The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP_EDIA.
the public schools of his native place. In I848 he entered
the Capitol University, where he remained as a student
during the ensuing three years. He then began the study
of medicine under the instruction of his father, with whom
he read until death carried off his preceptor, in I852.
Later, he entered the Starlinig College, and graduated from
that institution in I855. He then commenced the practice
of his profession where his father had labored for a period
extending over twenty years, and at the present time possesses in the capital an extensive and lucrative business.
For three years, I869-70-7i, he held the position of Physician and Surgeon to the Franklin County Infin-mary, At
the present time he is Physician and Surgeon of the Ohio
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumbl. In politics, he is strongly
attached to the Republican party. He was married, August
I9th, I856, to Minerva I. Smeltzer, of Zanesville, Ohio.
tireless student, and now, at the age of sixty-two years, is a
profound scholar, a man of valuable and v aried literary
and ge neral k nowl edg e, and one of the ablest preachers of
the Disciple Church. In I856 and I857 h e served as a
memb e r of the Ohio House of Representatives, fronm Richland count y, the only Repdtlthican eve r elected to the House
from this county. He wa s one of the first three Absolitionists of his county, and from the earliest days of the antislavery cause was one of its most ardent and fearless supporters. He has always taken an active part in the political
movements of the day, and is widely recognized as a valuable ally by those to whom he offers the assistance of his
sterling abilities. From the fall of I86I to the spring of
I863 he served in' tie United States army as Chaplain of
the 65th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel
Harker, who fell at Kenesaw Mountain, in the division
commanded by General Wood. Colonel Harker was a.
Brigadier-General when he fell. Mr. Burns has probably
held more public debates on religious topics than any other
living preacher in the West, and to the support of his
views and arguments brings a formidable store of natural
talents and masses of knowledge bearing directly and
heavily upon the points held under consideration. He has
preached for forty years, and travelled and preached in
twenty-four States of the Union. He now resides at
Chagrine Falls, Cuyahoga county, Ohio.
ehOOMIS, WILLIAM B., Lawyer and ex-judge ofti
b the Seventh Judicial District, Marietta, Ohio,
Ce) n ied was born in New London, Connecticut, on Feb rualy Ist, 1837. His parent s twer e natives of
the s New Engla nd, and the family date their resi dence in this country two hundred an d f ifty years
)ack, o rig in ally having come from England. in I 840
Chris top her C. Loomis, the father of the sbj ect e of thise d o e rsketch, emig rated to Ohi o and engaged in the mercantile
bu siness. W illiam B. Loomi s a tt ended the Marietta Acadeilny, an d f inis hed his education at the'Marietta High
School. After leaving school he assisted in the mercantile
business, but only for a few months, when he was employed
in th e Clerk's of fice of this county, and while there.began
the study of law, and in 1857 was admitted to the bar.
Leaving odh of ie hee Co ty Clerks offic e he engaged in the practice of h is profession, in which he has always been employed" when not on the bench. In I868 he was elected
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and District Court,
which position he filled until I873, his time then having
expired. He is now engaged in the practice of his profession, and is the senior member of the firm of Loomis,
Alban & Oldham, of Marietta, where they enjoy a large
and lucrative practice. He was married in I86o to
Frances Wheeler, of Marietta.
fel ARGENT, EDWARD, ret ired Publisher, was born
in Philadelphia, Itennsylvainia, April 2d, I820.
B H is fathe r was R ev. Drn Thomas Sargent, of
i F reder ick county, Maryland. InfI832 he came
with his ADE father s family to Cincinnati, where
he has sin c e resided. In I833 his father died,
and at that ear ly age he was compell ed to begin the business of life for himself. This he did by entering the
Met h odis t Book Concatern as a clek. Here a nd in the
employ of Mann & Clark, wholesale groce rs, h e remained
until 184I, Frorm 84I to I845 he engaged in river commerce, as cle rk and part owner of the steamer Queen of
the West." This boat operated on the Ohio and Mississippi, running from Cincinnati to New Orleans. This
adventure not proving altogether satisfactory, and a new
field offering, he entered the book publishing house of W.
B. Smith & Co. This firm was then, in a small way, publishing "Ray's Aritlhmetics" and "McGuffey's Readers."
After seventeen years' connection with this house it was
dissolvedl, in I862, and succeeded by that of Sargent,
Wilson & Hinkle. By reason of impaired health Mr.
Sargent retired from this house and active business to his
home at East Walnut Hills in I868. The house of Sargent, Wilson & Hilikle became the largest and most successful school-book publishing establishment in the world;
and, although the world has been scarcely cognizant of the
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URNS, REV. ANDREW, father of Hon. Andrew
M. Burns, was born in Berks county, near Read ing, Pennsylvania, in the year I813, July 24tb,
and is of Scotcb-li-ish extraction. While still a
small lad, in I82o, be emigrated with his father's
family to Richland county, Ohio, then a wildern ess. With limited means originally for obtaining an
education, he has been tbrou,bout his life a close and