Adams County, Ohio - Chapter 16: Poutics and Poutical Parties, 1900 (part 4 of 4)

During Judge Thompson's first term in congress he was a member of the committee on private land claims, of which committee he was a valuable member. In the fiftieth congress he served upon the invalid pension committee, and in the fifty-first congress upon two of the most prominent and important committees, namely, judiciary and foreign affairs. As a member of the first committee the judge was made chairman of the sub-committee to investigate the United States courts in various parts of the country. The report which he submitted to congress as chairman of that sub-committee was among the most valuable of the session. It was during the fifty-first congress that the famous Mc- Kinley Tariff Bill was formed, and in the construction of that important measure Judge Thompson took no inconsiderable part, being frequently called into the councils of his party. Judge Thompson's career 4n congress was of material benefit to his adopted city, as it was through his efforts that a public building was erected in Portsmouth costing $75,000. The bill providing for this building was vetoed by President Cleveland in the fiftieth congress, but became a law by the President's sufferance in the fifty-first congress. A dike, known as the Bonanza dike, built in the Ohio just about that time, was also provided for through the same instrumentality, at a cost of $75,000, and three ice piers butlt just below, were added at a cost of $7,500, apiece. The city of Portsmouth also received the boon of free mail delivery through the same source.

As a member of the Ohio Tax Commission he took a conspicuous part in its labors, and its work is now bearing fruit in the legislation of the state on this subject. The report of this committee received the highest praise from contemporaneous journals of political science.

As a lawyer Judge Thompson was well read in his profession, and was a diligent and constant student. He was painstaking, industrious, and energetic. He brought out of a case all there was in it, both of fact and law. His opponent in any case could expect to meet all the points which could be made aginst him, and would not be disappointed in this respect.

As a common pleas judge he gave general satisfaction to the bar and public. He was one of the ablest who ever occupied the common pleas bench in Ohio, and there was universal regret when he left the bench for Congress. As a federal judge, he has received many compliments, and it is believed by those who know him best, that he will make a reputation as such equal to any who have occupied that position in our state.

was born in Clermont County, Ohio, June 13, 1847. He entered the army in 1864 ^^ the age of sixteen. He was admitted to the bar in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1872. He was elected to the state legislature from Hamilton County in 1873. He was vice president and general manager of the Union Central Life Insurance Company in 1881 and was elected president in 1891. He was elected state senator in 1890 m the Brown-Clermont District to fill a vacancy caused bv the death of Thomas Q. Ashburn. He was elected to the fifty-second congress on the Democratic ticket by 16,110 to 13,157 for D. W. C. Loudon. After his congressional career, he resumed his connection with the Union Central Life Insurance Company and is now its President.

represented the tenth Ohio district in the fifty-third congress, erf which Adams County was a part. While he was only Adams County's representative from March 4, 1893, ^^^^ his death, July 13, 1893, yet he was well known in the county and had canvassed it for the nomination to congress in 1890, when Judge Thompson obtained his third term. He is a good example of what the ambitious American boy can make of himself. He was born in Noble county, Ohio, March 29, 1842. His parents were Henry and Jane Miller Enochs. They removed to Lawrence County when he was a child.

He had the advantages of a common school education and was attending the Ohio University at Athens when Fort Sumpter was fired on. He at once enlisted in Co. B, 22d Ohio Volunteers and was made a sergeant. Col, Wm. E. Gilmore, of Chillicothe, was colonel of this regiment. Hon. Thaddeus A. Minshall, now Supreme Judge of Ohio, was its sergeant major. Judge Guthrie, of Athens, was captain of the company and W. H. H. Minton, of Gallipolis, the banker, its first sergeant. This regiment was mustered in April 2y, 1861, and mustered out August 19, 1861. Young Enochs was afraid the war would be over before he could get in again, so he swam the Ohio River and enlisted in the 5th Virginia Infantry. At that time he did not believe he could get into an Ohio Regiment, so he enlisted in Virginia. In October, he was elected captain of his company, but owing to his youth, his colonel refused to issue the commission and made him a first lieutenant. He was recommended to be major of the regiment in 1862, but owing to his youth, was commissioned a captadn. As such, he was in the battles of Moorfield and McDowell and of Cross Kevs. He was in Cedar Mountain and the Second Manassas, and at the latter had command of his regiment, although junior captain. He was also in the battle of Chantilly. In 1863, the regiment was transferred to West Virginia. On August 17, 1863, Captain Enochs was commissioned lieutenant colonel. His regiment was in the Lynchburg Raid, which was a campaign of "marching, starving and fighting." In 1864, his regiment was in the battles of Bunker Hill, Carter's Farm and Winchester, Halltown and Berryville. At the battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864, Colonel Enochs was severely wounded by being struck on the head by a musket ball, and was supposed at first to have been instantly killed. At Fisher's Hill, September 22, 1864, he displayed great bravery in leading his regiment to the attack and for this, was brevetted brigadier general. His regiment and the northwest Virginia were consolidated and made the ist West Virginia Infantry. Near the close of the war, his regiment was sent to Cumberland, Maryland, where he was assigned to the command of the troops in that part of Maryland, and on March 13, 1865, was made a brigadier general. In the fall and winter of 1865 and 1866, he studied law in Ironton and was admitted to the bar in April, 1866. He located at Ceredo, West Virginia. After remaining there a year or more he removed to Ironton. He at once acquired a large and lucrative practice. For a long time he was general counsel for the Scioto Valley Railway Company.

