D. F. CONNELL was born
in Brooke County, W. Va., then Virginia, Nov. 12, 1827. In
1842 he accompanied his father to Richland County, Ohio, thence to
Upper Sandusky, and in 1844 returned to Brooke County, Va., now W.
Va., where he remained till 1846, when he went to Columbiana County,
Ohio. In 1851 he went to Hancock County, W. Va., and engaged
in the mercantile business, adding fire brick to it in 1866.
In 1868 he removed to Portsmouth and took charge of the fire-brick
works. The business was started in 1865 by Taylor & Thomas,
but in 1866 Mr. Connell bought an interest in the firm was
changed to Taylor, Thomas & Co. In February, 1868,
Mr. Connell bought Mr. Thomas's interest and changed the
firm name to Taylor & Connell. They began in a small
way in an old saw-mill, making at first about 4,000 per day.
The first year they doubled their capacity and extended their trade.
They have furnished brick for most of the furnaces of Chicago,
Detroit, Joliet and Milwaukee. Mr. Connell became
interested in the Cincinnati Retort and Tile Works, and was in
Cincinnati two years, a member of the firm of Connell & Taylor,
same business. He was the First to introduce the calcine fire
brick in the Sciotoville works, which has proved a great success.
They employed a travelling salesman, R. Jenkins, of Chicago,
who worked up a large trade throughout the Northwest. In 1870
the Scioto Fire Brick Company, Towne & McConnell Brick Company and
Salamander Brick Company consolidated, forming the Scioto Brick
Company, with a joint stock company, in 1872 Mr. Connell
retired from the management of this company and for several years
gave his attention to his West Virginia land. In 1880 he
became associated with D. Hale, of Charleston, and
George Straughn in the coal business, but soon after bought
his partners' interests. The company now consists of John
D. Carter and Mr. Connell and his sons, George and
James, the two latter residing in Peabody. They own 400
acres of coal land and lease 200 acres. They have two banks
opened and four other workable seams. They employ 300 men and
run their coal directly into their boats on the Kanawha River.
Their capacity at present is from 6,000 to 8,000 bushels per day.
The coal is of superior quality, well adapted for domestic purposes,
and especially valuable for gas. Mr. Connell is one of
the most prominent business men of Southern Ohio. He was
married in 1850 to Catherine A. Wilhelm, of Hancock County,
W. Va. They have nine children - Julia, the wife
of A. C. Davis; George, James, Anna, Sarah, William, Mary,
Daniel and Arthur. Mr. Connell is a member
of the Masonic family.
- History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago:
Inter-state Publishing Co. 1884 |
W. A. CONNOLLEY,
proprietor of one of the oldest established business houses of
Portsmouth, Ohio, is a son of the late James Connolley.
The business was established by his father in 1855, and in 1860 he
was admitted as a partner, and on the death of his father, in 1868,
he succeeded to the business. He did an exclusive retail
business until 1874, when he enlarged the building situated on the
corner of Fifth and Chillicothe streets, and with increased
accommodations started a jobbing business in connection with the
retail. The first floor of the building is divide3d into two
large and commodious rooms which accommodate the retail trade, one
devoted to dry-goods and notions, the other to boots and shoes.
The upper floors are devoted exclusively to the wholesale trade.
Both wholesale and retail departments are kept well stocked with
such goods as meet the demands of the people, and strict attention
is paid to the style of goods that suit the different seasons of the
year. This house has for many years held a leading position in
this city, and as years roll by it loses none of its former energy
and push.
- History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state
Publishing Co. 1884 |
HENRY COOK was born in
Germany, Oct. 20, 1827, a son of Henry Cook who came to the
United States with his family in 1840 and located in Portsmouth,
where he remained till his death in 1870, at the age of sixty-nine
years, his wife having died several years previous. They had
six children - Caroline, who was married to Adam Mitzger
and died in 1873, aged forty-eight years; Henry, our
subject; Louisa, wife of Charles Kearher, of
Portsmouth; John Frederick, of Jackson, Ohio; William
and Augustus (twins). Henry learned the
shoemaker's trade of his father and has since been engaged in that
business, ten years of the time working in a shoe factory. He
was married in 1852 to Lucy Neil, a native of Germany.
They had a family of four children - Ellen, wife of
Theodore Pfeiffer, of Huntington, Ohio; John H., William
Cromwell and Charles Edward. Mrs. Cook died, and in
1862 he married Mary Neil, a sister of his first wife.
They have had two children - Louis F. and Grace.
Louis died at the age of fifteen months.
- History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state
Publishing Co. 1884 |
JOHN COOLEY
[Portsmouth] was born in
Pennsylvania in 1821, a son of Matthew Cooley, who came to
Portsmouth in 1828. His parents both died when he was twelve
years of age, and he was thus early thrown on his own resources.
When fourteen years of age he went to work for James Solsbury,
of Portsmouth, to learn the trade of a harness-maker. When he
was twenty-one years of age he opened a shop of his own, and although
at that time there were three shops, and since then there has been
five others in town, still he has had a good trade and is now
considered the leading harness-maker of Portsmouth. He employs only
first-class workmen and uses only the choicest stock, guaranteeing all
his work. Mr. Cooley was married in 1853 to Mary
Montgomery, daughter of Robert Montgomery. Three
children have been born to them, only two now living - Hattie
and Callie. William died when fire years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. Cooley are members of the Methodist church.
- History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state
Publishing Co. 1884 |
C. W. COTTON,
Vice-President and Superintendent of Portsmouth Wagon Stock Company,
was born in Massachusetts in 1829, a son of Ward M. Cotton, a
machinist, of Leonminster, Mass. He worked as an
apprentice till twenty-one years of age. He established the
first manufactory for Cook's patent bit, at Shelburne Falls,
Mass., and subsequently began the manufacture of carriage wheels.
He was afterward foreman in the Royal Wheel Company's works at
Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1867 came to Portsmouth, where he was the
prime mover in the erection of the hub and spoke factory of
Johnston & Son, working there fifteen years. He was
married in 1852 to Ellen M. Graham, of Massachusetts.
They have two daughters - Mary Ellen and Lizzie J.
Mr. Cotton is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
- History of Lower Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Inter-state
Publishing Co. 1884 |
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