The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPZEDIA.
a great variety of knowledge. Besides the diffusion of
thought and sentiment which animated his discourse, it
was enlivened by ingenious illustrations, pointed sentences,
and always seasoned by a vein of good humor, which ever
recommended him to favor and attention. Some of the
cardinal maxims which influenced the conduct of his life
-were the following: Always to speak the truth; never to
deviate from principle; and never to give any one expectations that would not be likely to be realized. Hie was
strongly opposed to speculative projects; believing that
through patience and industry was the only sure way to
happiness and prosperity. A strict and consistent moralist,
he granted little indulgence to laxity of morals in others.
i-His manners were formed in the old school of grace and
dignity. He disliked familiarity, avoided trifling conversation, and could not tolerate any violation of good manners
in others. IHe was thoroughly versed in the Scriptures and
with the history of the church, and well acquainted with
the creeds of the sects. He had an abiding confidence in
the truth of the teachings of Christ, holding His precepts to
be the supreme rule for the government of human conduct;
yet he never united with any branch of the church, as he
regarded their creeds as but substitutions for a plain selfinterpreting gospel. Concerning his domestic manners and
private life, old age never presented a more beautiful spectacle than his devotion to his wife. For many years she had
been an invalid, while he was her patient nurse, exhibiting
towards her all the tender care and solicitude which marlked
the love of his early youth. By his grandchildren he was
venerated, and indeed by all his relations within the range
of his domestic circle. Of his intimate acquaintances, those
who were his friends in his youth remained his companions
and friends in his old age. He was married in I823 to
Eliza, daughter of William Naylor, of Wooster. Ile died
January 25th, I872, after an illness of but four days. His
widow survived him but six months.
th e conviction of the leaders i n those organizations, he visited on them the extreme penalty of the law; but such was
th e st ate of public opinion that the fines imposed by him
were invariably remitted by the county commissioners. He
was one of the true disc iples o f Jefferson, who en forced,
with all the judicial s anction of the bench, the precept of
his great exemplar, that "1 Error of, opinion may be safely
tolerated wh er e reas on is left free to combat it." In the
memorable cam paig n of I84o h e was on e of the few Democrats elect ed to Co ngress from Ohio, and took his seat in
th at bo dy, March 4th, I84I. He was re-elected in I842,
thus serving in that body for four years. Such was the
sense entertained of his m erit s, that h e la ck ed but on e vote
orf bein,the choice of his Democratic friends in the I,egislatuhe for Un ited States Se na to r, when Benjamin Tappan
was chosen. Upon his retirement from Congress, he resumed the practic e of law in Wooste r, and in I852 took
into partnership his son and only child, Ezra V. Dean,
whom he had trained for the bar. This relation continued
until i865, when the son removed with his family to Ironton, Ohio, and engaged in active practice there, and where
he was joined by his father two years later. In the summer
of I870, in company with his oldest granddaughter, he
visited the battle-fields in the vicinity of Niagara Falls,
where he had stood for his country in the war of I812; and
thence he went down the St. Lawrence, and viewed the
places about Lake Champlain, Plattsburg, Burlington,
Vermont, and other scenes with which his youth had been
associated. After an absence of the summer season, during
which he carefully observed and noted all the great changes
time had wrought, he returned home ready to meet the
great change which, in the ordinary course of nature, he
was conscious he must soon experience. He kept himself
thoroughly informed as to all the great social and political
movements going on in different parts of the world, and
took a profound interest- in whatever related to the public
welfare within his own or other countries. His memory
continued fresh and accurate, so that he never lacked an
apt quotation or an illustration from history suited to the
subject of his conversation. Few men were better read in
ancient and modern history, especially in the history of
England and of his own country. His convictions were
'deep and settled in whatever he believed to be right; and
he adhered to them with a firmness and uttered them with
a boldness which neither the war of tumult could drown
nor the clanmor of opposition modify or subdue. It was the
force of these convictions which sometimes gave him the
appearance of dogmatism in conversation; yet be was most
tolerant of what he believed to be errors of opinion in
others. From the great diversity of life which he experienced in the vicissitudes of a soldier's camp, the deck of a
revenue cutter, or tracing a boundary line, the practice of
the law and its administration among a pioneer people to
that of a legislator in the Federal Congress, he had garnered
up iln the well-arranged storehouse of an unfailing memory
EITZEL, GENERAL GODFREY, was born in
e Cincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, November
Ist, I835. His preparatory education was obtained
in the common schools of his native city, and he
was a member of the senior class of the old Cen tral High School. At the age of sixteen he was,
through the influence of Hon. D. T. Disney, sent to West
Point. Ill I855 he was graduated, ranking second in a
class, of over thirty. A Brevet Second Lieutenancy in the
Corps of Engineers fell to his lot, and a year later he
became a full Second Lieutenant. In I86o he was -promoted to a First Lieutenancy, and in the spring of I863 lie
was made a Captain. From I855 to I859 he was with
P. G. T. Beauregard, as assistant in the construction and
repairs of fortifications in Louisiana, when he was relieved
and ordered to West Point as Assistant Professor of Military
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