In 1871 and 1872, he represented Lawrence County in the house of representatives of the Ohio legislature. In 1875, he was married to Miss Annis Hamilton, of Ironton. They had one son, Berkley, who was educated at West Point and is now a first lieutenant in the 2Sth U. S. Infantry and is with his regiment in the Philippines. During the Spanish War, he served with his regiment in Cuba.

Gen. Enochs always had an ambition to represent his district in congress. This desire was gratified when, in 1890, he was elected to congress from the twelfth district, composed of Athens, Meigs, Gallia, Lawrence and Scioto. In 1892, he was re-elected to congress from the tenth district composed of Adams, Pike, Scioto, Jackson, Lawrence and GalHa. On the morning of July 13, 1893, he was found dead in his bed from an attack of apoplexy. A most promising career was cut short. He was the idol of the people of his county and respected, honored and beloved by the people throughout his district.

In the spring of 1893. he was full of projects for the benefit of his district and particularly for the improvement of the Ohio River. Had he lived, he would doubtless have had as many terms in congress as he desired and would likely have been governor of the. state. He had the happy faculty of making all whom he met feel that he was their friend. He had some subtle unknown charm, of which he was unconscious, but which made him friends everywhere and attached them to him by indissoivable bonds. His patriotism during the war was ardent, and never failed. It was just as strong in peace. All he achieved, all he accomplished in his brief career was his own. He had no rich or powerful family friends. He had no aid or assistance whatever and his friends were all made on his own merits. He was generous beyond all precedents, and any one deserving sympathy received the greatest measure from him. Once your friend, he was always such, and he made you feel he could not do too much for you. He believed in the brotherhood of man. His death at the time was a public calamity. He received a public congressional funeral and persons attended from all parts of the surrounding country. His funeral was the largest ever held in Ironton. He left the memory of a career of which every young American can feel proud and feel glad that a countryman of his had so distinguished himself in the Civil War, at the bar and in the National legislature.

was born on his father's farni near Winchester, May 7, 1844. The family were of English ancestry. Mr. Kenton's great- grandfather, Jeremiah Fenton, emigrated from Yorkshire, England, in the early part of the eighteenth century. He was a prominent and active patriot during the Revolutionary period. His son, also named Jeremiah Fenton, was born in Frederick County, \'irginia, and died in Adams County, in 1841, at the age of seventy-seven years. Benjamin Fenton, the father of our subject, was born near Winchester. August 31, 1810, and died August 13, 1870. His wife, Elizabeth Smith, was born in Pennsylvania, December 19, 181 3, and died at Winchester, Ohio, November 5, 1892.

Mr. Fenton was a student at Winchester when the war broke out. On the eleventh of August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, 91st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was with his regiment until September 19, 1864. Me was wounded at the battle of Opequan Creek, Virginia, the ball lodging in his shoulder. He was sent to the hospital at York, Pennsylvania, and was not discharged until May, 1865. He returned home in the fall and began a normal course at the Lebanon school, where he remained for three terms. He taught school for several years. In 1869, ^^ en- tered the Ohio University at Athens, and took a Latin-Scientific course, leaving that institution one year before he would have graduated in order lo accept the principalship of the Winchester schools, which position he held for two years. He then conducted the West Union schools for one year and the Manchester schools for five years, but he resigned in 1880 and was appointed clerk in the custom house at New Orleans. He was transferred, at his own request, from the custom house of New Orleans to the treasury department in Washington, D. C, March 15, 1881, in the office of the supervising architect. He remained in government service until October 18, 1884, when he resigned and returned home. The Winchester Bank was organized at that time, and its original officers were as follows: George Baird. president, J. W. Rothrock, vice president, and L. J. Fenton, cashier. Mr. Fenton is still cashier of the bank.

Mr. Fenton is a trustee of the Ohio University at Athens. In 1892, he was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Minneapolis. In 1894, he was elected to the fifty-fourth congress and in 1896 was reelected to the fifty-fifth congress by over 10,000 plurality. He was a member of the house committee on military affairs during the Spanish- American War.

On May 22, 1872, he was married to Miss Sarah B. Manker. They have three children, Alberta F., Clifton L., who was a captain in the Spanish- American War, and Mary E.

He served on th** staff of the Ohio Department Commander of the G. A. R. in 1893, 3nd on the staff of the National Commander of the G. A. R. in 1896.

As a soldier and patriot Mr. Fenton has an honorable record. As a teacher he won and held the high esteem of all the teachers of this county; as a banker and business man he has shown a high degree of ability and has the confidence of the community : as a citizen he has the respect of all who know him. He is an excellent example or what the ambitious young American may attain.

a Republican, of Oak Hill, was born in Jackson County, Ohio, January 25, 1854; was reared on a farm and educated in the country schools and at Worthington and Lebanon, Ohio ; taught in the public schools of Jackson County for a number of years ; was school examiner for nine years, and principal of the Oak Hill schools for fifteen years ; was elected to the fifty-sixth congress, receiving 1Q,297 votes, to 13,769 for Alva Crabtree, Democrat. On April 10, 1900, he was renominated by his party for a second term.