The Life & Times of General Lucius Verus Bierce

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Gen. Lucius V. Bierce.

East Ave. looking toward Case Ave. Akron, Ohio 1850s.

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Blog Created: 3-12-2024

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Lucius Bierce was the son of William Bierce and Abigail Bell. He married Frances C. Peck on Nov. 23, 1837 at Tallmadge, Ohio. She lived only two years. He next married Sophronia Ladd. During the first of five terms as Akron, Ohio mayor in 1838, he appointed himself commander in chief of the Patriot Army during the Canada Patriot War of 1837 - 1839, a series of unsuccessful battles to free Canada from British rule. He lost two battles and went home.

He wrote the first history of Summit County in 1856. He became president of Akron's first board of education. He was also a state senator from 1861 until 1863. The census records for the years 1850 through 1870 has him listed as living in West Akron, Ohio. During the Civil War, Lucius became Major assistant Adjutant General of the Ohio Volunteers on May 5, 1863. He was mustered out on Nov. 11, 1865. After being admitted to the bar in Alabama, he learned that his father was in failing health. Having no money and no transportation, Bierce walked the 1,800 miles back to Akron to see his father before he died.

He was a law partner with Gen. Alvin Coe Voris in Akron, Ohio. He also donated land to the city of Akron at High and Market streets for the construction of the Carnegie Library. The University of Akron has their library named for him. He was also the 20th Grand Master of Masons in Ohio, (1853-1854).

~ Masonic information supplied by Rob Weller.

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From: The Grand Lodge of Ohio

1854 – LUCIUS V. BIERCE

General Lucius V. Bierce was born at Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut on August 4, 180l. His paternal ancestors came from England, settling at Halifax, Nova Scotia and later moving to Plymouth, Massachusetts and from thence to Cornwall. He received the common rudiments of an English education at the school in his native town. At the age of 15 his mother died and his father, being advanced in age, decided to move to the Western Reserve territory. On July 1, 1872 they departed Connecticut and 35 days later arrived at Nelson, Portage County, Ohio, where one of Bierce’s sisters resided.

Determined to obtain an education, although his father was financially unable to assist him, within a week after his arrival in Nelson, young Bierce had packed his few belongings and set off for Ohio University at Athens, where he arrived on September 3, 1817. For the succeeding five years he worked at any job that would help him pay his tuition and graduated with a B. A. degree on September 11, 1822, having paid for his complete education with the exception of $5 which his father had provided.

Shortly thereafter he set out on foot on October 9, 1822 eventually arriving at Lancaster, South Carolina where he commenced the study of law until the following March 4, 1823 when he journeyed to Landsdown County, Alabama to continue his studies. On September 12, 1823, he was licensed as a practicing attorney in the State of Alabama.

Prompted by a sense of filial duty, he left Alabama on October 2, 1823 and returned to Ohio. After an absence of slightly over a year and after having walked over 1800 miles with his knapsack on his back and eventually settled in Ravenna, Portage County, where he pursued his study of law. In 1824 he was admitted to the Bar in Ohio and in 1825 was appointed District Attorney, a position which he held for eleven years before resigning and moving to Akron in Summit County.

Brother Bierce was made a Mason in Unity Lodge No. 12 in Ravenna, Ohio on August 10, 1826; on October 12 he received the degree of Master Mason. Just at this time the anti-Masonic movement was getting underway in the United States. The anti-Masonic feeling was probably as intense in Portage County as anywhere else in Ohio. Brother Bierce remained steadfast in his loyalties to Unity Lodge, opposing any thought of surrendering the Charter as a concession of the unwarranted charges against Masonry. By 1830, however, it was seldom that enough members could be found at the meeting to permit the conferral of degree work. The last act performed by the lodge before going dormant was to receive a motion made by Brother Bierce to summon every member to show cause why he did not attend lodge meetings. The sufficient number to open lodge was not present thereafter; the motion to summon could not be acted on, and the two neophytes remained in an unfinished state for twenty-two years.

On February 20, 1841, Brother Bierce’s name was found on the dispensation for a new lodge at Akron. He was appointed Warden of Akron Lodge No. 83, and was the first elected Master. He continued to fill the chair by successive election (with the exception of three terms, when he declined) for more than 20 years.

In the summer of 1841, although not a Chapter Mason, Brother Bierce was influential in procuring a dispensation for Washington Chapter No. 25, R. A. M. The charter was granted on August 7.

