My Genealogy Hound

HON. JACOB KREIDER MOWER, formerly a member of the Ohio Legislature, is one of the able attorneys of Clark County and one whose sound common sense and ripe judgment have given him a good position among his brethren of the legal fraternity. A man whose integrity is beyond question, he is one who has the rare faculty of being the same to all, high and low, rich and poor, never prides himself upon his success in life but is ever ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate. He has a thorough knowledge of his profession, has achieved an enviable reputation as a lawyer, is skillful as a cross examiner and successful in presenting his case before a jury. In social and business circles he is a general favorite and no man in the city of Springfield has a circle of warmer or more disinterested friends. He has for the past two years been President of the Clark County Bar Association.

The subject of this notice was born in Franklin County, Pa., April 4, 1833, and is the son of George and Mary (Kreider) Mower. The latter is the daughter of John and Barbara (Schmidt) Kreider and the grand-daughter of the Rev. Martin Kreider of the United Brethren Church. His paternal grandparents were George and Eve (Leitig) Mower who spent their last years in Pennsylvania. George Mower was a native of Pennsylvania and a farmer by occupation, an honest and reliable man of decided views and opinions who was first a Whig, politically, later a member of the Free Soil party and finally identified himself with the Republican party. He departed this life at the old homestead in Richland County, in 1855.

The subject of this notice was the youngest in a family of eight children and came to Ohio with his parents in the spring of 1834, they settling on a farm near the village of Ontario, Richland County. The education of Jacob K., which had been begun at a schoolhouse called the “quail trap” near his home, was continued at the High School at Massillon, the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware and the Ohio State University at Athens. He was graduated from the latter in 1856, receiving the degree of A. B. Soon afterward he became Superintendent of the public schools at Athens, and in the meantime employed his leisure hours in the reading of law to such good advantage that he was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1858, having studied in the office of Leonidas Jewett. In December, that year, he took up his residence in Springfield where he has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession and for five years operated with a partner under the firm name of Mower & Rawlins. He served as City Solicitor in 1868-69 and was a member of the Board of Education from 1873 to 1878. In the meantime he became prominent in local politics and was finally elected to represent Clark County in the Ohio Legislature, serving in 1870-71.

Mr. Mower cast his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 1856. He was always an ardent anti-slavery man and in his youth piloted many a fugitive from his home in Richland to Oberlin, which was then a safe harbor for those who were endeavoring to escape from bondage. Mr. Mower is a firm believer in the equal rights of all without regard to race, color or sex, and believes the greatest evil of this country is the disfranchisement of a majority of its citizens — and those of the best class. It is therefore not surprising that when a member of the Legislature, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Woman Suffrage. Further, he claims that the tariff should not be a party question, but that each representative in Congress should be free to act so as to protect the industries and interests of the citizens of his own locality.

The marriage of the Hon. Jacob K. Mower and Miss Eunice M. Rice occurred December 2, 1858, at the bride’s home in Hillsboro, Ohio. Mrs. Mower was born March 2, 1833, at a farmhouse in Ames Township, Athens County. Ohio, and is a daughter of Sabinus and Pamela (Hibbard) Rice. Her father was the son of Jason and Sarah (Hibbard) Rice and the grandson of Jonas and Deborah (Force) Rice. Jason Rice was a native of Poultney, N. Y., and drew a pension as a Revolutionary soldier. Pamela Hibbard is the daughter of the Rev. Ithamar and Hannah (Wood) Hibbard, the former born in Windham, Conn., and the latter born in Norwich, Conn. To Mr. and Mrs. Mower have been born two daughters and a son. Mabel, the eldest, is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, where she completed her studies in the summer of 1882, and received the degree of A. B. Alice Mary took the same degree at Wittenberg College, Springfield, in the year 1884. Carl Kreider was graduated from the same institution in 1886, and having studied law in his father’s office was admitted to the bar in February, 1889; he is now junior member of the firm of Mower & Mower, Attorneys.