Hamilton county Bios

Hamilton County Biographies Project

Kate Chase, daughter of Salmon P. Chase & Eliza Ann Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio Born 1840-1899         July 31, 1899, a new century would soon be born, but Kate Chase who had been the "Belle of Washington Society" during the turburlet days of the Civil War, the women who presidents and princes asked political advice, was dead. Just like her home at Edgewood, she was broken down and died almost
forgotten. Her name was once again on the pages of the papers that was spoke of her brilliance and beauty in her days when what Miss Chase was wearing was decribed in minute detail.
        The Washington Star wrote on the event of her death, "The most brilliant women of her day. None outshone her." The New York Times recalled that "the homage of the most eminment men in the country were hers."
        In The Providence Journal she was decribed as "one of the most remarkable women ever known to Washington Society." The New York Tribune observed, "No name could possibly be spoken in this city among the older residents that would evoke reminiscences that always stated by the mention of Kate Chase. No woman so young ever held here the prominent and controlling position as leader that came to her as mistress of her father's household, nor has the most critical observer failed in according to her an exceptional personal brilliance....When thus brought so prominently before the world Miss Chase
was only sixteen years of age, and but a few years older when her father, taking the Treasury portfolio under President Lincoln again needed her help as mistress of his Washington home...Miss Chase held a court of her own and her reputation spread far and wide as the most brilliant woman of her day.
The popular verdict declared to her to be at the same time one of the most beautiful."
        The Cincinnati Enquirer declared that: "No Queen has ever reigned under the Stars and Stripes. But this remarkable women came closer to being Queen than any other American has."
        "Her face is a study, an enchanting and dangerous study to most men, who are pretty certain to fall in love with it. It has been compared with that of the famous portrait of Mona Lisa." A writer for the The Boston Herald had once decribed her on its pages.
        "The child is pronounced pretty. I think it quite otherwise."Salmon P. Chase wrote in his diary at the event of the birth of his second daughter by his second wife, Eliza Ann Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio. Then he recorded: "Catherine Jane Chase, second daughter of S.P.C. and E.A.C. born on August
13, 1840."
        The girl Chase thought was less than pretty would be the most talked about hostess in Washington when at seventeen she became social hostess for her widowed father, the Secretary of the Treasury. First Lady Mary Lincoln realized that she had a powerful social rival in Miss Chase. Her proud
bearing, her creamy skin and hazel eyes, her bronzed red hair, her intelligence and her graceful manners made her a distinctive figure in the smartest circles. Others saw Miss Kate Chase of Ohio as a lady of quality.   Secretary of State William Seward's wife was ill leaving Kate the premier Cabinet hostess. A role she cherished to the hilt. Kate entertained the diplomats and visiting celebrities from abroad in lavish little get togethers. She had a triple endowment of beauty, style and intelligence.
        Kate's ambition to put her father in the White House was not a secret. The thought of being the white house hostess for her three time widowed father drove her more so than her father's desires to be president. Kate ran his fourth try at the political convention.
        In 1864 she was married to the richest man in North America, William Sprague of Rhode Island. The second Sprague to be a Governor and Senator from RI, the cotton manufacturer soon found out the prize he thought he had won in Miss Chase was a very expensive one, as her father noted many times in his diaries. Submitted by Patti Graman PMRHG@aol.com February 16, 2000

Karl Schmidt - Glasspainter Karl was born July 1863 in Aarau, Switzerland. He was the son of Gustave and Augusta Hagenauer Schmidt. Karl had a brother Max and a sister Fannie. Gustave is believed to have been the Burgemeister of Aarau. In 1892 at the age of 28 karl immigrated to America. In 1894 he married Amelia Reigel of Munich Germany. Her Father was Fredrich Reigel a Professor of Sculpture. Amelia and her family immigrated to America in 1889. In the 1900 Cincinnati, Hamilton Co census Karl and Amelia with young son Ernest were living at 3580 Eden Ave. Karl's occupation was listed as Glass Painter.
Sometime later Karl and Amelia parted, probably divorced. Karl was a member of the Cincinnati Art League until his death in Oct. 1916 in Covington KY. The only other bit of information I know of is that on their Honeymoon Karl left Amelia alone in order to hike the Matterhorn. Which rather leaves the impression of a "devil may care" type of man.
Karl is buried in Highland Cemetery.

I know so little of my Grandparents (I am sole surviving child of Ernest. My Father was a young man when Karl died and rarely talked of him. My Father left when I was quite young so little time to know much of them at all.

Submitted by Vivian Bond February 17, 2000

Elizabeth Nourse This well-known Cincinnati artist was born in Cincinnati. Her early studies (1874-1881) were at the McMicken School of Art with W. H. Humphreys, T. S. Nobel and L. Ribisso. She attended the Art Students League where she studied with W. Sartain 91882) and again with Nobel (1885-1886). She studied at the Academie Julian with Boulanger and Lefebvre in 1887. Elizabeth became a full
member of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1901 and showed annually at the Paris Salon where her paintings were hung "on line." She exhibited internationally during her lifetime. Her work is included in the permanent collections of many of the world's most important museums. Submitted by Patti Graman PMRHG@aol.com February 18, 2000

Lewis Henry Meakin The English born Lewis Henry Meakin settled in Cincinnati in 1863. Often called the father of western art, he was considered one of the top landscape painters of his time. He studied at the McMicken School of design and at the Art Academy of Cincinnati under T. S. Noble. He went to Munich from 1882 to 1886 and studied with Nikolaus Gysis and Ludwig Loefftz. Meakin was one of the founders and later president of the Society of Western Artists. He was elected an Associate of the Naitonal Academy in 1913 and served on the jury for the Panama-Pacific Expostion in San Francisco. He was curator of painting at the Cincinnati Art Museum. He enjoyed painting in the out-of-doors and traveled widely in the summers. Today is respected for his fine, impressionist landscapes. Submitted by Patti Graman PMRHG@aol.com February 16, 2000