The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHIIICAL ENCYCLOPzEDIA.
George H. Thomas to his staff as Division Commissary, in
January, I862. He was relieved of that duty in April,
while lying sick near Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, and
was appointed senior Aide-de-camp by General Thomas ono
the evacuation of Corinth, Mississippi, in May, remaining in
that capacity and serving as Assistant Adjutant-General
under that most loved commander and faithful friend until
appointed to a position in the office of the Secretary of the
Treasury, November, I862. While in this office he wrote
uLp for the Committee on the Conduct of the War the
"ttistory of the Intercourse with the Rebellious State," from
its commencement, under the motto of Mr. Chase that,
"trade should follow the flag." Ite left Washington in
August, I863, on receipt of a telegram from Governor Tod
to return to Ohio, and was appointed Paymaster for the
troopstt called out to repel the "e Mooteae raid " and adjust
the compensation for services and supplies for the same;
was appointed'one of the Moi-,an raid Commissioners by
Governor BErough in April, i864, and made the report for
the s ame io December of that year; was commissionede by
G overn or Brough to sett le cert ain war cla im s of the State
of Ohio aiainst the United Slates, a d u ty s atisfactorily perf o rmed. He was appointed principal bookkeeper in the
Auditor of State's office in January, J865, and promoted to
the Chief Clerkship in January' 1872, to which post be was
reappointed for fou r y ear s, Ja nuary iot h, I876; w-as
appointed Assistant Secretary of the Ohio State Board of
Agriculture inl i865, to serve duria an g the absence of the secr-etary that season, in Europe; was reappointed in I866;
was elected Recording Secretary in i867, and has' fo r ten
successive year s been re-elected Recording and Financial
Secretary of tha t soc iety; he has officiated at every State
fair since I853, except three during the war. In I87o he
was chosen Treasurer of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, and has been six times re-elected to that
responsible post. In Aug,ust, I874, he was chosen a member of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, at Hartford, Connecticut. For several years he
has been one of the Trustees of the First Congregational
Church of Columbus, and Secretary of the same. Dr.
Babbitt was married, September I7th, I85o, at Worcester,
Massachusetts, to a former pupil, Harriet Maria, eldest
daughter of Sidney Smith, of Sterling, Massachusetts. Five
children (three daughters and two sons) have been born to
them; the eldest son, George Henry Thomas, graduated at
the United States Naval Academy, in June, 1875, in his
nineteenth year. In early life Dr. Babbitt was, in politics,
a Free-Soil Democrat; in religion, too liberal in his views,
to subscribe to any " creed; " later, and always a Republican, and in religion, convrincedl that liberality so called wuas
only in practice another term for license, he joined the First
Congregational Chlurch, of Columbus, Ohio, under the
ance in ail thlings," yet impulsive and radical 1)y nature,
i ISE, REV. ISAAC M., Jewish Rabbi, and Editor
of the W4roerican Isriaeite and Die Deborah, was
tborn, April 3d, I819I, in Bohemia. He was edu cated primarily in Prague, and finally in Vienna,
c graduating firom the university in the latter city in
I843. He was immediately thereafter appointed
Rabbi of a congregationi at Radnitz in Bohemia, and coiitinued there until 1846, when he resigned his pastoral charge
and sailed for the United States. On his arrival in New
York, he accepted a call to minister lo a Hebrew congregation in Albany, where he sojourned until I854, when lie
removed to Cincinnati to become Rabbi of the Temple Congregation in that city. In I855 he established the Azerican S-oaeeite, and in the following year Die Deboiah; both
of these publications have been issued uninterruptedly since,
and he still continues his position as chief editor of both.
In addition to his pastoral and editorial labors, he has
written many well-known and important works, including
the " History of Israel," I854; " Prayer Books of American
Israelites," I857; " Hymns, Psalms and Prayers," I868;
"Origin of Christianity," I868; " Judaism, its Doctrines
and Duties," 1872; "The Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth,"
I874; and "The Cosmic God," I875; the latter a fundamental, philosophic work. He has never aspired to any
political or partisan office, and declined the nomination on
the Democratic ticket, in I863, to the State Senate. He was
elected a School Trustee, and served in that capacity for six
years, and was a Trustee of Farmers' College for three years.
He has labored long and persistently for the reform moveiment among the American Hebrews, and was President of
the first Jewish conference which ever assembled in the
United States; this body met at Cleveland, Ohio, in I875.
In I873 he was elected Rabbi of a large and influential conugregation in New York city, with a salary of $Sooo per year,
bhut declined the same. He has likewise been tendered
many honorary degrees by various institutions, but has never
accepted the same. In July, 1875, hle was elected a member
of the Board of School Examiners for the city of Cincinnati;
and on August 29th of the same year was chosen President
of the Hebrew Union College of that city, in which inistitution he fills the chair of Professor of History and Philosophy. I-e was married, May 26th, I844, to Therese Block,
of Grafen'eid, Bohemia, who died in I874. As a public
orator, among the American Hebrews especially, he was
very successful, so that he was called, to deliver the public
orations on laying corner-stones, and dedicating synagogues
and other public buildings, to almost all parts of the country,
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though staid and conservative from babit, be has ever been
ready to test any innovation that gave fair promise of economy
in time or substance; hence he has been a member of such
organizations, public or secret, from his youth up, as promised amelioration for the evils of society.
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