Part 49

In 1858, he received the Democratic nomination for Congress against Hon. B. F. Wade, his successful competitor. In 1860, he was chosen, with Hon. H. B. Payne, delegate from this district to the Charleston-Baltimore convention where he labored with untiring devotion for the nomination of Judge Douglas. When the revolt was raised by the traitorous South, he rallied at once to the support of the constitution and Union, and, following the example of Douglas buried the partizan in the noble struggle of the patriot for the preservation of the liberties of the country.

Of the Silas Wright school of politics, he labored during his editorial career of over twenty years, for his cherished principles. The friend of Mr. Pierce, he was the beloved and confidential exponent of the great Douglas. No man possessed the friendship and esteem of the Illinois statesman in a larger degree than did Mr. Gray. The Plain Dealer was Mr. Douglas' recognized organ--more so than any other paper published in the country, and the close intimacy which existed between them was never interrupted, and continued to the hour of that statesman's death.

Mr. Gray died May 26, 1862. He had been feeble for a few days previously, and for a day or two before his death had not left the house, yet nothing serious was apprehended by his family or physicians, and though the nature of his illness was such as to have long made him an invalid, the hope was firmly entertained that he would regain his general health. On the morning of the day of his death, however, paralysis seized his heart and lungs, soon depriving him of speech, and under which he rapidly, but gently, sank away and died at fifteen minutes past two of the same day.

His life affords another example to the rising young men of the day, of the power of will to triumph over all obstacles, when to indefatigable industry are added those exemplary virtues, strict integrity and temperance.

George A. Benedict.

George A. Benedict, of the printing and publishing firm of Fairbanks, Benedict & Co., and editor-in-chief of the Cleveland Herald, is a native of Jefferson county, New York, having been born in Watertown, August 5, 1813. Mr. Benedict was well educated and in due course entered Yale College, from which he has received the degree of A. B.

When eighteen years old he commenced the study of law with Judge Robert Lansing, in Watertown, finishing his legal education in the office of Sterling & Bronson. He was admitted to practice in New York, and immediately thereafter, in 1835, removed to Ohio, taking up his residence in Cleveland. Here he entered the office of Andrews & Foot and subsequently of that of John W. Allen, being admitted to practice in the Ohio Courts in the year 1836.

As soon as admitted to the Ohio Bar a partnership was formed with John Erwin, under the name of Erwin & Benedict; this arrangement continued three years. On its dissolution Mr. Benedict formed a partnership with James K. Hitchcock, the firm of Benedict & Hitchcock continuing until 1848, when Mr. Benedict was appointed Clerk of the Superior Court, Judge Andrews being the Judge. With the adoption of the new constitution of the State this court became extinct.

Immediately after the termination of his duties as Clerk of the Superior Court, Mr. Benedict purchased an interest in the Herald establishment, and became co-partner with Messrs. J. A. Harris and A. W. Fairbanks. The subsequent retirement of Mr. Harris from editorial life left Mr. Benedict as editor-in-chief of that paper, a position he has from that time retained.

In 1843, Mr. Benedict was a member of the City Council, and president of that body. For one term previous to that time Mr. Benedict was city attorney.

In August, 1865, Postmaster General Dennison, of Ohio, tendered to Mr. Benedict the office of Postmaster of Cleveland. The appointment was accepted, and at this writing, 1869, he still holds the office.

Mr. Benedict is impulsive in temperament, but his impulses are more of a friendly than unkindly character. He is warm-hearted, quick to forgive a wrong atoned for, and still quicker to apologize for and atone an injury done to others. In nearly a score of years editing a newspaper he has never intentionally done injustice to any man, no matter what differences of opinion might exist, and has never knowingly allowed the columns of his newspaper to be the vehicle of private spite. Nor has he ever refused any one, fancying himself aggrieved, the privilege of setting himself right in a proper manner in the same columns in which the alleged injury was inflicted. He has the genuine and unforced respect and esteem of those employed by him, for his treatment of them has always been kind and considerate, and although no newspaper conductor can possibly avoid creating prejudice and temporary ill-feeling. Mr. Benedict has probably no real enemy, whilst among those who best know him he has none but warm friends.

In addition to his editorial abilities, Mr. Benedict is one of the few really good writers of an occasional newspaper letter, and in his journeyings from home his letters to the Herald are looked for with interest and read with keen relish.

