Fowler Stoddard

As printed in 1897

FOWLER STODDARD (deceased) was one of the most prominent and popular of the younger class of representative business men of Dayton. He was born in this city on July 16, 1845, and was the son of the late Henry Stoddard, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. At the age of twenty-two years he was graduated from Yale college, in the class of 1867; and in 1868 was married to Miss Bessie W. Lowe, daughter of Col. John G. Lowe, of Dayton.

After a varied business experience in Dayton of several years, Mr. Stoddard became connected with his brother, John W., in the manufacturing business, where his superior business capabilities, mechanical aptitude, and excellent principles soon became of inestimable value, and led to his promotion to the position of vice-president and general manager of the concern.

Mr. Stoddard was an active participant in everything that tended to promote the general business interests of the city and was a highly esteemed and valuable member of the Dayton board of trade. He was in attendance at one of the regular meetings of the board on the evening of Tuesday, May 31, 1887, and after the adjournment, at about nine o’clock, pass-

From “Early Dayton."

NEWCOM'S FIRST LOG CABIN IN lT'Jti.

ing down the east stairway from the city building to Jefferson street, paused for a few minutes, under the shelter, in conversation with a fellow-member of the board before passing out upon the sidewalk, to await the cessation of a heavy shower of rain. He had been standing there but a few minutes when a flash was suddenly reflected from the water on the pavement, accompanied by the report of a pistol. A young man at the same instant was seen running by in the rain, but who, a few minutes afterward, hurried back to pick up the pistol, which had accidentally fallen from his pocket, and upon striking the pavement had exploded. The ball, thus driven from its chamber, unaimed by any human hand or eye, struck Mr. Stoddard, some twenty feet distant, immediately below and in the rear of the left ear, and, ranging upward, lodged in the base of the brain. He was sufficiently conscious to realize the probable fatal character of the injury. His first thought was that his wife should be spared the shock, his next, that his brother should be called to his side. His last coherent words were that he had ‘ ‘ tried to live square with the world.” He was quickly removed to his home and the most skillful surgical aid was at once in attendance. He gradually became unconscious, and before the morning of June I, 1887, breathed his last upon the same spot where, forty-two years before, he was ushered into existence. It would be impossible to exaggerate the deep and heart-felt sorrow that pervaded the community upon this most tragic occurrence, which had cut short a life and business career replete with every promise of happiness, usefulness and success.

Mr. Stoddard was always an active Christian, as enthusiastic in church work as he was in business. He was a man of marked versatility in church, in society and in business; and in the world of field sports, his excellencies of character was alike displayed, and their superior influence recognized. His mental faculties were well trained. He possessed a great power of concentration with a large degree of enthusiasm in whatever he undertook. He was remarkably quick in his perceptions, and rapid, though not unsafe, in arriving at conclusions.

As the general manager of the large manufacturing establishment of which he was also vice-president, Mr.- Stoddard was conspicuous for his intelligence, promptness and straightforward dealing with the men under his management. He always commanded their instant respect. With the innate instinct of a gentleman his intercourse with the employees was uniformly such as to inspire each of them with a sentiment of personal esteem — in many instances of affection. He was at once affable, kind and firm, and scores of these men, who were assembled at the manufactory on the morning when they learned the sad intelligence of his death, gave free vent to their sorrow in tears. No more touching tribute was ever paid to the memory of any man than was witnessed at his funeral, when several hundred of these plain, unpretentious laboring men, whom he had greeted daily with friendly words, and who had long been performing their daily tasks under his supervision, followed on foot his remains to the grave, and there stood with uncovered heads and tearful eyes to testify their appreciation of his worth and their sorrow for his untimely death.

As printed in Centennial portrait and biographical record of the city of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, together with the biographi (1897). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.