The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPfEDIA.
feated. Ill I836 he married Maria Louisa Allen, of Cincinnati, who died in 1847.' In I849 he married Lida S.
Stilwell, who is still living.
' the education he acquired. He had been reared to hard
work, and chopped wood; when but twelve years old, his
usual task was one cord per day. When sixteen years old
hlie went to work in his brother-in-law's foundry (King's),
where he remained two years, acquiring a knowledge of the
mechanical part of the business. He next was engaged at
Coffin & Dennis' foundry, at Ithaca Falls, and at the end of
two years, having had his wages gradually advanced from
seventy-five cents per day to one dollar and seventy-five
cents, he was appointed foremnan ly the fiim, and placed ill
charge of their foundry and machiue-shop, at what was then
considered a high salary, fifty dollars per month. He contihau ed in thi s c apacity for about eight years, enjoying the
entire confidence of th e fi rm, and originating many valuable
improvements in the equipping and running of t heir various
worlks, refusing at one time to receive full pa y, dur ing a
season "h,en their busin es s was unusu ally dull, being contented with forty dol lars pe r month. While foreman, about
!830, he conceive d th e idea of a co ncave mould-board plow,
instead of the convex for m then in use; and had some made
and sold of this new pattern. They rapidly came into use,
and the invention became public property, as he had neglected to apply for a patent; and no plow man ufa cturer has
bee n a ble t o monopolize that feature since. He is gifted
with an innate mechanical ingenuity, and at that time was
recognized as a skilful and energetic manager. He was
both industrious and economical, and made his home with
his parents, assuming the burden of their support when
helpless from disease. In I836, having saved about three
thousand dollars, besides owning a good house and lot, he
decided to go into business for himself. His attention was
attracted towards the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania,
then beginning to be systematically worked, and he went to
the Beaver Meadow region to start a foundry, and removed
thither with his family. He was proposing to associate one
of his brothers in business as a paitner, and intrusted him
with the greater part of his money, to purchase ironi, etc.
Through the misconduct of his brother the funds were all
lost, and he was left almost without resources. Determined,
however, to carry out his enterprise, he succeeded in starting a small foundry, run by horse power, and very soon was
doing a profitable business in making car-wheels, and doing
other work for the coal companies. He remained there only
about two years, when, having an opportunity to sell his
foundry to good advantage, he returned to Ithaca. While
at Beaver Meadows be made a very important improvement
in car-wbeels, casting tlhem with a solid hub-instead of the
former mode of casting in twco sections-and for which be
was granted letters patent, March ioth, I 838. Honi.
Samuel D. Ingham, for some time Secretary of the Treasury
under the Jackson admninistration, was then the president of
the Beavier Meadow and ttazleton Coal Company, and undertook to contest his claim to this invention, and a long
and expensive series of litigations flas the result. Mr.
Mooers was engaged in defending his claim for between two
RANGER, N MOSES M., Lawyer, was bor n in
w gZanesville, Ohio, on October 22d, I83I, and is
the second son of his fath er, who was born in
Suffield, Con nectic ut. Hsis mo ther was a native
of St. Clairsville, Ohio. He o bta in ed h i s educa tion c by attend ance at public and private scho ols
huntil I846, whe n h e started to attend TKenyon College,
wh ere he s graduated in i850. Shortly after leaving college
he cobrithenced the study of law with Judg e C... Congn ers,
and was admi tted to the bar on Ja nuary 4th, I853. Entering upon practice he gradually acquire d a good business.
On the outbreak of the w ar he proffered his s ervices in the
U nion cau se, a nd entered the r army as Captain of th e I8th
Ukitenu States Infantry. He became Major of the I22d
Ohio Volunteers on Septe mber ioth, I862; was promoted
to be Lieutenant-Colonel of the same on May ist, I863; aind
on Octob er igth, i864, the day on whbich the battle of Cedar
Creek was fought, was brevetted Colonel of United States
Volunteers. He resigned his commission on December
I6th, I864. In April of the following year he became City
Solicitor of Z-nesville, and Prosecuting Attorney of Muskingum county in January, i866. He was chosen Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas; entered on the duties of the
position on December ioth, I866, and resigned on October
9th, I87 I. He married Mary H. Reese, daughter of General William J. Reese, of Lancaster, Ohio, whose mother
was a sister of General Sherman.
OOERS, HENRY, Iron Founder, was born,
Oct ober 2Ist, I8o6, in the town of Lansing,
Cc near Ithaca, Tompkins county, N ew Y ork. His
fathe r was a native of New Jer sey, and a m iller
?o Iby t rade. He remo ved to Cayuga county, when
Itenry was about five years old, and operated a
grist mill, in the town of Genoa, for about two years. ie
thvesses, etc. After passing about a yearm, in that then known, ashe de "Crocker Land," in Tompkins county, where be remained
for about three years, and thence proceeded, with his family,
to the neighborhood of Kingston, Canada, where be manag,ed a grist-mill for about one year, and thence moved into
;Kingston, where be obtained employment in unloading
vessels, etc. After passing about a year in that town, be decided to return to New York, and stopped a year at Sodus
Bay, near Owego. Finally, the family returned and settled
in Ithaca, where the parents afterwards died. Henry passed
two years in working in summer on a farm, and attending
the school (Iitriiig the willter em()lths, this being al)out all
586
.4
so