Mr. Benedict was married June, 1839, to Miss Sarah R. Rathbone, of Brownsville, Jefferson county, New York, and has three children, the oldest, George S. Benedict, being one of the proprietors and in the active business management of the Herald.

J. H. A. Bone

John H. A. Bone is a native of Cornwall, England, having been born in that county October 31, 1830. He received a good education, being first intended for the army, but an accident having permanently crippled his right arm, that purpose had to be abandoned. He resided awhile in London and Liverpool, during which time he was connected with the press of those cities, and contributed to periodicals. Having married in his native place, he left England in the Autumn of 1851, for the United States, and after a brief stay in New York, arrived in Cleveland in October of that year.

Early in the Spring of 1857, he joined the editorial staff of the Cleveland Herald, to the columns of which he had for some years previous been a frequent contributor. At the same time he had contributed to the pages of the Knickerbocker Magazine, Godey, Peterson's, the Boston Carpet Bag, then conducted by B. P. Shillaber ("Mrs. Partington,") and G. C. Halpine ("Miles O'Reilly,") and other literary papers of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, as well as to a Cleveland magazine, the New American Monthly, and was a regular contributor to the Cincinnati Pen and Pencil, a handsome weekly magazine of more than ordinary merit that was run for some time under the editorship of W. W. Warden.

Mr. Bone, on joining the Herald, took charge of its commercial, local, amusements and literary departments. As the business of the paper increased he resigned those departments, one after another, to others, and on the retirement of Mr. Harris, transferred his labors to the leading editorial department, retaining charge of the literary department also.

In addition to his daily duties on the Herald, Mr. Bone has found time to furnish papers to the Atlantic Monthly on matters of scholarly interest and historical importance, has for the past three years been on the regular staff of Our Young Folks, contributing to it a number of historical articles, prepared with much care and research, and is an occasional contributor to other periodicals.

Mr. Bone published, about sixteen years ago, a small volume of poems, mostly written in boyhood. His after verses, of various characters, are scattered through newspapers and magazines and have never been collected. With the exception of a few political squibs, he has for some years abandoned verse. A work on the oil regions was issued in 1864, and a second, enlarged edition, was published in Philadelphia, in 1865.

Aside from his professional duties as a journalist and the fulfilment of his engagements as a magazine writer, Mr. Bone's literary tastes are chiefly with the older works of English literature. He is a close student of what is known as Early English, delighting in his intervals of leisure to pick from the quaint and curious relics of the earliest English literature bits of evidence that serve to throw some light on the actual social and intellectual condition of our English ancestors four or five centuries ago. He has been for years, and still is, connected with English literary societies for the bringing to light and publishing for the use of the members, unpublished documents of historical and literary value. Of what is know as Elizabethean literature he has been a diligent student. At present he is connected with the management of the Cleveland Library Association and Western Reserve Historical Society.

William W. Armstrong.

William W. Armstrong, one of the present proprietors of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, is a native Buckeye, having been born in New Lisbon, Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1833. In his fifteenth year he removed to Tiffin, Seneca county, with the purpose of learning the printing business. In 1852-3, he was appointed to the position of Registrar of the Bank Department in the State Treasurer's office at Columbus. In 1854, he returned to Tiffin and purchased the Seneca County Advertiser, which he made noticeable among the Democratic papers of the State for its vigor and ability. He was recognized among the Democrats of the State as one of their rising men, and in 1862, he was chosen as the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, and was elected.

In 1865, having completed his term of office and returned to editorial life, he purchased the material and good will of the Plain Dealer, which had suspended publication, and set about bringing it back to its old prosperity and position among the journals of the State. His efforts were crowned with success. The reputation of the paper for boldness and ability, which had been affected by the death of its founder, was restored, and the business knowledge and tact which Mr. Armstrong brought to bear upon its management before long put its affairs in a healthy state and established the journal on a good paying basis. Although a strong partisan in politics, Mr. Armstrong recognizes the importance of fairness and courtesy, and hence he has the personal good will of his professional and business rivals as well as associates.

In 1868, Mr. Armstrong was elected delegate at large to the Democratic National Convention which nominated Horatio Seymour for the Presidency.

Frederick W. Green.

Frederick W. Green, the associate of Mr. Armstrong in the proprietorship and editorship of the Plain Dealer, was born in Fredericktown, Frederick county, Maryland, in 1816. In 1833, he removed to Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio. Becoming identified with the Democratic party he was elected by that party Auditor of Seneca county, and retained that position six years. In 1851, he was elected to Congress from the Seneca district, and in 1853, was re-elected. At the close of his term he was appointed Clerk of the newly organized United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. In this position he remained twelve years.

