon, Ohio, June 11, 1801; son of Jacob D. and Martha (Perlee) Lowe. Jacob D. Lowe was born near Somerville, N.J., in 1767, removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1791, and at his house in 1794 the first Masonic lodge in Ohio was organized. In 1800 he located near Lebanon in Warren county. Peter Perlee Lowe studied classics under the Rev. James Kemper, a pioneer preacher, and law under Thomas Corwin; was admitted to the bar in 1825, and practised in Dayton, Ohio, 1825-86. In 1832 he was admitted to practise in the U.S. courts of Washington, D.C. He was prosecuting attorney for Montgomery county, 1832, and took rank as the leader of the criminal bar in Ohio, and was also a noted civil lawyer. He was a Democratic representative in the Ohio legislature, 1838-39; and chairman of the judiciary committee. He declined the nomination for governor in 1850 in favor of his friend Reuben Wood, who was elected. He was a Whig until 1836, when he left the party on account of the Tyler exposure of the dealings of the U.S. bank with members of congress. He was a delegate to the Democratic state and national conventions, 1836-56, and in 1856 he joined the newly formed Republican party in national issues, but continued for some time to work with the Democrats in state politics. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago, May 16, 1860. He was a promoter of the use of electricity as early as 1845, when he advanced a large sum of money to an inventor in Cincinnati by the name of Starr to visit Europa with his patent and obtain the opinion of scientists. When the invention was declared successful, Starr died suddenly and his patents in Europe and the United States were unknown to Mr. Lowe until the time to complete the same had expired. Mr. Lowe was a trustee of Miami university, 1839-57. He died at Dumbarton Farm, Baltimore county, Md., Aug. 7, 1886.

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