The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA.
1822. After serving two sessions he declined a re-election,
and devoted himself to his land business. In 1830 he was
elected Governor of Ohio, and on the expiration of his
term was again a candidate for Congress. Losing the election, he quit politics. In June, 1830, he was badly injured
by an accident, and never recovered. His physical and
mental powers declined, though hle lingered several years.
He died about the year 1838. lie was a hospitable man,
but close in business transactions. His life was an example of what an iron will can accomplish. From the ol)scurity of a backwoodsman hle rose to the highest office in
the gift of the people of Ohio. His last residence was
known as "Fruit Hill," near Adena, Ross county. He
was the father-in-law of Hon. William Allen, ex-Governor
of Ohio.
borough under the preceptorship of the late Judge John W.
Price. He read assi duously for som e two years, and after
a most thorough and searching examination was admitted
to the bar on December 23s c, I833. He imnediately
ope ned a n office i n Hillsborough, and remained there abou t
nine months in the practice of hi s profession. As there
seemed, however, to be a paucity of c lient s, he removed to
West Union, in Adams county, in October, i834, and there
formed a legal copar tner s hip with S amuel Brush, and entered upon his professional duties forthwith. The partnership lasted but a single year, yet he continued at West
Union, and was ver y successful, he havin g a large and
lucrative practice during the twfelve years he resided there.
During thi s p eriod he was e lected a repres ent ative to the
General Assembly, and serve d in that body during the
session of I837-38. Owing to clim a tic i nflue nces, biy which
his health became somewhat impai red, h e left Nest U nion
in I846 and returned to Hillsborough, wher e he has ever
since resided, en g age d in the control of an extens ive legal
practice, and is now the leading as well as the senior memI)er of the bar of Highland county. In I850 he represented
the district composed of Br-ouwnl, Higlhland, Adams, and
Clermont counties, in the Thirty-second Congress. During
his term of servic6 in that body he was conspicuous for his
opposition to the land swindles at that time being initiated.
He defended the action of the committee appointed to investigate the slanders aspersing the character of Governor
and Senator Thomas Corwin, with reference to the celebrated " Gardner claims " an investigation influenced
strongly by Nelson Barrere, and which exonerated Governor
Corwin from its charges, and, so far as the action of Congress was concerned, was decisive and satisfactory. He
has been intimately identified, more or less, with all the
public enterprises affecting the interests of his native county,
and has ever been conspicuous for public spirit. In political belief he is now a Democrat, and his first vote was
polled for Henry Clay. His religious faith is that taught
by the Methodist Church. He is most agreeable and
courteous in manners, and his private character is unimpeachable. He has ever been an energetic and industrious
worker, a safe and reliable counsellot, and a persevering
and successful advocate. He has never been married.
o ARRERE, HON. NELSON, Lawyer, was born,
April Ist, i8o8, at New Market, then the county seat of Highland county, and is the seventh of
twelve children whose parents were George W.
and A bigail (Mills) Barrere. His father was a
native of what is now Wheeling, West Virginia;
but when he was born-March i6th, I770-it was known
as Red Stone Fort. He followed agricultural pursuits
mainly through life, although for some years he devoted
particular attention to surveying and trading. He removed
to Highland county in I803, and was the first Deputy Surveyor in the military district of which Highland county
formed a part. He held various public offices during his
long residence there, having been a Justice of the Peace for
many years, a member of the Ohio Senate for nine years,
and was one of th e Associate Judges for fourteen years.
Ile had been in the Indian wars from I79I to I795; he
was present at St. Clair's defeat, and was under General
Wayne at the battle of Fallen Timber. He also participated in ts he rared of I82, and witnessed the surrender of
H ull. H e was prominently identified with the various
public enterprises of Hi ghland cou nty until his death,
which occurr ed October 3Ist, 1829. Nelson's mother was
a native of Fleming county, Ke ntucky, a d aught er of Thomias
Mills, an early pioneer of that co d u nty, the n known as Mason
county. HI e b uil t Mills S tat ion, an early Indian fort.
N elson was early taught industrious habits; he worked on
a farm until he was eighteen years old, going to school
dur thi in ter months. Hetn ae a year the cmn passed a year at the
leigh School of Hillsborough, and in I827 enter ed the
freshman class of Augusta College, Kentucky, a prominent
institution of learning at that time, and whose graduates are
numbered amiong some of the most distinguished gentlemen
of Kentucky and Ohio. He graduated firom that institution
in I83o, having by extra study completed the whole course
of four years in three years and a half. He was enabled to
effect this by studying through vacation. After a year of
leisure he commenced, in I83I, the study of law in Hills
I
482
a 11
MITH, CHARLES, President of the Trumbull
National Bank, Warren, Ohio, was I)orn, August
I2tb, IS03, in Washington county, New York
State, and is a son of, justice and Charlotte
(Delemater).Smith. He accompanied his parents
-",ben they removed to Ohio, in isii, and settled
in the town of Warren, where his father purchased a saw
and grist mill property. Charles'received his education at
the common school of Warren. When be was fourteen
years old, together with an elder brother, be took the con