The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP.EDIA.
party unitil I872, when he sympatiized wirith the reform of that communion he has been much before the public as
movement which culminated in the Cincinnati Conveution;
but being dissatisfied with the action of that convention,
retired, after delivering a speech in St. Louis, in which the
grounds of his opposition to General Schurz and others wered
stated.
a lecturer on Sunday-school and other moral andc religious topics. He has also written largely and with marked
ability for various periodicals of the church. His contributions of illustrated black-board lessonis for Sunday-schools,
with original designs by himself, to the early volumes of the
"Golden Hours" will be remembered as a leading feature
of that magazine as long as they were continued. In I846
h e was married to Sarah A., daughter of Rev. L. Swormstedt, widely known as Senior Agent for many years of the
Methodist Book Concern, Cincinnati. Three sons and two
d a ughter s are the fruit of this happy and congenial union.
Their home is at Mt. Washington, one of the beautiful suburlban villa.es for which Cincinnati is so justly celebrated.
The family residence is a noble mansion surrounded b)y a
charming park of many acres of very great natural beauty,
but which, uender the liberal and artistic cultivation of the
proprietor, has become a most charmin g and e legant villa.
Not the le a s t attractive feature of the establishment i s the
library, an unusually large anld ell-selected one, embracing
a very wide range of subjects. Here Mr. Wolff delights to
spend hi s leisure hours, being still an enthusiastic student
of the sciences, la nguages, and genera l literature; a fact
which goes far t o account for the freshness, elasticity a nted
vig or of his mental faculties at anc a ge w hee many business
men begin to show symptoms of decline. He has been
throughout his life a w arm, earnest f riend to young men
wh o were struggling to mak e the i r way in life and carve
out their own fortunes. His own example, h-owever, care fully studied, is worth far more to such than any pecuniary
assistance could be. It illustrates what energy, pluck and
perseverance can accomplish in a country ine wh ich there is
no royal road to eminence in any department of life. It
shows how a stainless character tells in the long run on
even business success. It proclaims aloud in the ears of
young men especially the importance of good personal
habits-hal)its of temperance, regularity, frugality. It also
proves that Chr-istian activity is no hindei-ance but rather a
help to diligence and success in business. It shows how a
life devoted to wvell-doinig in earnest labors for the good of
mankind may be one at the same time of great enterl,,rises.
It is in short an example that may well inspire in young
men increasing faith in the Divine saying, " Them that
honor me, I will honor,"-a law as absolute and unvarying
as that which regulates the rising and setting of the sun.
OLFF, CHARLES H., Wholesal e Dry-Goods Mer chant, was born in Lippe Detmold, Prussia, in
I824. His pare n t s, w aho wer e well educated and
highly respectable people, emigrated with their
family to America and settled at WindIsor, Canada,
opl)p)site Detroit, Michigan, where Charles enjoyed
the advantages of a good classical academy, and was also
for some time under the instruction of a private tutor. He
made ralpidl progress in his studies, and laid a good foulndation for the thorough I,:nowled,,e lie afterwards gained
through self-culture cf the English, German, and French
languages and mathematics; for, although at the head of
a great business establishment from a very early period of
his life, he has always found time by a judicious use of spare
moments to prosecute scientific and literary studies. In
biblical learning especially, embracing history, chronology,
geographb,k and doctrines, few laymen have made such progress. For twenty-five years he has taught and is still
teaching one of the largest Bible classes ever organized in
the State, and with such marked success and wide repittation that he was three times in succession elected President
of the Ohio State Sunday-School Association, an organization embracing all the evangelical denominations of the
Stat e. I n t his pos ition Mr. Wolff g ain ed a most enviable
reputation as sa presiding officer. His firmness, promptness,
and great executive talents, together with a thorough knowledge of rules of order, com bined to m ak e him remarlkaably
successful and efficient as the chai r meta n i of a large d aeliberative bodcy. Under his len-d, du ring this period of three
years, the w ork of organization for the promoti on of Sundayschool interests was carried on wiith an enthusiasm throughout the State unknown before or since. At the age of fifteen
he came to Cincinnati and was employed as a clerk in a
clry-g,oods house, where he rose so rapidly in the confidence
and esteem of his employers that, at the end of two years, the
firm honored him with their pow,ier of attorney, and from
that time he conducted the entire business correspondence
of the house. In his twentieth year he was admitted as a
partner, and soon after laid the foundations of what is now
one of the leading wholesale dry-goods houses of the West.
lThe firm is now composed of the brothers Charles H.,
George H., Alfi-ed, and William F. Wolff, 13i and I33
Race street, Cincinnati. In I840, when but sixteen years
old, Mr. Wolff became a member of the_ Methodist Episcopal Chui-ch, and has always taken an active interest in the
affairs of the denomination, esp ecially in educational and
Suniday-school ~i'orl. As a leading representative layman
85.
II,I,TAMS, EI,KANAH, A. M., M. D., Opbtbal niolo ist, was ,orn in Lawrence county, Indiana,
9
December ig'tb, 182-2. Ilis father, Captain' Isaac
Williams, was a soldier under General. acksoii
in the war of ISI2. I-le was one of the early
settlers of t'le State of Indiana, and one of hcr
most esteemed and wealthy farmers. Ilis motbcr was a