H

ON. LUCIEN J. FENTON.-As a representative of true American principles the Republican party stands unparalleled, and the supporters of that magnificent organization are numbered among the best and most highly intellectual citizens of the country. The consummation of ideal government lies wholly with the party in power, and it has been most truthfully said that under the regime of the Republican party this nation has reached the highest altitude of perfect government, giving to the people the greatest satisfaction, and the most praiseworthy administration in the history of the country. Of the many worthy exponents in Ohio of Republican principles, none more merits representation in this compilation than does he whose name initiates this memoir, and who has in the halls of congress most fitly demonstrated his perfect allegiance to the precepts of loyal Americanism.

Lucien J. Fenton was born May 7, 1844, near Winchester, Ohio, and obtained his education in the public schools of his native county and in the Ohio University. Early in his career he began to evince a warm interest in politics, subsequently affiliating with that party which he considered most conducive to the well-being and prosperity of the country, and therefore most worthy of support. His participation with the Republican party dates from 1880, in which year he took an active part in the state, district and county conventions and became a conspicuous figure in local politics. At one time he was a candidate for clerk of Adams county, but was defeated by a small majority, that county then being overwhelmingly Democratic.

In 1888 Mr. Fenton was before the noted Gallipolis convention as candidate for congress at the time when Bundy, Thompson, Enochs and McCormick were also contesting for congressional honors, but he withdrew his name in favor of Judge Thompson. In 1893 he was again before the congressional convention as a candidate and this time withdrew in favor of Mr. Bundy. At the Republican national convention, held at Chicago in 1888, he represented his district as an alternate delegate; in the Republican national convention at Minneapolis, which nominated Harrison for the second time, in 1892, he was a delegate.

In 1894 Mr. Fenton was for the third time a candidate for congress. At the same time such men as Captain W. S. Matthews, now state superintendent of insurance, and Hon. J. K. Richards, now solicitor-general of the United States, contended for the nomination, which was accorded to Mr. Fenton at the Portsmouth convention after an animated contest.

He obtained a majority of seven thousand and a plurality of ten thousand three hundred and three votes over John O. Yates, his Democratic opponent.

In 1896 he was re-nominated and elected, this time over T. S. Hogan of Wellston, Jackson county, his majority being seven thousand votes. Mr. Fenton's record in congress reflected upon him the highest credit, and was one which displayed in a most convincing manner his public-spirited disposition. The following is an epitome of the services performed by him as a member of the house of representatives.

From the first Mr. Fenton espoused the cause of the old soldier. Always a warm friend of his late comrades in arms, when elected to congress he saw his opportunity and aided them in every honorable way open to him. His record as a member of the committee on military affairs is one of continuous activity in the labors of correcting the military records of deserving veterans of the late war, as also to see justice done to officers and enlisted men of the regular army. He was also chairman of the sub-committee on retirements from the army, an important branch of the committee on military affairs.

In the deliberations of the house on the tariff during the extraordinary session of the fifty-fifth congress Mr. Fenton took a radical and very pronounced stand for protection, giving the measure before congress his fullest support and lifting up his voice in de-. fence of its principles. During that session he introduced a bill to repeal the present civil-service law, substituting therefor examination by the heads of departments. He also introduced a bill giving all widows of soldiers an equal pension of $12 per month, a bill the objects of which elicited much praise and many promises of support.