In 1867, he purchased an interest in the Plain Dealer, and at once entered upon editorial duties on that paper in connection with Mr. Armstrong. Their joint labors have made the paper the Democratic organ of Northern Ohio. Mr. Green, during his fourteen years residence in Cleveland, has been reckoned among its most respectable citizens, and possesses many warm friends irrespective of political differences of opinion.

Index.

Historical and Statistical.

History of Cleveland Trade and Commerce Ship Building The Bench and Bar Educational Railroading The Coal Interest Religious Medical Manufacturing Telegraphy City Improvements Military Journalism

Biographical Sketches.

Those marked with an asterisk (*) are illustrated with portraits.

*Aiken, S. C. Adams, S. W. *Allen, J. W. *Andrews, S. J. *Abbey, G. N. Alcott, Leverett. Armstrong. W. W. Blair, John. Barnett, Melancthon. Baldwin, Dudley. Baldwin, Norman C. *Bradburn, Charles. Beardsley, D. H. *Bradley, Alva. Barr, John. Bingham, Wm. Beckwith, T. S. *Baldwin, E. I. Brayton, H. F. *Bolton, Thomas. Backus, F. T. *Bishop, J. P. *Beckwith, D. H. *Bousfield, John. *Buhrer, S. Barnett, James. Benedict, G. A. *Bone, J. H. A. Cutter, Orlando. *Chapin, H. M. *Crittenden, N. E. *Cooke, W. P. Cobb. J. B. Colwell, A. G. *Cannon, A. V. Childs, O. A. Coe, S. S. Coe, C. W. *Case, Leonard. *Coffinberry, J. M. *Collins, W. *Case, William. *Crawford, L. Cross, D. W. Cassels, J. L. Castle, W. B. *Chisholm. H. *Clark, M. B. Creighton, W. R. *Dangler, David A. *Dodge, H. H. Dickman, F. J. Delamater, John Edwards, Wm. *Ely, George B. Errett, Isaac *Freese, Andrew *Farmer, James *Fairbanks, A. W. Garretson, Hiram Gordon, W. J. *Goodrich, W. H. *Garlick, Theodatus Green, F. W. Hilliard, Richard Hickox, Charles *Handy, T. P. Hanna, Robert Hurlbut, H. B. *Hoyt, J. M. *Humiston, R. F. *Hart, William *Hussey, J. G. Haldeman. L. Hayward, W. H. *Johnson, Levi *Jenness, B. W. *Johnson, S. W. *Jones, James M. *Kelley, Alfred *Kelly, Moses *Kirtland, J. P. Lyon, Richard T. Lester, S. F. Long, David Lowman, Jacob Merwin, Noble H. *Mygatt, George Morgan, E. P. *McDermott, James *Martin, John *Morris, David *Myers, R. P. McNairy, A. C. Morley, J. H. *Newberry, J. S. Otis, William A. Otis, W. S. C. Other Military Men Perkins, Joseph *Peck, E. M. *Palmer, C. W. *Perkins, Jacob Philpot, William *Price, W. I. *Quayle, Thomas *Robison, J. P. Raymond, S. Redington, J. A. Ranney, R. P. *Rice, Harvey *Rhodes, D. P. Rouse, Benjamin Rockefeller, J. D. Scovill, Philo Scranton, Joel *Sheldon, S. H. Sackett, Alexander Scott, M. B. *Sims, Elias Severance, J. L. *Sanford, D. Strong, S. M. Starkweather, Samuel *Sherman, C. T. *Spalding, R. P. *Smyth, Anson *Stone, Amasa, Jr. *Streator, W. S. *Seelye, T. T. *Stone, A. B. *Scofield, W. C. *Stager, Anson *Stevens, H. S. Scowden, T. R. *Sargent, J. H. Townsend, Amos Tilden, D. R. Thome, J. A. *Thatcher, Peter Weddell, P. M. Winslow, Richard White, Moses Walton, T. A. *Worthington, George Wick, Henry Warner, J. F. Wood, Reuben Willey, John W. *Willson, H. V. *Witt, Stillman Woolson, C. J. Westlake, G. *Wilson, W. G. *Wade, J. H. *Whittlesey, C. Younglove, M. C.

End of Project Gutenberg's Cleveland Past and Present, by Maurice Joblin