By the August 26, Brother Bierce had received his Royal Arch Mason Degree with the venerable John Barney presiding and conferring all degrees. In 1842 he received the Council degrees in Cleveland and the Order of Christian Knighthood in Mt. Vernon Commandery No. 1 at Columbus in 1843. At the session of the Grand Lodge of Ohio in 1850 he was appointed Grand Senior Deacon; in 1851 he was elected Grand Junior Warden and October of 1853 he was elected Grand Master of Masons in Ohio.

M. W. Brother Bierce had attended Grand Lodge regularly for a number of years and discharged with distinction many important committee assignments; some of the ablest papers on Masonic jurisprudence, obituaries, and grievances had been written by him.

M. W. Brother Bierce’s military career is long and distinguished. It began in 1837 with the Rebellion of Canada, commonly called the “Patriot War”. Brother Bierce felt strongly enough about the situation in Canada to accept command of the Patriot forces. Had it not been for a disobedience to his orders on the part of one of his inferior officers, the outcome of the cause might have been other than the disaster it turned out to be. Following the defeat of the Patriot’s cause, Brother Bierce returned to Akron and resumed his practice of law. Shortly thereafter, during the time when the United States government was unsuccessfully trying to indict General Bierce for violating the country’s neutrality General Bierce’s son contracted measles and died; his wife died almost immediately thereafter of a broken heart, leaving Brother Bierce alone and despondent. In the early 1840’s, however, he married Miss Sophronia Ladd of Rutland, Vermont and by this marriage he had a daughter, Ella, who was born August 14, 1846. She, too, however died early at the age of 19, of a heart ailment.

In 1860, at the age of 62, the outbreak of the Civil War again caused Brother Bierce to respond to the President’s call. He raised two companies of Marines, boarded them for some days at his own expense, took them to Washington and delivered them to the Navy yard. He then returned home and raised a company of 100 men for the Army. During his absence in Washington with his Marines, and without his knowledge, he had been nominated for the Ohio Senate and was elected. At the close of the session on April 13, 1863, M. W. Brother Bierce returned home with the thought in mind of spending his remaining years in Quietude. Such was not to be, however, for on the 9th of May he received notice from the Secretary of War that President Lincoln had appointed him Assistant Adjutant General of the U. S. Volunteers with the rank of Major. Working 15 to 18 hours a day at a feverish pace he attempted to bring order out of confusion.

At his advanced age, however, it is no wonder that his nerves were soon shattered and his health gave way, but he worked on. In November of 1864 he received orders relieving him from duty in Columbus and ordered him to Dayton to adjust financial discrepancies in the office there. Such was the feverish pace he kept for over two years, during which time he superintended the mustering-in, making of proper records, and giving the of credits of over 100,000 men. In the discharge of his duties in his department, he received and disbursed money and property in the amount of over $1,000,000 and on the closing of his accounts was within $5 of being in balance. The $5 was the result of a bad $5 bill he received; he paid it and squared the accounts.

But retirement was not yet to be his for on the 23rd of May he was ordered to Madison, Wisconsin to muster out the troops of that state. On his arrival he discovered complete disorganization and again found himself submerged in the military organization. The labor, however, was too exhausting; his chills returned and his weight dropped from 185 to 125 pounds, but with dogged determination he refused to quit. A subsequent assignment at Camp Randall in Wisconsin did nothing to improve his health.

Following his discharge, Brother Bierce did serve additional terms as the Mayor of the City of Akron, having previously served in 1839, 1841, 1844 and 1849. His final terms were in 1867 and 1868.

On November 11, 1876 he died at Akron, Ohio. His body is interred in the Glendale Cemetery, Section P, Lot 7, Akron, Ohio.

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FROM THE AKRON CITY DIRECTORIES:

1859

Lucius V. Bierce, (B & Voris), ne corner High & Market Sts.

ALSO FROM THE 1859 DIRECTORY:

Bierce & Voris, (Lucius V.B. & Alvin C. V.), attorneys at law, office - ne corner High & Market sts.

1868

Lucius V. Bierce, attorney & Mayor, home & office - 102 N. High St., corner of Market St.

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THANKS TO Kathie Weigel for the following information:

The Steubenville Weekly Herald, November 17, 1876:

"A.H. Battles, Esq., of this city, received a telegram on Monday last, announcing the death of Gen. L.V. Bierce, of Akron, one of the oldest citizens of northern Ohio. He was a man of mark in his day, and at one time was Grand Master of Masons in Ohio. He was buried on Tuesday by the Lodge at Akron, of which he has long been a prominent and honored member. At the commencement of the rebellion he proposed to the Governor of Ohio to enlist a regiment from the convicts in the Ohio Penitentiary, and when his proposition was declined he entered the service in another capacity and served in various stations until the close of the war. He was at one time in command of Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio."