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Luminaries of Dayton: William Judkins Conklin, M. D.

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William Judkins Conklin, A. M., M. D., was born in Sidney, Ohio on December 1, 1844. He entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1866. He began the study of medicine with his father, Dr. H. S. Conklin, one of the most prominent physicians of the Miami Valley and graduated from the Medical College of Ohio in the spring of 1868.

In 1869, the Detroit Medical College placed upon him the ad eundem degree, a courtesy degree awarded by one university or college to an alumnus of another. In May, he was appointed assistant physician of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane, a position he held until December 1871 when he resigned to accept a partnership with Dr. J. C. Reeve. In 1876, he was appointed by Governor R. B. Hayes a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dayton Asylum for the Insane. From 1875 to 1886, he was a member of the faculty of Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio, first as professor of physiology and afterward as professor of the diseases of children. He was a member of the American Medical Association, the Ohio State Medical Society, the State Sanitary Association, and the Montgomery County Medical Society. He was also a member of the surgical staff of St. Elizabeth Hospital and was also in association with Miami Valley Hospital.

Dr. Conklin was a frequent contributor to both medical and literary journals. In Dayton, he served as Director of the Merchants National Bank. In 1875, Dr. Conklin married Catherine Beckel, daughter of Daniel Beckel. Their son, Dr. Daniel Beckel Conklin, was associated with him in his medical practice.

William Judkins Conklin died on October 31, 1916. He is located in Section 52 Lot 1167.

Luminaries of Dayton: David D. Albritton

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David D. Albritton was an Olympic medalist, state legislator, and longtime Dayton businessman. He won a silver medal in the high-jumping competition at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, competing alongside his lifelong friend and Ohio State University teammate Jesse Owens. He established the world high jump record, at that time, with a leap of 6 feet, 9 and 7/8 inches. He later became a teacher and coach at Dunbar High School, where he led the team to three state track championships and broke the segregation barrier, leading the way for Dunbar to compete in the Public High School League. In 1960, Mr. Albritton was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. The Ohio Amateur Athlete of the Year award is named in Dave Albritton’s honor.

Mr. Albritton died on May 14, 1994. He is located in Section 300 Lot 86.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the UD Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. For more information call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland website.

Luminaries of Dayton: August Becherer

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August Becherer was born in Germany. He served as a Captain in the Fourth Ohio Cavalry during the Civil War. He was a member of nearly every soldier’s organization in the city of Dayton at the time of his death.

John B. Wager, August Becherer and Henry Hilgefort opened the Lager Beer Brewery about 1854. It was located on the southeast comer of Hickory and Brown Streets. In 1859, August decided to try it alone and bought out his partners. In 1861, Becherer took on Henry Hussmann as a partner and changed the name to Ohio Brewery. Three years later Hussmann had had enough and left to open a grocery store. August tried again, taking on Phillip Ritter as a partner in 1868, but it only lasted two years. He finally found a lasting partner in Frank Becherer, who became part owner in 1870 and stayed with the company until it was sold to Michael Seubert and Otto C. R. Wilke in 1879. August went on to open the Oakwood Brewery that same year and Frank went to work for August.

August Becherer died at his home on Brown Street on May 11, 1885 at the age of 50. He is located in Section 111 Lot 2324.

Luminaries of Dayton: John F. Edgar

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John F. Edgar was born October 19, 1814 on the farm that Robert, his father, had established in 1811, on the hills east of Wayne Avenue in Dayton. John received his formal education mostly on his father’s farm and the “Old Red Schoolhouse,” the former tavern of William VanCleve. Mr. Edgar lost his appeal for farming and eventually turned to the trade practiced earlier by his father, that of building contracting. His father helped provide him with all the secrets of the trade and by the year of 1832, he became a sole agent, becoming extremely successful at his craft. In 1838, because of his building contracts, he worked on railroad and turnpike construction projects and soon became an incorporator and secretary of the Dayton-Springfield Turnpike. By 1842, he was one of the organizers of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad and was appointed superintendent. John F. Edgar was an original subscriber to the 1841 Woodland Cemetery Association.

About the time of the Civil War, Mr. Edgar left the construction business and opened a family grocery on Main Street.  It was while conducting business and conversing with the various citizens that he was able to learn firsthand accounts from those directly involved with the city’s development. He soon became so apt in his knowledge of local history that he was considered by many as the official historian and received much acclaim. His history book, “Pioneering Life in Dayton & Vicinity,” was published and available when the Centennial of Dayton was observed for one week, beginning on September 14, 1896. Needless to say, it met with instant success. Today his work is still being read and borrowed from by so many of us who are caught up in the study of our city’s history.

John Farris Edgar died on August 15, 1905 at the age of 90. He is located in Sec 57 Lot 44.

Woodland Cemetery, founded in 1841, is one of the nation’s oldest rural garden cemeteries and a unique cultural, botanical and educational resource in the heart of Dayton, Ohio. Visit the cemetery and arboretum and take one of the many tours Woodland offers free of charge. Most of Dayton’s aviation heroes, inventors and business barons are buried at Woodland.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the University of Dayton Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. For more information, call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum website.

Luminaries of Dayton: Swords as a cemetery symbol

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Crossed swords are often see on the gravestones of veterans, especially officers and symbolizes that the deceased died in battle.

 

G. A. R. – stands for Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization for men who fought and were honorably discharged from the Union Army during the Civil War.

On Capt. Curtis’s head stone we find quite a bit of information. His rank, his regiment and state served from, where he died in battle and date and his age at death.

Capt. D. K. Curtis of the 11 REG ONG fell at Mission Ridge, Tenn. November 25, 1863. Aged 23 years, 11 months, 17 days.

John S. Downs was a Civil War Union Army Officer. He served during the Civil War as Captain and commander of Company B, 4th New York Volunteer Infantry. He was killed at the Battle of Antietam during his regiment’s participation in the Union assault on the Sunken Road. His name is inscribed on the 4th New York Infantry Monument that stands in the Antietam National Cemetery, and on the New York State Monument in the Antietam National Battlefield.

Captain Downs died on September 17, 1862 at the age of 38.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the UD Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. Fore more information call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland website.

Luminaries of Dayton: Daniel C. Cooper

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What if Dayton had been named Cooperstown?

Seventeen days after the Treaty of Greenville, Judge Cleves Symmes of New Jersey, sold the seventh and eight ranges of his vast land holdings, between the Great Miami and Mad Rivers on one side and the little Miami on the other to Governor Arthur St. Clair, General Jonathan Dayton, General James Wilkinson, and Colonel Israel Ludlow. Jonathan Dayton was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence but he never saw or visited his name-sake city. Gen. St. Clair employed Benjamin VanCleve and Daniel C. Cooper, a surveyor, to be their agent. Cooper blazed the trail from Fort Hamilton up the east bank of the Miami River to the mouth of the Mad River. The next expedition was conducted personally by Colonel Ludlow on November 4, 1795.

During the winter of 1795, forty six men in Cincinnati agreed to settle in the new town but when the time came, only nineteen responded. William Hamer and George Newcom were in charge of the two overland parties, which would follow the trail laid out previously by Cooper. Newcom’s party, walked the distance of 55 miles, taking two weeks to make the journey. The Samuel Thompson party made the journey in ten days, by pirogue. Benjamin VanCleve was one that helped propel the boat. It was a long narrow boat which had boards running along each side which walked those who would propel the boat. They would hold their poles against the bottom of the river near the head of the boat and bringing the ends of the poles to their shoulders and then walked slowly down the running board to the stern, returning at a quick pace to the bow for a new set. VanCleve, who surveyed with Daniel Cooper, was so impressed with the Dayton area, that it was his enthusiasm which enticed the settlers to make the journey.

Newcom’s Tavern was the first cabin erected, and soon the town was well under way, but trouble soon erupted in 1800, and the town nearly folded. Judge Cleves Symmes had not made good on his government land contract. The U. S. Government decided to increase their demand for payment from the original 68 cents per acre to 2 dollars per acre. Some of the Dayton settlers left town in disgust. In 1802, only five families remained in Dayton.

Cooper Female Academy

It was Daniel C. Cooper who came to the aid of the settlers. Most of all it was Cooper’s utmost faith in Dayton which moved him to action. Therefore a petition from his own hand was dispatched to Congress telling them what a hard time the Dayton people were having, how faithfully they had worked and how cruel it would be to dispossess them after such a good start. Cooper then took over on his own responsibility the title risk and bought outright from each settler his holdings, until practically the whole of Dayton was his. Because of Cooper’s generosity, the town was forever free of invalid titles and all future arrivals had their titles secured. Cooper donated land areas for churches, schools and businesses and even two cemeteries.

Daniel Cooper was the first surveyor, he also donated the land for the first graveyard located at Third and Main streets in 1805 and again donated land about 10 years later to establish the Fifth Street Graveyard located between Ludlow and Wilkinson streets. It was at his mill in 1799, that the first death was recorded, that of John Davis, and due to the death of Mr. Davis, the first fire department was established. Mr. Cooper also had the first distillery which was located on his farm in 1799, and he ran the first carriage in 1817.

“In no way did Daniel Cooper confer a greater benefit upon his town,” wrote Robert W. Steele in his history, “than by inducing a number of men of

superior education, character and business capacity to come here from his native New Jersey and other places between 1804 and 1808.” Charles Russell Greene, Joseph Pierce and Horatio Gates Phillips were among those men.

From the Roz Young series of articles written about Cooper and published in the Dayton Daily News in 1994, she writes:

On the morning of July 13, 1818, Phillips walked to Cooper’s house. “The church bell was delivered to my place this morning,” he said.
Cooper looked at his pocket watch. “There’s time to take it to the church before lunch,” he told Phillips. “I’ll pick it up directly.”

He fetched a wheelbarrow from his barn and pushed it to the store on the southeast corner of Second and Main. He set the wheelbarrow down by the bell where it rested on the gravel street. It never occurred to him to ask Phillips to help him load the bell on the wagon. It was heavy, and he tugged and pulled and strained to hoist it into the barrow. The veins on his forehead head stood out as the blood rushed through them as he struggled. Finally with the bell in the wheelbarrow, he started for the church.

He started down Second Street, but before he had gone very far, his hands lost their grasp on the barrow handles and he fell over in the street.

Daniel Cooper was dead. A blood vessel in his brain had burst.

When he died, Cooper was 45, the leading citizen of Dayton. He had a beautiful wife and a 6-year-old son. He had recently begun building a new home, which was planned to be the most imposing, elegant house in Dayton.

His death stunned the community.

Of all the land that Cooper gave to the city, only the plot he gave “for a public walk forever” still remains. The Montgomery County Public Library was built on the land, and for a few years the surrounding area was called Library Park. But finally the city fathers passed a resolution that it should be called Cooper Park.

Cooper Park Historical Marker

Near the rear entrance of the library the Montgomery County Historical Society erected a marker in 1974, which reads:

Cooper Park

Daniel C. Cooper (1773-1818) perhaps more than any other deserves to be called the founder of Dayton. A surveyor with Israel Ludlow, Cooper settled in Dayton in the summer of 1796 and became the titular owner of the town when the original proprietors defaulted. He platted the city, laying out broad streets “four poles wide” and built most of the early mills. Cooper served as Dayton’s first justice of the peace and as a member of the state legislature. He donated ground for a graveyard, lots for churches, schools and public buildings, as well as the land for this park.

Daniel Cooper died on July 13, 1818. He was the 28th interment at Woodland Cemetery having been removed from the old 5th Street Cemetery to Woodland on May 4, 1844. He is located in Section 55 Lot 1.

July 13, 2018 marks the 200th Anniversary of the death of Daniel Cooper. We hope you will come out to pay a visit to the “Father of Dayton” and thank him for putting the Gem City on the map.

Luminaries of Dayton: John C. Cline

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John Cline died from a stroke of paralysis in 1922 at 78 years of age. He had served his tenure of 53 years at Woodland Cemetery of Dayton, working at the cemetery from the age of nine. His parents, John and Teresa Cline, had arrived in this country from Switzerland in 1844, the year John was born. They moved to Dayton soon after arriving, but one year later John became an orphan after his father died of cholera and his mother died the same year. Mr. Cline was adopted by George Lane, the third sexton of Woodland Cemetery. When John was a boy of 12 years, Mr. Lane gave him his first employment as a gate attendant, opening and closing the gates, and perhaps it was there he learned reverence for the dead, as horses and buggies solemnly entered and exited the cemetery. At the age of 25, Mr. Cline took upon himself the job of Superintendent of Woodland Cemetery on May 14, 1869.  He attended 38,377 burials before his death in 1922. Many of the improvements of the cemetery were attributed entirely to the efforts of Mr. Cline, especially the original surveys of Woodland he did for John W. VanCleve, the founder of the cemetery. At the outbreak of the Civil War, John enlisted in the Union Army, serving three years with the First Ohio Volunteer Regiment.

John VanCleve successfully set up the cemetery, with paid Sextons and they were: Benjamin Hughes, (July 1, 1843 – July 1, 1848), William Myers (July 17, 1848 – March 1, 1853), George Lane (March 1, 1853 – Sept. 5, 1860), and being succeeded by his son, William W. Lane (Sept. 5, 1860 – June 14, 1869). A new position of Superintendent was filled by John Cline, his son Luther and his grandson John C. Cline. The Cline Family remained in the position of superintendent for well over 100 years.

John C. Cline died on August 22, 1922 and buried in Section 46 Lot 190.

Woodland Cemetery, founded in 1841, is one of the nation’s oldest rural garden cemeteries and a unique cultural, botanical and educational resource in the heart of Dayton, Ohio. Visit the cemetery and arboretum and take one of the many tours Woodland offers free of charge. Most of Dayton’s aviation heroes, inventors and business barons are buried at Woodland.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the University of Dayton Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. For more information, call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum website.

Luminaries of Dayton: Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth

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Lorenzo L. Langstroth (1810 – 1895)
Father of American Beekeeping

Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth was born December 25, 1810, in Philadelphia. He became pastor of the South Congregational Church in Andover, Massachusetts in May of 1836 and was a teacher at Yale University. In 1852, he moved to Oxford, Ohio and took up the work of bee keeping for which he is best known. The world of insects held a fascination for Lorenzo from a very early age but the one that turned out to be his life-long ambition was the bee. It was while visiting the home of one of his church members, who was a keeper of bees, that his interest in bee keeping was once again revived. Mr. Langstroth tried his hand at beekeeping and quickly became dissatisfied with the primitive methods of harvesting the honey. He read the latest books of his time, but their methods were crude, resulting in the death of a large amount of the bee population, so in order to attain the honey he constructed a beehive which contained a baseboard where the bees entered. What was the main difference between his beehive and the rest?

Patent No. 9,300 Bee Hive L. L. Langstroth 1852

Before Mr. Lanstroth’s invention, the bees attached their combs to the walls of the hive and the only way to get the comb out was to cut them out, which spoiled the comb and wasted much honey.

Mr. Langstroth’s hive housed a removable frame, a place to store the excess honey and a roof. He left a 3/8″ space between the hive wall and the frames in which the combs were built. The bees did not build across the space, leaving the comb frames free to be easily removed by the bee keeper.

His book, “Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee” written in 1853, was reprinted, revised and translated into various languages before and after his death. Though his invention was used throughout the world, he made little money because of infringements of his copyright, Patent No. 9300. He did not have the financial resources for attorney fees, court costs, etc. Mr. Langstroth lived in the East End of Dayton in 1894 with his daughter, Anna L. Cowan. Lorenzo Langstroth passed away at the podium while addressing the Wayne Avenue Presbyterian Church on October 6, 1895 at the age of 84. Mr. Langstroth is located in Section 103 lot 2634 at Woodland Cemetery. Cemetery records reflect the name on the file card was Longstroth but someone had later hand written the name Langstroth and added “Bee Man”.

Lorenzo L. Langstroth Monument at Woodland Cemetery

The following is the inscription on the front of Mr. Langstroth’s monument:

Inscribed to the memory of Rev. L.L Langstroth, “Father of American beekeeping,” by his affectionate beneficiaries who, in the remembrance of the service rendered by his persistent and painstaking observations and experiments with the honey bee, his improvements in the hive, and the literary ability shown in the first scientific and popular book on the subject of beekeeping in the United States, gratefully erect this monument.

The back of his monument reads:
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,
that they may rest from their labors, and their
work do follow them.”

Woodland Cemetery, founded in 1841, is one of the nation’s five oldest rural garden cemeteries and a unique cultural, botanical and educational resource in the heart of Dayton, Ohio as you will see as you read through this new MostMetro.com series. Visit the cemetery and arboretum and take one of the many tours Woodland offers free of charge. Most of Dayton’s aviation heroes, inventors and business barons are buried at Woodland.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the UD Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. For more information, call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland website.

 

Luminaries of Dayton: Dr. Dagobert Anton Scheibenzuber

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Dr. Dagobert  Anton Scheibenzuber was devoted to the practice of medicine and displayed considerable power in coping with the intricate problems that continually confronted him as a physician. He was born near the Danube in Austria on December 5, 1868. His father, Anton Scheibenzuber, was also a doctor and brought the family to Hamilton, Ohio in 1870. Anton moved his practice to Dayton after a few years and died in Dayton in 1891.

In 1886, Dagobert became a student at the University of Vienna, where his father had previously been a student. There he attended lectures for four years and spent six months studying his profession in Prague before moving back to the states. In 1891, he graduated from the Cincinnati School of Medicine & Surgery and practiced in Dayton. He was a Professor of Pathological Anatomy and Histology at the Cincinnati School.

Dr. Scheibenzuber was the first pathologist appointed at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Dayton and served in that capacity for five years. He served as physician and surgeon for St. Joseph Orphans Home in Dayton and was Medical Examiner for the Cleveland Life Insurance Co.

Dr. Dagobert Anton Scheibenuzber died on February 25, 1936 at the age of 69.He is buried in Section 113 Lot 101. Anton Scheibenzuber died on August 11, 1891 at the age of 49. He is located on the family lot in Section 113.

Woodland Cemetery, founded in 1841, is one of the nation’s oldest rural garden cemeteries and a unique cultural, botanical and educational resource in the heart of Dayton, Ohio. Visit the cemetery and arboretum and take one of the many tours Woodland offers free of charge. Most of Dayton’s aviation heroes, inventors and business barons are buried at Woodland.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the University of Dayton Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. For more information, call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum website.

Luminaries of Dayton: Charles Russell Greene

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Charles Russell Greene was born in Newport, Rhode Island on December 21, 1785. His family moved to Marietta, Ohio in 1788 with the Ohio Company. Mr. Greene’s sister married Daniel C. Cooper, who influenced Charles to settle in Dayton in 1806. Charles entered into partnership with Cooper and soon after had a store on his own. In 1822, he was appointed to succeed Benjamin Van Cleve as Clerk of Montgomery County, Court of Common Pleas, holding that office until his death. He was one of the first to serve on the Board of Directors of Dayton’s first bank. His position as Dayton’s first fire warden was what led to his death. 

Mr. Greene had ordered Matthew Thompson into the line to pass water buckets during a fire. The man refused and Mr. Greene used his authority to force him to comply. The next day Mr. Thompson made complaint and had Mr. Greene summoned before the Squire. During Mr. Green’s inquiry, Mr. Thompson, while under the influence of alcohol, struck Charles on the head, which resulted in his death.

Charles Russell Greene died on September 10, 1833. He was one of those that was removed from the Old Fifth Street Cemetery and re-interred at Woodland on December 11, 1844.

Woodland Cemetery, founded in 1841, is one of the nation’s oldest rural garden cemeteries and a unique cultural, botanical and educational resource in the heart of Dayton, Ohio. Visit the cemetery and arboretum and take one of the many tours Woodland offers free of charge. Most of Dayton’s aviation heroes, inventors and business barons are buried at Woodland.

Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the University of Dayton Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. For more information, call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum website.