The brilliant and versatile attainments of Lucien J. Fenton, his studious habits and inclinations and the sincere desire to do good to his fellowmen and to discharge the duties of his responsible position conscientiously without regard to personal aggrandizement, fitted him admirably as a representative of the people in the halls of congress, and from the start he was counted as one of the most painstaking and hardest workers in congress. His record is excelled only by his sincere and intense attachment to the Republican party and his unfaltering reverence for its lofty aims and principles.

of steel alloy bells, feed mills, cane mills and evaporators, which was established in 1858, and has a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. Bell is a native of Maryland, where he was born on February 7, 1829, his early education being acquired in the public schools of that state, and there he remained until 1844, moving thence to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained four years. Thence he moved to Ohio, locating in Cincinnati, which he made his home for four years. From Cincinnati he went to Springfield and later to Dayton, and in 1858 he came to Hillsboro, which he decided to make his permanent residence; and here he established his present manufacturing plant, and has guided that enterprise to a most successful issue, employing from one hundred to one hundred and twenty men, and doing a business that extends to all parts of the United States, -the result of unflagging industry, perseverance, and an honesty of purpose that has triumphantly carried him to the successful termination of a most laudable ambition.

Although neither desiring nor seeking any tangible reward for his efforts in behalf of the Republican party, Mr. Bell has been prominently allied to all its most important movements and has been unfaltering in his allegiance to its principles. He was originally an old-line Whig, and in 1856, while living in Dayton, he took an active part in the Fremont campaign, while in 1860 he was one of Lincoln's active supporters and accomplished a good deal of hard work. During the Civil war he was energetic and zealous in helping to organize troops, recruiting the men, and gave of both his time and means in looking after the families of the absent soldiers. He has represented his district and county as a delegate to the state and district conventions, he was an active participant in the Blaine campaign, working in his own quiet way and without doubt accomplishing as much as any man in the state, besides which he contributed liberally to the campaign funds. He has always been in favor of a protective tariff, the Blaine idea of reciprocity and the coinage of money on a gold basis. He does not believe in civil-service reform as it was carried out under President Cleveland, but he is a strong advocate of restricting emigration to the better class of foreigners, and he believes in a strong foreign policy and a substantial navy and good merchant marine service.

As a business man Mr. Bell is one of the best known in the county. Enterprising, well-read and thoroughly progressive, he stands pre-eminent as a resident of Hillsboro, where he has been an important factor in adding to the city's improvements, establishing new mercantile and manufacturing industries, and in many other ways increasing its interests and ad

vancing its welfare. He is interested in nearly all the business enterprises of Hillsboro, and is vice-president of the Merchants' National Bank, is a leading stockholder in the McKeehan Hiestand Grocery Company, the principal wholesale grocers in this section of Ohio, and he erected and is the owner of the new Hillsboro Opera House. He is also a stockholder in a bank at Houston, Texas. Mr. Bell's sagacity, wide experience and exceptional mental attainments are recognized by his fellow citizens, who frequently seek his wise counsels on matters of both business and political import, and to whom he is always ready and willing to render any assistance in his power.

Mr. Bell was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Roberts, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the following children have been born to them: Charles E.; Alice M., now Mrs. L. B. Boyd; Cora E.; John D., deceased; and Clara May. C. E. is vice-president and treasurer of the C. S. Bell Company. Mr. Bell and his family are prominent in the social circles of their community, and enjoy the good will and high esteem of their many friends.

H

ON. DAVID L. SLEEPER.-In the distinctive honors which have been conferred upon the subject of this review by the Republican party in Ohio, there has been a reflex honor of tantamount importance granted to the commonwealth in whose governmental affairs he has been thus intimately concerned through the suffrage of his constituents. As a man of high intellectual and professional attainments he has attained prestige as a practitioner at the bar of the state, while his probity of character has retained to him the confidence and respect which are equally essential elements of any success worthy the name. He has recently entered upon the practice of his profession in the capital city of the state, and here his known reputation as an attorney and as a legislator has already established him in a comfortable and remunerative practice, with a distinctly representative clientage.

