William Glenn
Though almost a quarter of a century has passed since William Glenn was called to his final rest, he is still remembered by many of Cincinnati’s older residents as one of its most respected and influential citizens. He passed away on the 17th of July 1887, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, after nearly seventy years of active business life in Cincinnati. A pioneer merchant of this city, he was the head and founder of the well-known house of William Glenn & Sons, which became the largest mercantile concern in the Ohio valley. His birth occurred in Guilford county, North Carolina, on the 13th of March 1800. He came of Scotch ancestry, the first representatives of the family in this country taking up their abode in North Carolina prior to the Revolution, in which conflict several of the name participated with marked distinction. William Glenn lost his father when quite young and soon afterward accompanied his mother and sister to the wilds of the then almost unknown west. For several years they made their home on a farm near Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, and then removed to Dearborn county, Indiana, settling on a wooded tract a few miles north of the present town of Aurora. The country was wild and the Indian had not yet disappeared, the blockhouse still remaining a necessary protection. It was a courageous step for Mrs. Glenn and her two children to attempt life in that new country, but she possessed a high degree of unconquerable resolution. A cabin was built of logs cut from their own forest, and in this humble abode they began a life, which involved great labor and hardships for years. Upon our subject, a boy of sixteen years, rested responsibilities which sturdy manhood alone should bear---a mother and a sister to provide for, with only primitive nature’s sources from which to draw. Nothing daunted he went to work, splitting rails, building fences, stables and cribs, plowing, planting and gathering, so that each recurring autumn found the little family with sufficient stores to last until the succeeding harvest. But he had a higher ambition. His opportunities for education, limited as they were, had been sufficient to incite in him a keen appreciation of the value of learning, and he resolved to lose no chance for acquiring more. When the day’s toil was ended the evening found him by a blazing fire of hickory, poring over a volume from his own scant library or borrowed from that of a distant neighbor, for books were treasures then in that new country and not regarded as absolutely necessary by the hardy pioneer so earnestly engaged in conquering the forest to provide a home for his family. A love for the systematic study of the English language manifested itself early in his literary pursuits, and he soon acquired a reputation for scholarship in that direction. He became noted for his proficiency in grammar and for several years, during the winter months, he devoted himself to giving lessons and lecturing upon that subject. Cincinnati, Covington, Newport and other places were chosen for his efforts in that way and many poor young men gratefully availed themselves of his instructions. His lectures met with favorable comment in the Cincinnati Gazette, then under the direction of the distinguished Charles Hammond. Far from him then was the thought that in subsequent years the columns of the same paper would be open to the brilliant contributions of one of his own sons, and that he and that son would be among its principal owners. Finding, at the age of twenty-five years, that the labors and exposures of pioneer life were telling upon his health, he took the small capital he had acquired by his lectures and engaged in business, first in Wilmington, afterward in Dillsboro and then in Aurora, Indiana. About eleven years of his life were thus spent with a fair degree of success. During these years he made frequent trips to New Orleans on both steam and flatboats, carrying cargoes of produce for sale and acquiring considerable note as a river trader.
At this time, there being an evident opening for a steam packet between Cincinnati and Rising Sun, Indiana, he promptly sold out his business, bought the steamboat Fashion, entered the trade and succeeded so well that he was induced to extend his trips to Madison, Indiana. He was really the pioneer in what afterward became an important packet trade. He subsequently commanded the William R. McKee, in the same line, and during his four years of river life was regarded as a capable and popular commander. It was during this time that he moved his family to Cincinnati and, after relinquishing his packet interests, decided to engage in merchandising here. In so doing he laid the foundation of the business house which was long regarded as the leading establishment of its kind in the west. The modest beginning, with limited means, was at the northwest corner of lower Market and Sycamore Streets. Five years of marked success there induced Mr. Glenn to erect a larger building at the northwest corner of Second and Walnut Streets, where ten years more of prosperity followed, and the firm had attained a position and reputation equal to the best. Then followed the building of the solid and extensive stores on Vine Street. They were the acknowledged leaders in the grocery trade, doing a business amounting to millions annually and possessing a trade extending for hundreds of miles in every direction. They had reason for some feeling of satisfaction in view of the reputation, confidence and credit which by their prudence, energy and honorable dealing they had built up in the commercial world. Four years after the establishment of the house Mr. Glenn admitted two of his sons, Joseph and James M., to a partnership, and the firm name became William Glenn & Sons. A few years later Joseph Glenn withdrew and became directly interested in the ownership and management of the Cincinnati Gazette, a relation which he maintained until his death, in 1874. Upon the withdrawal of Joseph Glenn, Richard Dymond, Mr. Glenn’s son-in-law, became a member of the firm. Subsequently a younger son, Omar T. Glenn was admitted, continuing until 1886, when he withdrew.
