The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.
the centre of a great city. This property was kept intact,
and divided between the five children. In I8SiS Stephen S.
L'Ilommedieu, being now twelve years old, was placed in
a store with his uncle, John C. Avery, and three yeais after
he changed to the Liberty I-Iall, where the Cinzcinznati Gazelle
was published. At that period the paper was a semi-weekly,
and dependent upon the government patronage for the postoffice and other official advertising; moreover, the paper was
"Federal" in its political leanings. In the course of years
it so continued under the able management of Charles Hammond, its editor, who had conducted the Gazetlle for some
years previous. Ill 1028 General Andrew Jackson was
elected by the popular vote President of the United States,
and the publishers of the paper having consulted with the
editor, it was determined to make the Gazelle in every respect an independent paper-not, however, what is nowo understood as neutral in politics-believing that that course
would bring a better reward than all the patronage the government had to bestow. The result showed the wisdom of
taking such an independent position. In 1829 the firm of
L'Hommedieu, Morgan & Fi:iher issued the Gazetlle as a
daily paper, commencing with only one hundred and twentyfive sublscribers, but few of whom are now living. It was
the first daily paper published west of the Allegheny mountains or the great valley of the Ohio and Mississippi-with
the exception of a small sheet that had been issued by S. S.
Brooks the year previous and had only survived but a few
weeks. The reputation of the Gazelltte from I827 to 1840,
under the principal editorial management of Charles Hammond, is well known to the public. In I848 Stephen S.
L'Hommedieu closed his connection with the Gazelltte, after
having been in its service for twenty-seven years, and was
soon after elected President of the Cincinnati, Hamilton &
Dayton Railroad Company. This corporation h ad be en
chartered in I846, with a capital of only $5oo,ooo. He reniained as the executive head of this company for a period
of twenty-two years, when he resigned his positionll, July 4th,
I87I. A few days thereafter, accompanied by his wife, he
sailed for Europe, and made an extended tour through the
variotus countries, and also visited the Holy Land. His
political faith was of the old-line Whig of the Henry Clay
school. After his retirement from the editorial management and the publication department of the Ciazcinitzati
Gavzelle he held aloof from politics; ill fact, he never sought
an office of any description. His last appearance as an
actor in any political body was at the National Convention
of I848, at Philadelphia, when General Zachary Taylor was
nominated for the Presidency, and his favorite —Henry Clay
-defeated. After the dissolution of that great party li he
acted with the Republicans, and was ever zealous in maintaiming the honor and integrity of the Union. ITis life was
one of usefilness and ceaseless activity. The period during
which he achieved his greatest success was marked with unparalleled progress. The changes that took place duiing
his recollection were wonderful to contemplate; and he con-e
GNGALLS, HION. MELVILLE EZRA, Presid ent
of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette Rail road Company, was born in Harrison, Maine,
September 6th, I842. Like the majority of the
)' boys of New England, and especially of Maine,
his education was comnmenced in the common
schools, which he attended during the long cold winters,
while in the summer time lie learned to woi-k on a farm.
This most excellent training for boys gave him' in early life
a remarkably vigorous constitution both physically and mentally. When a mere youth he presented himself to the
superintending School Committee of his town, and on an
examination received a certificate as teacher. He at once
assumed the arduous and important, though rarely appreciated, duties of the schoolmaster, which be continued to
discharge faithfully each winter for about six years. In the
meantime he fitted for college by graduating from Bridgeton
Academy. He entered Bowdoin College, but, preferring
to commenice his professional studies, did not remain to
graduate, but became a student in the Harvard Law School,
from which he graduated in I863. Early in I864 he returned to the State of Maine and opened his lawe office in
the town of Gray, having been admitted to practise at the
bar of Cumberland county. At a later period of the same
year be removed to Boston, Massachusetts, and resumed
the practice of his profession in that city. In I867 he was
elected a Senator of the Sixth Massachusetts Senatorial
District, and served one year, declining a re election which
was urged upon him. With his popularity in the Senate
his professional unork increased so rapidly that be enjoyed
a very large and profitable business until 187I, when he
left the lawv and politics and removed to Cinlcinnlati, Ohio,
to accept the receivership, and subsequent presidency, of
the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette Railroad. It ",as
an empty honor, however, as the company had failed and
was soon forced into bankruptcy. Mr. Ingalls obtained
money of the stockholders by voluntary subscriptions and
paid off the debts, and procured the release of the railroad
from litigation and the hands of the court in July, I873,.and
immediately upon the reorganization of the company was
elected President, which office he continues to hold to the
520
tributed lar,ely to the buildin, up and the extension of
Cincinnati from the little village of a few hundred inhabitants to the great city of over three hundred thousand souls.
He utiited' great pbvsical stren,th wit mental activity,
laboring industriously in the enterprises of a useful and
honorable life. He married in 183o a daughter of Charles
Hanimond, one of the earliest and most famous of Cincinnati journalists. With her be lived forty-five years, and
twelve children blessed this union. He died, May 25th,
I875, at West Point, New York, sincerely mourned by his
townsmen and numerous circle of friends and acquaintances.