Mr. Sleeper is a native of the state of Iowa, where he was born on the 15th of June, 1856. He secured his preliminary education in the public schools, after which he effectively supplemented this discipline by taking a course of study at the Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio. He then put his acquirements to practical use and incidentally made use of that stepping-stone which has figured so largely in the careers of the professional men of the Union, by engaging in school-teaching, a vocation to which he devoted his attention during an interval of five years, having in the meantime given a clear definition to the course which

it was his ambition to pursue in life. He had determined to adopt the profession of the law, and with this end in view he had devoted his leisure moments to a careful reading along this technical line, eventually matriculating in the law school at Cincinnati, where he graduated in the class of 1880. Thus reinforced he forthwith entered upon the active practice of his profession at Athens, Ohio, entering upon his work with the advantages of a liberal education and a natural adaptation to his chosen calling. With a strong and vigorous intellect and with a mature judgment he soon distinguished himself as a conscientious and capable adviser, while his care and conservatism in reaching conclusions were noticed early in his career, as was also the fact that he was seldom in error in his constructions of law or in applying it to cases at the bar. He was identified with much of the important litigation in the courts of Athens county during the years of his residence there, while his zeal and able advocacy of the cause of the Republican party soon brought him into prominence in the connection as an eligible candidate for positions of public trust and responsibility. In 1885 Mr. Sleeper was elected prosecuting attorney of his county, and the satisfactory nature of his service in this important capacity is vouched for in the fact that he was retained in the office consecutively until 1891. He was for five years a member of the executive committee of the Ohio Republican League, and was vice-president of the same in the year 1891.

In 1893 Mr. Sleeper became the Republican candidate for representative from Athens county in the state legislature, being victorious at the polls and taking his seat as a member of the seventy-first general assembly, in which he proved a wise and discriminating legislator,,serving as chairman of the judiciary committee, his record in this connection being such as to bring about his re-election as a member of the seventy-second assembly, which body conferred upon him the distinguished preferment as speaker of the house, his party having unanimously nominated him for that position. His tact, unfailing courtesy, quick discernment and thorough knowledge of parliamentary usages made him a most acceptable and popular presiding officer, and at the close of the session he received the unanimous thanks of the members for his fairness and courteous treatment of all. In March, 1896, Mr. Sleeper took up his residence in Columbus, where he is already retained by a very representative class of clients, his further prestige being amply assured, as the result of his ability and high honor as a man among men. In his fraternal associations he has become a member of the various Scottish-Rite bodies in the Masonic order and the Mystic Shrine, is identified

with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

The marriage of Mr. Sleeper was celebrated November 7, 1877, when he was united to Miss Della Burson, of Athens county. They are the parents of two sons and three daughters.

OHN H. DEVEREUX, Cleveland, Ohio.-The

reputation achieved by the late J. H. Devereux

as a railroad manager was national; and yet it was not alone because he stood in a high position that he was widely recognized the country over, and honored and admired wherever known. Much of his fame arose from the fact that as he stood in a great light before the public gaze, no flaw or blemish was found upon him. He carried to his labors a noble manhood and exalted Christian character that manifested themselves through his works and became a source of public benefit. He proved to the world that one could command the highest success in a business career and at the same time be true to himself, his Christian principles and those whose interests had been lodged in his hands. A life like his is, indeed, well worth looking into.

Nature and ancestry combined to give General Devereux a noble mental and physical equipment for the work he was destined to do in the world. He came of the best New England stock, and his family line can be traced directly to the Norman conquerors of England. His ancestors were among those who purchased the town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, from the Indians in 1684. His father was Captain John Devereux, of the merchant marine. He was born in Boston, on April 5, 1832, and early gave promise of a hardy independence of character, added to an upright mind and a brain of unusual quality. He received a thorough education at the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Academy, and as early as 1848, when but sixteen years of age, came to Cleveland, then considered in the far west, to test the powers of his own resources, and to make his way in the world. His courage, energy and ambition were beyond his years, but even then he never undertook a task without seeing that all its requirements were fulfilled; and no responsibility that was laid upon him was ever neg. lected or betrayed. He commenced life at the lower grade of the profession in which he was afterward to command such success, and on the very line which he was afterward to control as president, engaging as construction engineer on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad. His labor was of the thorough kind and his advance certain. On the completion of the line he obtained similar employment on the Cleve