During Mr. Glenn’s mercantile life he took an active interest in all that related to the prosperity of his adopted city. Seeing the great benefit that Cincinnati would derive from direct communication with the south, he became one of the earliest advocates of a southern railroad, exerting himself in the effort to raise a bonus fund of one million dollars to offer to any company that would build such a line and heading the subscription himself with a large sum. Although his effort failed, it was a seed sown which soon ripened into a general demand for a direct connection with the vast and growing south, culminating finally in the construction of the Cincinnati Southern Railway. He was of the company leasing this road after its completion and was an active director therein, continuing as such until its transfer to the Erlanger syndicate. Mr. Glenn felt amply repaid for his long continued efforts in this behalf of the triumphant consummation of this great work, so creditable to the energy and enterprise of Cincinnati. He was also connected with the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad in its commencement, being a director when the line reached no farther than Seymour, Indiana and lacked both money and credit to go farther. He, however, continued to urge its continuation to Vineennes, where it would meet the West Branch and thus form a through line, opening up the rich valley of the Wabash and the fertile plains of Illinois to the trade of Cincinnati, and finally as its president concluded the contract with the syndicate which soon thereafter added the necessary link, thus uniting Cincinnati with St. Louis and the far west. He was also a director in the Marietta and Cincinnati road during its earlier existence, not for a moment wavering in his belief that it would ultimately prove a most valuable connection to Cincinnati. His faith was fully justified by the final consolidation of that line with the great Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Mr. Glen was one of the first to see the benefits that would follow from the national banking law and, in connection with Louis Worthington and others, organized the First National Bank of Cincinnati. The perfection of the organization was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Worthington and himself. He served as a director of this noted bank for many years, until impaired health and a desire for foreign travel caused him to resign. He was likewise a director in the Union Central Life Insurance Company and president of the Hammond Building Company. For years he was a leading stockholder and director in the Cincinnati Gazette Company and was also one of the principal owners in the Commercial Gazette. Before his death he was the oldest living member of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and was elected an honorary life member of that body several years prior to his demise.
On the 17th of April 1825, in Dearborn county, Indiana, William Glenn and Alice Miller were married by the Rev. James H. Jones. On the 17th of April 1875, they were living to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of that event. Their hospitable home was crowded by those who came to offer their warmest congratulations and the occasion was one that was long and pleasantly remembered by all who were present. Four of their children and twelve of their grandchildren witnessed the golden wedding
Both Mr. and Mrs. Glenn were earnest, consistent Christians, belonging to the St. Paul Methodist Episcopal church and giving largely and constantly to its support. In the upbuilding of churches, the establishing and support of missions, in the cause of temperance and in all other good works they were ever among the most active workers and generous givers. Mr. Glenn was president of the board of trustees of St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church, to the support of which he is said to have contributed over sixty thousand dollars. He was a delegate to the Law and Order Convention held at Columbus in March, 1882, serving as a member of the committee which prepared the forcible resolutions adopted by that noted assembly, composed of able and excellent men from all parts of the state. Amid the cares and responsibilities of a long and active business life Mr. Glenn yet found time for the gratification of a fondness for books and travel. He was a close student and keen observer of passing events, keeping himself well informed in all things pertaining to the literature and politics of the day. He traveled extensively, visiting Europe several times, and as a result acquired a great store of practical knowledge and valuable experience, making business and social intercourse with him highly instructive and agreeable. Until within a week of his death, although in the eighty-eighth year of his age, he attended to business regularly and seemed as spry and active as most men not half his age. In his death Cincinnati lost one of her noblest men, whose entire life had been one of determination, energy of purpose and of the most exalted moral worth. It is am important public duty to honor and perpetuate as far as possible the memory of an eminent citizen—one who by his blameless and honorable life and distinguished career reflected credit not only upon his city and state but also upon the whole country. Through such memorials as this at hand the individual and the character of his services are kept in remembrance and the importance of those services acknowledged. His example in whatever field his work may have been done thus stands as an object lesson to those who come after him and, though dead, he still speaks. Long after all recollection of his personality shall have faded from the minds of men, the less perishable record may tell the story of his life and commend his example for imitation.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III by Rev. Charles Fredric Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912